Parshas
Beshalach
In
G-d We Trust
By:
Daniel Listhaus
וַיֹּאמֶר
ה'
אֶל
משֶׁה הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר לָכֶם לֶחֶם מִן
הַשָּׁמָיִם וְיָצָא הָעָם וְלָקְטוּ
דְּבַר יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ לְמַעַן אֲנַסֶּנּוּ
הֲיֵלֵךְ בְּתוֹרָתִי אִם לֹא
“Hashem
said to Moses, 'Behold! I shall rain down for you food from heaven;
let the people go out and pick each day's matter on its day, so that
I may test him, whether he will follow My Torah or not.”
-Beshalach
16:4
After
witnessing the wonders of kriyas
Yam
Suf
(the splitting of the Red Sea) and the whole Egyptian army being
wiped out, the Jews certainly realized their newly found freedom to a
higher degree. They sung Az
Yashir1
and thanked Hashem from the depths of their hearts. However, it seems
that it was only a matter of days until the Jews turned to Moshe and
started a series of complaints. First they complained about the lack
of water, and then they complained about not having food.2
At that point, Hashem said that he would send the manna
as a test to see if the Jews were ready to follow the Torah.3
Rashi4
explains that the manna
came
with two rules. The first rule was that one could not leave over any
manna
to
save for the next day. The second, equally important rule, was that
one cannot go out to collect the manna
on
Shabbos.
Rashi
continues to explain that the manna,
with its rules,
was
actually a test us to see if the Jews in the midbar
(desert)
would be able to keep the mitzvos
of
the Torah.
This
Rashi,
and really the passuk
(verse)
itself,
is hard to understand. How could this two-rule game properly gauge
how B'nei
Yisroel would
measure up in being able to keep the Torah? Imagine yourself, for a
moment, as a part of the Jewish population of that time in the
desert. You just came out of Mitzrayim
after having watched the Egyptians suffer through the ten makkos
(plagues)
and
experience the finale of kriyas
Yam Suf – a
time when the whole world recognized Hashem's full control over
nature. Now, you find yourself among a group of hungry, recently
freed slaves in the middle of a desert. Hashem performs yet another
miracle and provides manna
from
the sky to 600,000 men between twenty and sixty, let alone all the
children, elders, and women.5
You
see all of this, appreciate it, and internalize it. Yet, one morning
decide to break the small rule and store some extra manna
away
and save it for breakfast the following morning. Does this action
show in any way that you are totally incapable of performing mitzvos
(Hashem's
commandments)? If someone would subsequently challenge you to do any
particular mitzva
would
there be any more of a reason to believe that you would be hesitant
to doing it?
Surely
just because someone would be willing to break the rule of the manna,
would not necessarily mean that one would stop from being a perfect,
kosher keeping, shomer
Shabbos
Jew. Why did Hashem use the manna
as
a test to see if we were ready to keep the Torah? The requirements of
the manna
seem
to have nothing to do with what we as Jews are tasked with on a daily
basis through performing the mitzvos.
Name a mitzvah
and
it would probably not cross such a person's mind to transgress on it:
Performing Bris
millah,
putting on tefillin,
wearing tzitzis,
reading Shema,
having a Pesach
seder – what
does keeping to the rules of the manna
prove
that demonstrates that he will be careful in all the mitzvos?
Let
us take a step back to understand what exactly is the purpose of the
Torah and its mitzvos.
The Torah is much more more than a history book and is much deeper
than a law book. Rather, the Torah is literally the blueprint and
instruction manual for the world. Hashem is the creator of the world
and he left an instruction manual which describes the guidelines as
to the best way to live in this world. This is why, unlike any other
religion, our Torah is all-inclusive. There is a set of rules for
goyim
(non-Jews),
converts, slaves, and Jews. The Torah has a hierarchy as well as a
system of different roles which recognizes that everyone has a
purpose in this world and everyone has the ability to strive for
more. This system is perfect but depends on the basic understanding
that Hashem knows what is best and that everyone must be willing to
accept his or her role in society within this system.
