Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice!For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Manna from Heaven

G-d tells Moshe that He will heed the complaints of the Israelites and will send meat to them in the afternoon and bread in the morning and thus they will know that He is G-d.

So evening comes and a flock of quails come and cover their camp. And then in the morning, there was a layer of dew surrounding the camp. The dew evaporated, revealing a layer of a very fine substance underneath it, underneath which lied another layer of dew, so that it came down as if wrapped up in a box.

The Israelites call this substance "manna", etymologically related to the word "prepared", as in this was food which was "prepared" for them.

Moshe affirms that indeed this is the food which G-d has given them to eat, and that each person should take in accordance with the size of their household, such that each person would get one omer (a biblical unit of measurement) amount of the manna.

So the Israelites gathered the manna, and miraculously, even though some gathered too much for their household and some too little, when they arrived home, everyone saw that they had taken exactly enough for each person to have one omer amount.

Moshe tells them not to leave any manna over for the following day. Datan and Aviram disobey him however and did, and their leftover manna becomes spoiled and worm infested. Moshe gets angry at them.

So every morning they go to gather the manna for that day. Whatever manna was not gathered melted in the sun and turned into liquid that gazelles and deers would drink from. Then non Jews would hunt and eat these animals and taste some of the manna flavor in them, and thereby gained an appreciation of the Israelites' grandeur.

On the sixth day, upon measuring out the manna which they had gathered that morning, they see that it is a double portion. Some commentaries say that the manna that day had a different flavor and aroma as well.

Moshe had not yet told the Israelites about the Sabbath*, so they approached Moshe and asked him what the reason for this difference was.

*Side Note: Moshe is subsequently punished for his delay in teaching them about the Sabbath by being including in the general "you" of G-d's upcoming (keep reading) reproach, "How much longer will you disobey me?"

So Moshe tells them about the Sabbath and says that they should bake and cook on that day for both that day and the following day and put aside what they don't eat that day for the morrow.

So they did so, and indeed the leftover manna did not spoil the following day.

The Israelites were not totally clear as to what meal(s) the extra manna was for. They thought that perhaps the extra manna they had gathered was just for cooked food (insofar as Moshe told them to cook all of it), however perhaps they could still gather manna for any raw food that wouldn't need preparation. They also thought that the extra manna might only be for the meal on Shabbos day but that they might need to go out to get manna for Saturday evening's meal.

Moshe clarifies that no, they are not to go out on the Sabbath to look for manna as it will not descend that day, but he reassures them that it will resume the following day.

Moshe explains to them that they are to gather manna during the six weekdays, but not on the Sabbath, holidays or Yom Kippur.

So the seventh day came, and some people do go out to gather the manna in spite of Moshe's instructions, and come back empty handed.

Including all of the Israelites (including Moshe - see Side Note above) in His rebuke in spite of only some of them having gone out to gather manna on the Sabbath, G-d declares to Moshe, "How much longer will you refuse to obey me?!"

He continues, "You have witnessed with your own eyes the power of the Sabbath in that G-d brings you a double portion each week for it."

G-d then instructs Moshe in the laws of Techumim, i.e the distance and the limits* which one is allowed to walk on the Sabbath.

*Side note, the limit one is allowed to walk on the Sabbath is 4000 amah square, with the center of the square being the location s/he is spending Shabbos. If one does leave this limit, they must stay in place and cannot move more than 4 amos (3 for his/her body and one for stretching out his/her limbs). These laws are more explicitly elaborated upon in rabbinic writings, as this law, while alluded to here in Chumash, is technically a rabbinic one.

So after hearing Moshe's instructions on this, the Israelites rest on the Sabbath.

This manna, which was so named by the Israelites, was round like a coriander seed, white in color, and tasted like a type of wafer which in the language of the mishnah was called iskeritin, which was dough that was fried in honey.

Moshe says that one omer of the manna should be preserved for future generations to know what the Israelites were nourished from in the desert after G-d took them out of Egypt. This became relevant in the days of the prophet Yermiyahu. Yermiyahu rebuked the Jews of his generation asking them why they don't engage in Torah study. The Jews replied that if they were to study Torah, this would detract from their work/livelihood. Yermiyhu showed them the preserved manna and they saw with their own eyes how G-d is able to find ways to sustain people at all times.

So later on, when the Israelites build the Tent of Meeting (Ohel Moed), Moshe tells Aaron to set aside an omer of the manna and put it in a jug for preservation and store it in front of the Ark. Although this only happened later on after they had built the Tent of Meeting (Ohel Moed), since this section of the Chumash is all about the manna, it is mentioned here. And so Aaron did at that time.

Israelites were sustained by the manna for the entire 40 years they traveled in the desert.

To explain this calculation:

While the manna only began falling on the 15th of Iyar, the bread the Israelites ate from made out of the dough they had taken out of Egypt tasted like manna so this time is included in the 40 years of eating the manna.

And then the manna ceased falling on the 7th of Adar, when Moshe died and they reached the Plains of Moab, before they crossed the Jordan river. From that time until they finally entered into the land of Israel on the 16th of Nissan (the day after Pesach), they managed to sustain themselves from whatever manna had fallen up until the 7th of Adar.

Today's chumash concludes by telling us that the measurement of an omer is a 10th of an ephach.

To be more specific:

The smallest unit of measurement mentioned in Rashi here is a beitzah (i.e. an egg)*

*Side note: There are different opinions as to the modern day equivalent of these measurements. A beitzah is thought to be anywhere from 2.5-3 fluid ounces.

6 beitzahs = 1 log

4 logs = 1 kav

6 kavs = 1 se'ah

3 se'ah = 1 ephach

Thus one ephach = 2x6x4x6 = 432 beitzahs.

And then if one omer = 1/10 of an ephach, then one omer is 432x0.10 = 43.2 beitzahs.

This final measurement of 43.2 beitzahs is the amount which is required to take from the dough and give to the Cohanim as well as for meal offerings.

Get full access to Sarede’s Substack at sarede.substack.com/subscribe