Sometimes You Eat the Manna and Sometimes It Eats You

The Israelites are hungry. For the last few weeks, they’ve been eating the crumbs of the matza they brought with them from Egypt. One day, G-d brings them a new cuisine. The Jews open the flap of their tents and see a strange substance. It was white and it tasted like pastry fried in honey. And one dude asks the other, Mon Hu.

Hu is Hebrew for “He.” But what is this word Mon, spelled in Hebrew Mem and Nun. There is no such word in the Hebrew language. If Mon referred to a substance, then the question asked by the Israelites should be Mon Zeh, or “What is this?”

Sounds complicated? Perhaps. But through one strange sentence the Torah has given us a primer of how G-d works and how we should receive His miracles.

The first lesson is to recognize the source of the miracle. It is only G-d. And so, the Jews asked each other Mon Hu, who is the provider of this food that has all the taste and smells that we enjoy? The word Mon is similar to the Aramaic Man, as in Man Tanna, “Who is the Mishnaic sage” that said this?

Moses continues:

“This is what G-d has commanded: ‘Gather it according to what each man needs to eat: you must take an omer per head, according to the number of people each man has in his tent.'” [Exodus 16:16]

Lesson Two: Don’t be greedy. G-d has given plenty for all of us. Don’t make a business out of His miracles. There were some who made off with as much of the divine bread as possible. They reasoned that if the manna failed to appear tomorrow, they could sell the excess to their neighbors.

But when the hoarders arrived home, they found that they hadn’t taken more than their lazy neighbors, who simply picked up their portion at the entrance of their tents. It was all one measure, an omer, and enough to get through the day. This, too, was a miracle.

Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it over until morning.” [Exodus 16:19]

Lesson Three: G-d’s miracles can be summed up in a few words: Use it or lose it. Some of the Israelites — particularly Dotan and Aviram, the nemesis of Moses — wanted to store enough manna for a rainy day. That wasn’t G-d’s plan. By the next morning, the manna turned putrid and was full of maggots.

The unused miracle had turned to a curse; manna was meant to be collected in the early morning. The manna that was out in the field would melt by mid-morning and turn into a stream. The gazelles and deer would drink from the manna. Later, the gentiles in the area might hunt, kill and eat these animals. They, too, would taste the manna in the meat and attribute this to G-d’s miracle for His beloved nation.

Lesson Five: All miracles are meant for one purpose — to follow the word of G-d. Therefore, on Friday, G-d allowed the Jews to gather a double portion of manna, one for today and one for the Sabbath. Unlike the rest of the week, the leftover from Friday would remain perfectly fresh on Saturday, the day of rest. You can have the manna raw, or you can cook or bake it. Tomorrow, however, there would not be manna.

But, of course, there are always the greedy. For them, food might be nutritious, but money smells better.

On the seventh day, some of the people did go out to gather, but they found nothing. G-d told Moses, “How long will you refuse to observe My commandments and My teachings?” [Exodus 16:27-28]

Lesson Six: Take it easy. G-d gave you one day of rest. You have all the food you need. You have your family around you. Take the day off. Leave the car, boat, plane, computer, cellphone alone and invite G-d into your house through prayer and song.

The miracles that G-d makes for the Jewish people mark paradise on earth. But there are the restless who always want more. They reject the miracles and instead choose to work on the Sabbath for money and the power to make more money. They call themselves enlightened, atheists, agnostics, secular, entrepreneurs — you name it.

And then, the miracles turn into curses. The manna came from the sky. G-d also provided the Israelites with fowl that fell from above. Hundreds of years later, with the destruction of the First Temple, G-d reversed that. The Jews no longer ate. They were eaten.

They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the heaven, the flesh of Your pious ones to the beats of the earth. [Psalms 79:2]

And that leads to the final lesson: When G-d gives you a miracle, take it, say “thank you” and use the divine goodness to serve Him. This is what we say twice a day in the prayer Modim, or “We thank.” The prayer was attributed to at least five sages some 1,500 years ago. We thank G-d for the miracles, pray that they increase and then tell G-d why He should listen to us.

This is how Rav Acha Bar Yaakov concluded Modim: “So may You continue to keep us alive and be gracious to us and gather us together and assemble our exiles to Your holy court, to observe Your laws and to perform Your will with a perfect heart, and we give You thanks.”