Parashat Be'Shalach - The solution for when things fall apart - Rabbi Alon Anava

Two souls meet on the way up and on the way down. One soul is leaving this world and it's going up to the world above. And another soul is coming down from the world above to the world below. They meet somewhere in the middle. "Hey, how are you? Where are you coming from?" "Oh, I'm coming down from uh this world." "Ooh, I'm going down there right now. How is it down there?" asks the soul that's going down. The soul that's coming back is saying, "You know, it's a very special place and uh you can achieve a lot." The soul that's going down says, "Wha- wha- what do you mean? What can you achieve? What can you do?" So, the soul that's going up is saying, "You know, for $1 you can do a mitzvah." "Really? For $1 you can do a mitzvah? Like what?" He says, "Well, you can give charity." "Charity? You a mitzvah of charity you can do for $1? That's amazing." He says, "It is amazing. There's only one problem." "What's the problem?" "Well, till you get that dollar, your soul goes out." So, this joke sounds much better in Hebrew, by the way. But uh That's pretty sad. But nevertheless, I mean, we can do a lot of good things in this world, but till you get to do something, you know, you squeeze your soul out of your body till something happens. Now, very interestingly, a minute before we started, we just uh had a small uh uh chitchat, and that's exactly exactly what we wanted to talk about today. First of all, we are in Parshat Beshalach. And now we're finally leaving Mitzrayim. We see the miraculous production. How Kadosh Baruch Hu strikes Mitzrayim. Then we miraculously leave Mitzrayim. And then we get to the point that the sea opens. What a vision. Just imagine the vision of seeing the sea opening. Going through the sea. And then we meet another miraculous act that happens, that follows us or escorts us for 40 years in the desert. And this is of course the giving of the man. And everything that says in the Torah is something for us to learn from it. After all, why why is it saying that in the Torah? It wouldn't say it in the Torah if it wouldn't have anything to learn from it. And most people I say most people cuz some people don't have this problem, but most people all their life is about running after the next dollar that I need to make. I need to pay my rents. I need to pay my bills. I need to eat. I need to basic essentials. I'm not talking right now pleasures. Then of course I want to run after my own pleasures. One person his pleasure is a beautiful car, and another one is a beautiful vacation on a boat. But nevertheless we find it that throughout our life we're constantly running after this this dollar that I need to make. A dollar, a shekel, a pound, it doesn't matter where you're from. Which really what does it mean? The biblical way of saying a dollar or a pound will be called lechem, bread. Now we're very spoiled. We open the faucet and we get water. That's what we talked about moments ago. What did you think they had that 200 years ago? Opening a faucet and having water? Had to go outside, if it was in the winter, break the ice into the well, get some water. We're just spoiled. We have everything we want. We go into supermarket, what an abundance of variety. We have electricity running in the walls whenever we want. We are so spoiled, we don't even realize how spoiled we are. Everything that we have want is in the what we call his city in the reach of my hands. But nevertheless, the basic essential food. Take now any special on any type of natural disaster, what is the one of the most important things to survive is food of course of course. You can go a few weeks, a few months without a house. You can go a few months without a job or many other things, but you can't survive without food. And in the biblical term to it, we call it bread. Bread is the the physical the physical food that we have to take all the time. Now, in this week's parashah, of course, there's miracles over miracles. The first one is leaving Egypt. The second one is the splitting of the sea. And then after that comes the parashah of the man of the giving of the of the man from the heavens. That's an unbelievable miracle. Can you imagine seeing bread coming down from the sky every morning? Sometimes it's you know, you open the fridge, there's no milk. Oh my god, what am I going to do? How am I going to have my coffee now? There's no milk. Honey, get milk. I'm not even close to the supermarket. I'M 10 MINUTES AWAY TO GET MY MILK FOR MY COFFEE. And we're lazy to go 300 ft to the supermarket to buy a box of milk. Just imagine them sitting in the desert and just the food is coming down. Can you imagine the miraculous sight? I don't think people really can imagine or relate with the what they saw. And what's more amazing here is not only the fact that the food came down from the sky. There's another miracle here that most people don't even notice. They didn't have to work. Can you imagine that miraculous state