Parashat Beshalach 5768

Our ancestors in this week's Torah Portion, Parashat Beshalach find themselves in the desert (This is just six weeks after the exodus from Egypt). The desert, as you know, is a wild wilderness, filled with harsh conditions and fresh setbacks for the newly freed slaves. Not surprisingly, there were two things first and foremost on the Israelites' minds: water and food. The Israelites cried out to Moses and Aaron, saying "If only we had died by the hand of Adonai in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill of bread! For you have brought us into this wilderness to starve this whole congregation to death" (Exodus 16:3). Without bodily nourishment, the souls of the Israelites begin to shrivel. Their physical hunger brought about spiritual doubt.

And so, God responds to the Israelites' request by "raining down bread from the sky." God explained that one portion of this special bread, called manna, would fall from heaven every day, except on Shabbat. Rather, the Israelites learned, a double portion of manna would fall on Friday and they would collect double, so as not have to work on Shabbat. Except for the special double portion on Fridays, the manna would only last one day. If the Israelites tried to save some for the next day, it would spoil. Why?

Manna was not just food, but nourishment from heaven. It was intended not only to feed the people physically, but also to teach them spiritually.

Manna teaches us to remember and to observe and to honor Shabbat with rest. Manna teaches us to take only our share and to delight in what we have. Manna teaches us that aspects of life are meant to be enjoyed in the present and not imagined for the future.

And I wonder: What is the manna in our lives today? What reminds us and guides and fills us and settles us?

May we blessed this Shabbat with the ability to recognize the Divine gifts that rain upon us, that fill us spiritually, and that bring us nourishment.