However,
adopting a Torah lifestyle is not easy; and leaving aside the fact
that it is not easy, so many aspects of it seem highly ridiculous.
Does it really matter which shoelace I tie first? What times I daven
throughout the day? The amount of time I wait between eating meat and
milk? The Torah's rules are very demanding, intricate, and cover
every aspect of life no matter how small and mundane the action may
seem in our eyes. The only way that one could honestly accept such a
lifestyle is if he or she has complete trust in Hashem that what He
asks us to do is absolutely the best for us.
Conceptually,
it makes sense that the creator of the world would no best how to
live in it. Just as one would optimize a game board and pieces by
reading the instruction manual provided by its creator, so too a
person looking to optimize his life should consult the manual for the
world provided by The Creator – His Torah. This is something which
makes sense logically, but when there are other factors introduced it
becomes hard to really internalize. When one starts to think about
the “opportunity cost” of keeping the Torah – all those
McDonald cheese burgers which one could have eaten, and all the “fun”
that could have been had, it is harder to really appreciate the
demanding life of a Torah-Jew. The only way to fight these thoughts
and feelings is by realizing that there are no opportunity costs.
There is nothing good outside of the Torah, and nothing lost by
following the word of Hashem. It is this complete trust and faith in
Hashem which is the only way that one will stay on the path of
keeping Torah and mitzvos.
The
ultimate test of faith and trust lays where a person would like to
have the most control, but is willing to have complete trust in
Hashem that He will take care of it. Being at the base of Maslow's
hierarchy of needs, food is a necessity of life which we like to be
in control over. When Hashem gave us the manna
with
rules that one cannot stash the leftovers for the next day or collect
on Shabbos, Hashem was testing us to see if we had complete trust and
faith in Him. Hashem wanted to see if we would accept whatever He
would tell us to do without a question. This is the mindset needed in
order for one to properly accept the Torah.
Every
Shabbos by the seudah
(meal)
we use lechem
mishna
(two breads) to symbolize the extra portion of manna
that
fell on Friday for Shabbos
–
reminding us that we were not allowed to go out to collect manna
on
Shabbos.6
Additionally, we cover the challah
by placing a board underneath and a cover on top in order to remember
the fact that the manna
came
in a pre-packaged, individualized box per person, of a layer of dew
underneath and a layer of dew on top.7
What better time is there to remember the manna
than
at a time we spend to become closer to Hashem? Shabbos is a time of
dropping work and showing complete trust in Hashem – like a weekly
mini sh'mita
year, and at the same time it is used as a constant reminder of the
manna
–
which contains the basics of being a Torah Jew.
The
Gemara8
relates
that the manna
did
not come to the same spot for everyone. If one was a tzaddik,
he would find the manna
right
by the entrance to his house. The average person would have to go
just outside the camp in the desert to collect their manna,
while the r'shaim
(wicked
people) would have to go outside the camp to collect their manna.
The manna
represents
our relationship with Hashem. The closer the relationship with
Hashem, the closer the manna
came
to the individual.
The
manna
was
the perfect test to see if we were ready to receive the Torah because
it tested our trust in Hashem. A complete trust in Hashem that He
knows best is a necessary prerequisite to accepting the Torah
properly. Only with a trust that Hashem's laws and demands are
perfect, does one realize that there is no risk in keeping the Torah,
there are no opportunity costs in keeping the Torah, and no losses by
choosing to follow the way of Hashem.
1Shemos
15:1-19. Moshe led the men and
Miriam led the women (Shemos 15:20-21).
We now say Az Yashir daily
as part of Shacharis davening.
2The
passuk (Shemos
15:22) says that they had
traveled for three days and could not find drinking water, so they
complained to Moshe. Then they were hungry and complained that they
needed food.
3Shemos
16:4
4Ibid.
5Shemos
12:37
6Orach
Chaim 274, 1 and Mishna
Berura there.
7Orach
Chaim 271, 9 and Mishna
Berura there.
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