that they don't have to work? No unemployment, no job to wake up in the morning. How many people can say that I never worked in my life? Most people worked. Even the people who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, they still have to do something. I think maybe a fraction of people of the population of this planet can say I don't have a job. Even if it's a person who doesn't have a job in an office, they still have to go to the field, they have to do something. They didn't have to do anything. Little nothing. Just sit and learn Torah all day long. That's is a miracle. Forget about that the food is coming from the sky. There's no work. They don't have to wake up for a job. Now, the way the miracle worked is that in the first month of them leaving Egypt, they didn't have man. They had matzot. They had the whatever they took with them on the journey. And mainly they had matzot. And they had a little bit of water that they took with them. So for 1 month, they they had enough supplies. At some point, they ran out of water. Just imagine they're going into the desert. And there's there's no way faucet. They ran out of water. So there was a miracle and in a place place called Elim, they found wellsprings, they found wells, 12 wells, and then they had water. Later on they had the well of Miriam, Be'er Miriam, that was following them everywhere. Just imagine of that gadget. Wherever you go, you know, the well is going with you and just just spinning out water. But after 30 days, they had a problem. They ran out of food. What are we going to do? No supermarkets, no Amazon. What are we going to do now? Of course, who do they go to? They go to Moshe Rabbeinu, that poor guy. They start complaining. Moshe, we don't have food. Why did you bring us to the desert? To starve us? Don't you remember how good it was in Mitzrayim? We had restaurants and variety of food. You didn't have nothing in Mitzrayim. What are you talking about? You were slaves. No, the complaints to Moshe Rabbeinu. What are you talking about? We had fish. We had meat. We were so spoiled. Kosher restaurants throughout the strip here. Suddenly, they're in the desert and there's nothing to eat. Moshe Rabbeinu says, "You know what? You're right. There is nothing to eat. My Amazon account is is a closed. I can't order anything." So, he calls Hashem. "What am I going to do?" Hashem says, "No problem. I will do a miracle and I will send you bread from the heavens, man." Not only that, in the morning, you're going to get a portion that will be enough for you to last the whole day. And in the evening, I'm going to invite you to a beautiful online restaurant and you're going to get meat portion. This was the slav, a certain bird that came also from the sky, another miracle. And on the 16th day of the month of Iyar, the 16th of Iyar, which is exactly a month after they left Mitzrayim, what do you know? The sky is like a bakery and what food is coming down from the sky. And like I said, they they had a portion in the morning and that portion was enough for a breakfast and for a dinner. And you know, there's attracted in the Gemara in Yoma. It's going into many, many details what exactly it was, how it looked, how it came down. And it came down like kind of in a shape of a dough, like a ball of a dough. And for the ones who are interested, it was about 1 and 1/2 kilos. 1.6 kilo is what what's called a serita efa. That's how we calculate masser. Nevertheless, the measurement is called a serita. Serita is a tenth and a efa is the measurement. So, it's about 1.5 1.6 kilos. But nevertheless, came down a portion in the morning which lasted them for the for the whole day. And in the evening they got invited to a restaurant and the slab came down a portion of meat. And that was going on for the whole 40 years in the desert. Now, the Talmud says a few interesting details. This can be found in tractate called Yoma. And it says first of all, that each person tasted the man however they wanted to. You wanted to taste like sushi, it tastes like sushi. You wanted it to taste like a steak, it would be a steak. Whatever you want. All you need to do is focus on the taste and that's what it tasted like. What comes like interesting question, we're not going to answer it today, but that's the question that came up to my mind when I learned about it. How did they know how food tastes? They were born in Mitzrayim. They didn't have sushi bars there or steaks. They were eating nothing. How could they even imagine how strawberries taste like or cheesecakes? But nevertheless, that's just my curiosity. But the Talmud states that whatever they wanted the man to taste like, that's how it tasted. Now, it also says in the in the Talmud that with the man, it didn't just come there like like a ball from the sky. It came wrapped nice. You know, sometimes when you order things online, it just comes in a box wrapped around with double wrap. But if you order from an upscale store, it will come with a nice box, beautiful ribbon, a nice