Manna - Food, Faith and Anxiety - Eikev 5785

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Moshe is sharing his parting words with the Jewish people, as he is about to pass the leadership over to Yehoshua. Before he passes away, he reminds the people about who they are, why Hashem chose them to be freed and receive the Torah, and their mission in the Land of Israel and the world.  As  he is reminded them of Hashem’s kindnesses to them, he makes a very strange statement (Devarim 8:14-16): “... your G-d, who took you out of Egypt, out of the house of slaves; who led you through the great and awesome desert, notorious for its snakes, vipers, scorpions, and thirst induced from lack of water; who brought forth water for you out of flint-stone; who fed you in the desert with manna, which your forefathers did not know, in order to afflict you and in order to test you, for your ultimate benefit.”


How is feeding them manna in the desert afflicting them?  Imagine someone is really hungry and you give them some food and say: I’m giving you this sandwich in order to afflict you?  How does that make sense?


The Talmud (Yuma 74b) explains:  “There is no comparison between one who has bread in his basket and one who does not.”  The manna fell from heaven every morning, and the people would collect it and have ample to eat.  But they were not allowed to leave any over till the next morning.  So it’s basically like going to sleep at night with an empty refrigerator and pantry.  You may have eaten well and not be hungry till morning, but you still feel hungry because you don’t have the security of food being available should you want it, and who knows if you will be able to get food for breakfast.


Now imagine if you live next door to a bakery and grocery store.  As soon  as you wake up in the morning you can go next door and pick up some food.  Unless it is the Soviet Union or similar, you know that you will have no problem getting food.  Or if you are staying in a kosher hotel in Israel that has sumptuous breakfasts.  The fact that you don’t have any food in your room is not a problem at all.  For that matter, most people don’t take food into their bedroom when they go to bed, because having food in the kitchen provides all the security they need.


So let’s think about the situation in the desert.  The Jews went to sleep at night with no food in sight.  No refrigerator or pantry, no bakery or grocery, no chef preparing shakshuka for the morning.  But for 39 years, every single morning (except Shabbat, but they got double on Friday), manna fell  from heaven.  With Hashem as the provider, how much more secure could anyone be?  Nevertheless, this was the test.  Because there was no food anywhere in sight, human nature led them to feel hungry.


Moshe refers to this as a test.  It was a supreme test of faith, because if they truly trusted Hashem, they would go to bed fully secure in His providing food, as if it was in their pantry.


This test continues throughout the ages.  How many  of us are anxious about our future?  We wonder if we’ll have enough to live on, even though today we have everything we need.  The Torah teaches us that just as in the desert Hashem provided our food, so it is today.  Hashem provides the blessing for our sustenance, and the work we do or the job we have is the channel through which the blessing turns into actual income.  


It is extremely common for people to constantly be afraid for their future.  The billionaire is afraid he’ll become a millionaire and the millionaire is afraid he’ll lose his financial designation

.  The one who makes a decent living is afraid he’ll lose his job and the one who barely has enough to eat is afraid he’ll starve tomorrow.  Sometimes a person actually loses his or her job and it is a very frightening time.


The lesson of the manna is that we do not need to feel the fear and anxiety.  We can go to sleep at night with faith and trust that Hashem will provide what we need. Yes, it is a difficult test, but trust brings its own blessing.  When we trust in Hashem, He rewards that trust with providing our needs.


For more on this subject, I recommend studying the book “The Gate of Faith.”  You can find it online here.


I am writing this on 20 Menachem Av, the Yartzeit of the saintly Scholar, Kabbalist and leader Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, our Rebbe’s father.  Click here for more information.

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