Weekly Dvar Torah: Manna And Torture.

וַיְעַנְּךָ וַיַּרְעִבֶךָ וַיַּאֲכִלְךָ אֶת הַמָּן
He afflicted you, He starved you, He fed you the Manna. (Devarim 8,3)

הַמַּאֲכִלְךָ מָן בַּמִּדְבָּר אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדְעוּן אֲבֹתֶיךָ לְמַעַן עַנֹּתְךָ
(G-d) Who fed you manna in the desert, … in order to afflict you (Devarim 8,16)

One would think that the manna rained down on the Jewish people in the desert so they should have what to eat, so why does Moses describe the Manna as a food of affliction and starvation?

Here are some Manna facts in the Midrash and Talmud:

The Midrash says, that the manna was food that caused the Jewish people to starve, instead of fully satisfying the hunger.

In the desert where they ate manna, Moses established the after blessing for bread, “(G-d) who satiates the whole world (with food to satisfy their hunger)”.

Did the Manna make you hungry or did it satiate?

Fact: Manna could not last even one more day for the next day.

Rabi Ami (or Rabi Asi) says, you can’t compare eating when you have a loaded basket of food for tomorrow, to eating with an empty basket worrying about tomorrow.

Fact: Manna included all the tastes of all foods, whatever you felt like eating, you tasted in the Manna, a French croissant, a rib-steak, that’s what the Manna tasted like, if you felt like a delicious ice-cream, you enjoyed it as you ate the Manna.

Rabi Asi (or Rabi Ami) says, it’s not the same to eat while you can see the food, to eating the food blindly.

Rav Yosef says, blind people can never satisfy their hunger because they don’t see the food.

We were lacking nothing when it came to food, we could eat anything our heart desires in the Manna, what is wrong with that?

Some more Manna facts:

Manna was food from heaven, not food from the earth.

Manna rained down daily fresh from heaven.

When we analyze all the above facts, we come to realize that the Manna while there to feed the Jews in a most fascinating manner, there was something lacking.

When a person eats they need to know that there is food in the pantry and this is not his last meal, but when eating Manna there was no food for tomorrow, because today’s Manna didn’t last another day.

When they tasted all the delicious food that they imagined, they saw only Manna, and when eating a steak which doesn’t look like one, the food doesn’t taste normal.

Basically, when eating Manna, you were conscientious of the fact that this bread is not normal bread, you needed something more, so even when you ate you felt a need for something more, you felt the need to rely on a miracle for more food.

Kabbala makes it even more interesting.

Torah is like bread, you eat bread and you satisfy your hunger, you study Torah and you satisfy your mind with G-d’s wisdom.

But within Torah there is the revealed part of Torah, and there is the concealed part of Torah

Revealed Torah is like bread on the table which you see what you eat, and you digest and feel satisfied.

Concealed Torah is like Manna, you eat but you don’t see what you are eating even if you taste it, secrets of Torah deals with G-d and the knowledge about G-d, you get to know “about G-d”, but you can’t see Him or fully comprehend Him, so your hunger for knowledge is not fully satisfied, you want more but you can’t get it.

The manna was all about G-d, you knew where it came from, you ate it, but you couldn’t see what particular food you are eating, you had what to eat, but you couldn’t stock food for tomorrow.

What you are left with is relying fully on G-d, beyond what you can see and reach, and this leaves you hungry and unsatisfied.

This is why we still say the after-blessing of Moses, even if it was established for the Manna, we do recognize that even today our bread comes from G-d, from heaven, just like the manna, but it takes some contemplating to reach this understanding.

This is why the manna while satiating still kept us hungry for more, both in the realm of food, and also in the realm of knowing G-d through Torah.

We are hungry for more knowledge and for more closeness, we want to be able to see G-d and not just know of Him.

When we connect to the idea of the Manna, we are fed by G-d, food and knowledge from heaven.

Life is a miracle, and G-d makes sure that we know it.

Have a miraculously satiating Shabbos,

Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Yosef Katzman