package. The Talmud says that the man came down wrapped around with jewelry and glitter and bows. It was wrapped nice. It's almost kind of like, I don't know if you had that experience. If you fly and you sitting in economy class and you get the kosher meal, you get it in a bag. Disgusting. You know, you have to be a mastermind to open that bag. It's like it doesn't even open. It's so sealed. You come up with all sorts of You don't have knives. The knives are plastic. They're The knives are inside. You have to be MacGyver to get the food out of the bag. So nevertheless, well, some people don't even know what I'm talking about with MacGyver. But nevertheless, that's for the old-timers. But the point is that you sitting in economy class takes you 15 minutes just to open the the bag. But if you sit in first class, you think you're getting it on a plastic tray in a plastic bag? Comes with beautiful plates, silver cutlery, real silver. And it's come nice package nice. Same food, but just it's packaged different. The man was packaged real nice. Wasn't just in a doggy bag in a you know, in the bags you take home with the leftovers. The Talmud says it came down with a nice wrapping and jewelry and so forth. Not only that, it says that the man came exactly to the place depending on the person's status. You can get regular shipping, comes 7 days to 14 days. And then it goes to the post office and you have to go and pick it up with that note and stand in the post office for 2 hours. And you can pay for express mail till the door, and it comes till the door. The Talmud says that the man for the tzadikim, it came straight into their into their hands. For the beinonim, the ones who are half mitzvot, half of avorot, it came somewhere outside, they had to go out of their tent into their courtyard. But the reshaim, the wicked ones, they had to go out to the fields to look for it. So, depending on your status, that's how the man came to you. Now, with the man, Hashem added to us two mitzvot. That's what we were busy in the in the in the desert. The first one is that we have to uh go and gather it every day, but the mitzvah was only one portion a day. Don't be uh I don't know what I want to say there not not not appropriate words, I think we'll say gluttony. But don't be a chazer and take two. Take one. One is enough. Don't have two today, you know, don't worry. And you know why the mitzvah was that you have to take only one? Because human nature is if it's free, then give me two. And maybe take one for for the road. But you're not going to eat it. No, no, no, then give me another one just in case. So, Hashem says, "No. You only can take collect one portion." That's the first mitzvah. The second mitzvah was that on Friday you take two portions. So, during the week you take one portion, and during and on Friday you take two portions. And the Talmud goes into many many details about the man, how it looked, how it weighed, how how it tasted, and so forth. And of course, comes an argument in the Talmud which bracha they said about it. Hamotzi lechem min haaretz, hamotzi lechem min hashamaim. Well, what what was the what was the bracha? There's there many different versions of which bracha they had to say. And of course, there's different opinions. Some say it was hamotzi lechem min hashamaim, we say hamotzi lechem min haaretz, taking bread out of the land, cuz we have to work the land. One opinion says they they the the bread came from the heavens, so they say hamotzi lechem min hashamayim. Nevertheless, the idea behind the whole man, that it was a miracle, it was a miraculous act, a miraculous sight, and just imagine 40 years the man is coming to them every day. Now, without even noticing, we do six acts to commemorate the miracle of the man. There are many many miracles that we completely ignore. The Torah is full of miracles, and we don't do anything about them. Some of the miracles we made a holiday out of them, Purim and Chanukah. Some of the miracles we do commemorate once in a blue moon, but this specific miracle we commemorate six times. And another amazing thing in this specific topic is that the food was a very spiritual food, a godly food. There was one thing that a lot of people don't realize that, and that's another miracle in the miracle, that there wasn't any dirt coming out of this food. You know, when we eat now, a portion of it goes out. We got to get rid of it. With the manna, they didn't have to go to the bathroom. Just imagine 40 years, no bathroom. Just goes in and stays in. Just imagine the the miracle. How many how many hours we have to spend in this closed room, and what comes around this topic. Nevertheless, just imagine 40 years, no gastric problems, no I'm not going to get into too many details here, but miraculous type of godly food. It just goes in, gives you your nourishment, and that's it. Don't need to hear about anything else. Anyways, like I mentioned, there are six times that we commemorate this miracle, and we're going to go through them just so we can recognize, and then we'll try to figure out why we commemorate and what do we got to learn from this man. But nevertheless, this is written down in Shulhan Arukh that some people don't really follow that. It's actually interesting because in Shulhan Arukh it says it as a halakha to read Parashat Hamman every day, the portion of the man every day. And up until today people read it as a remedy for parnassa, for for making money, and for miracles. Uh at some point it's became, I don't know, a custom or whatever that people don't really read it. Actually interesting is that Rizal didn't read it, and then giving any source to read it. But after in Shulhan Arukh it says that this is written in Shulhan Arukh that one should say Parashat Hamman every day. And it's not long. What are you talking about here? A chair, half a chapter in the Torah. And I know today I also got the emails, I also got the text messages everybody to read it. But nevertheless, it's very good. I highly recommend, especially that it's not long, read it every day. It's a a very powerful I don't like using the word remedy, but it's a very powerful remedy for parnassa. Now, when is the next time that we commemorate the miracle of the man? When we eat three meals on Shabbat. Where do you think we get the source, what's the source of eating three meals on Shabbat? You have to eat three meals. Even in the winter when the lunch and the third meal are very close to each other. But where do you think we're coming from? Where is the source for eating three meals on Shabbat? This is because of the man. Where do we learn that from? Three times in parashat Hamman, when it's talking about the portion of Shabbat, it says the word hayom. And our sages, when they were looking in the verses and they found the word hayom hayom hayom, today today today, repeating itself, it's not attached to each other, but it's in the verses. Specifically when it's talking about the time when on Shabbat you take two portions, then our sages have learned that the three times saying the word hayom, which means today, this we learn from that that we eat three meals on Shabbat. So, when we eat three meals on Shabbat, one on Friday night, one on Saturday afternoon, and one on Saturday before the sun goes down, seudah shlishit, this is to commemorate the man. The verses are, if you familiar with the with the chapter, then first of all it's talking about the man that one should go to the field and pick it up and only take one portion. Whatever extra portion they would take would rot and so forth. But then when it's talking about Shabbat, it says vayomer Moshe, ichlu hayom. On Shabbat, when Hashem says to take take two portions, then it says in the verse, and Moshe have said, today you will eat. The next verse it says ki Shabbat hayom lashem. Why do you take two portions? Cuz today is a Shabbat to Hashem. Hayom Shabbat hayom lashem. And the third one, hayom lo timtza'u basadeh. It says don't go out on the field on Shabbat cuz today you won't find anything in the field. So, you have three times the word hayom, today, in the parasha, and therefore our sages have learned from that that this is referring to eating three meals a day on Shabbat. And this is the next time that we commemorate and we do a remembrance for the miracle of the man. So, just remember next time on Shabbat when you have three meals, every time you have a meal, have a little bit of a a memory, "Oh, I'm commemorating the miracle. It's a mitzvah from the Torah." There was a miracle to our forefathers in Mitzrayim, and now I'm eating and by me eating I'm commemorating the miracle. The third time that we commemorate the miracle is is that according to Halakha I will not be fulfilling the mitzvah of eating three meals a day on Shabbat until I ate bread. You can't just eat fish or steak or fruit. You have to wash your hands and make a meal. You have to eat bread. So, some people say, "I don't want to eat bread. I just want to eat the Shabbat meal." Okay, so you just satisfy your hunger, but you didn't do a mitzvah of eating a seudah. So, in order to fulfill the mitzvah of eating three meals on Shabbat, you must eat bread. And if you have uh problems with gluten, then eat some other type of bread and eat sourdough. But nevertheless, but you have to eat bread. And of course comes a different argument. Some people on Seudah Shlishit they don't wash. We're not going to get into the Halakha issue here, but nevertheless uh cuz some people what they do, they they don't wash for bread on Seudah Shlishit. They just eat maybe fish or fruit. Uh and again, we're not going to get into the Kabbalistic idea behind it or the Halakha behind it, but the Halakha is that one needs to wash for bread for three meals a day, and you are not fulfilling the mitzvah without washing for bread three times on Shabbat. The fourth time that we commemorate the miracle is that during the week we eat bread, but when I wash my hands for bread, I don't have to have a whole bread. I can take a a piece. More than that, I don't need two breads. On Shabbats, in order to do hamotzi, I have to have two breads, two whole loaves. I can't take two sliced pieces of sliced bread and do hamotzi on that. I can't do that. I have to have two whole loaves, hold them together, and then I wash for bread. Then I can what's called likvod seudah, I can make it a meal. So, this is the fourth time is that davka on Shabbat, I have to have two whole breads. So, I have to have two whole breads on Friday night, two whole breads on Saturday day, and two whole breads uh on seudah shlishit. During the week, you can take even a piece of bread. It can be a roll, can be whatever it is, can be a sliced piece. That's it. All you need to say is hamotzi lechem min haaretz, and you're done. So, on Shabbat, you have to remember that you have to do two pieces of bread. And again, why am I telling you all this? So, next time when you do that, you have to remember that. Now, if you are not the one who are actually breaking the bread, it's your husband or the head of the meal, then you have to have in mind this person now is including me in the act, and he's doing it for me. And you have to have it in mind. I'm sure you've heard once or twice when you came to our Shabbat meals that I announce, "If you want to be included in my kiddush, listen to what I'm saying. And you have to have the intention that I'm doing kiddush for you." If you just, you know, talking, and you don't hear the person, it's just like you didn't If you didn't do it. And the person who does that, does the kiddush for the public, cuts the bread for the public, has to have in mind, "I'm now including all these people around me in my blessing." But nevertheless, when comes Shabbat and you want to eat for bread, you want to eat bread when you hold two loaves, just remember that you assist to commemorate the miracle of the man. And I'll explain very soon what is the point of commemorating. In short, it means that you're thanking Hashem. But later on we're going to take get to the point what's the whole point of commemorating something that happened 3,500 years ago when I don't commemorate thousands of other miracles. But that we'll get to that in a second. I just want to go through the six places that we do. The fifth time that we remember the mitzvah of the manna is that on Shabbat we have to cover the bread with a cloth with a some type of a fabric. Uh some call it a mappa, a tablecloth. But nevertheless now in our days you have with the abundance that we have you have beautiful cloths to cover the bread. But I have to cover the bread. During the week I don't have to do that. During the week the bread can be on the table and there's no problem. On Shabbat I have to cover the bread. Now if you looking at the halakha part in it, why do we do that? Because we first say a blessing on the wine. So we don't want to shame the bread. So we have to cover the bread. This is called busha tashel pat. This is what the halakha says. The shame of the bread. Cuz usually the bread it's the number one in the in the ladder of importance of food. But on Shabbat suddenly the bread goes one level down and then wine gets number one. That's embarrassing and it's a shame for the bread. So we cover the bread. That way the bread so to say doesn't see or it's covered and it's respect respectful for the bread. We do kiddush and then we eat for the we eat the the bread. So this is what the halakha says. But nevertheless the teachings of Kabbalah explains that the reason why we cover the bread and why we put the bread on a some type of a board. If you don't have a board you still have to put something there. You're not allowed to put the bread on the table. Some people don't have a bread bread board. So they just put the bread on the table and they cover it with a 20 cent handkerchief. So, this is a very special mitzvah. You want to cover it with a beautiful cloth. But, you must have something underneath. And if you don't have a bread board, then put anything. Put a tray, or put another cloth. Why? Because according to the teachings of Kabbalah, the man came down covered with dew. And there was dew, what's called tal, tal shamayim, the heavens dew. There was dew on the bottom, and dew on the top, and it covered the bread from both sides. So, when you cover the bread, again, another mitzvah to remember of the miracle. And you want to remember all that, because in a few days is Shabbat, you're going to set the table, put the breads on the table. You want to cover the bread. And I we went through that a couple months ago in one of our Shabbat Halacha classes, where I explained that even if you eat out, you still want to set the table. I don't know if you were present in that class, but nevertheless, all the classes are online, you can find them. But, I was explaining the mystical reason of setting up the table in your house, even if you're eating out. You still want to set the table. You still want to put a nice table cloth. You still put challah on the table. You put salt. You do everything. Even if you don't eat the challah, you still want to have it on the table. So, nevertheless, in a few days is Shabbat. Just remember, when you're covering the bread, you're not just covering it because it's a show, or it's a fashion statement. This is a mitzvah. And the sixth time that we commemorate the the the eating of the man is in the fourth meal that we have on Motzei Shabbat, which is called Melaveh Malkah. Unfortunately, most people don't have Melaveh Malkah. Some people call it Melaveh Malkah, escorting the queen. Some people call it the fourth meal. But, nevertheless, this is one of the most important meals of the of the day. I know it's not so easy. You're eating a meal at the 11:00 in the morning, and another meal at 4:00, and then another meal at 8:00. But, nevertheless, the the meal of Melaveh Malkah is a very, very powerful and auspicious mitzvah to do. One of the most powerful thing is for the sake of health. Anybody who has issues with health, they need to eat a Melaveh Malkah and to wash for bread and to make a beautiful meal out of it. I know a lot of people they just order pizza, which is fine, too. But, nevertheless, Melaveh Malkah you want to make it the a very special and unique meal. And I think even I have it once I gave a class about the Melaveh Malkah. And you want to make sure that there's at least one dish that is that you eat and you didn't eat on Shabbat. I mean, I know a lot of people say, "Let me eat the leftovers." Which is okay, I'm fine. We don't want to throw food, especially the food on Shabbat. You're not allowed to throw food that was done for Shabbat. It's holy food. And you don't want to give it to animals. I see sometimes people they leave it out to the animals, which is very nice. But, you don't want to eat give food on Shabbat to the animals. So, if you are eating the leftovers on Motzei Shabbat, then make one dish that is special for Melaveh Malkah. And make a meal a dish that is very, very special to you. And you want to make it a beautiful meal, putting a beautiful tablecloth on the table, and setting up the table. And a lot of people have the customs, they sing songs and they do a very nice event out of it. And it has a lot of remedies and powers behind it. This is the meal what's called the Seudat Malkah Moshiach. The the the the Seudat the meal of King Moshiach. Corresponding to David and Melech. And a very powerful, very powerful time, especially when somebody needs a refuah, when they need health. Now, again, the the the sixth part of commemorating the man is doing this meal. And the reason for that, everything has a reason. The reason for that is if you remember in the beginning I told you that when the man came down, it came in two portions. One portion for the morning and one portion for the night. Every morning. So, if they got two portions on Friday, it means they had the first portion was for Friday morning and Friday night. And the next portion was for Saturday morning and Saturday night. So, the portion of Saturday night of the man, that's when we eat the night of the man. The fourth meal after Shabbat leaves. So, I do believe that I did give a long class once about the man. And if not, maybe I should. Because it's a very very special that one wants to do. But nevertheless, these are the six times that we commemorate this unbelievable miracle of the man. And most people do those acts and they don't even know they're commemorating the man here. Most people cover the bread on Shabbat. Most people eat three times a day a meal on Shabbat and say wash for the bread. Now you know that you're doing that to commemorate the miracle of the man. Now comes the question. Why do I need so many times to commemorate this miracle? That's the one thing once a year on the the 16th day of the year when the man came down. Let's make one meal and we'll say this is the man meal. Why do I have to commemorate it so many times? Now comes another question. Why after the man? You know many miracles we have in the Torah? We didn't see any commemorations for any one of them. You know many miracles there's hundreds if not thousands of miracles that happened throughout our history and we didn't do anything and we're not doing anything about it. Why specifically the man? I know it's pretty pretty cool. 40 years food is coming from the sky. But there are many other things that happened. We're not going to start naming all the miracles and we don't do anything. So, first we want to ask why do we have to commemorate the man so many times and so often and also why that the man? What is the message behind it? Has to be a message behind it because there are many many miracles in the Torah. So, if I'm commemorating the man so many times must be that there's some message behind it. So, there are two explanations. There are much more. We're going to talk about two of them. One of them is from the Orah Hayyim. And he says the man is to strengthen a certain challenge that some people have and this is called sayon Hashirot. Is the challenge of having money. And a lot of people say, "Oh, I wish I had that challenge." Well, I don't be so quick to wish for something. You don't know what it means. To have money is a challenge. It's called a very big challenge and sayon. Besides the fact we're not talking about me winning the Mega Million. It doesn't mean that challenge of having money that you have millions of dollars. Sometimes just having money is a challenge. And why is that a challenge? And I'm sure each and every one of you had at least once in your lifetime a period that you were doing pretty good. Business was going well. You had a good job. Money was a little bit more available. And if you didn't, well, you still have your whole life to go through. Don't don't don't think that it's not going to come. But nevertheless, I would say most people and we're not going to now say numbers, most people had a period in their life or will have that money was good. It was abundance of money. It wasn't a problem. And you know what's the problem? Once you start making money, business is running well, your stature your situation your financial situation is good. You know what happens? The ego grows with the bank accounts. And And what happens is you start you start seeing yourself too much. And everybody has this little test. Now, some people have it all their life. Some people are rich. And doesn't matter what they do, they have a lot of money. That's a very hard test to have money. Not if you're going to give the money to charity or not or how are you going to hold yourself? Are you going to become a pots or you going to stay a humble person? And you don't have to have millions for that. Sometimes you just have to get a nice raise in your salary or money is more available or you got some bonus or a small inheritance. Usually when somebody makes a little bit more money then the back straightens up a little bit and the ego picks you up a little bit and suddenly you you know, I'm wearing a $500 jacket. Once they used to go through the junks. Now I'm wearing something nice. But nevertheless, I started holding myself in a very arrogant way. Now, sometimes it's even worse. Sometimes you just get an inheritance or you're born rich. And you don't even have to do anything. And I know many people that are born into money and the the the way they hold themselves is disgusting, arrogant and and showing off and looking down at people. So money is a very big test. And the Orach Chaim says the whole thing with the man is to give strength and to strengthen a person when it comes to be tested with money. Okay, this is what the Orach Chaim says. Where does he bring it from? Because it says in the Torah "Lema'an asaino im yelech betorati o lo." The reason I'm giving the man, that's what God says, to test him if he would go in in the path of the Torah or not. And we see that in actual sometimes people get money. Now Hashem says, "Okay, now let's see if you're going to show up to the minyan when you have a nice Mercedes Mercedes. When you didn't have money and there was problems, you came every day, you know, praying, Shem, I need money. I'll give you money. Now, let's see what you're going to do." So, the fact that the man came down from the sky wrapped and nice, this is representing good life. When things are good, now there's nothing wrong with being good. I mean, we wish for everybody to have money. Everybody should be comfortable. Nobody should suffer. Nobody should live in poverty. But, it comes with a test. How are you going to behave when you get that abundance? And to strengthen the this this thought, there's a story that one time there was a tzaddik and he went and visited a certain town and he was invited to a certain individual cuz he asked, "Where can I eat? Where can I find somewhere to eat here?" So, they told him, "Oh, go to so-and-so. He's very very hospitable. He opens his house. He takes everybody in." And sure enough, he goes to this person's house. What a greeting! Shalom! Come, sit down. What do you want to eat? What do you want to drink? The person greeted him like an ambassador, five star, without even knowing who he is. And the tzaddik was so impressed with the hachnasat orchim, with the acceptance of the guests, that he says, "I'm going to give you a blessing that you're going to be rich because your hachnasat orchim, how you accept people is so gracious and so amazing and you give from your portion before you to the to the guests instead of you eating it, I'm going to give you a blessing that you're going to be rich. So, that way you can do unbelievable hachnasat orchim." Okay. A year passes and sure enough, the blessing worked. The person became very wealthy and happens to be that the tzaddik came again to the town. And where does he go to? He goes to the person. This time it was a little bit different. There was a bouncer at the door. Are you invited? Are you on the list? Sit over here, sit over there. The guests were greeted in one room. The host is upstairs. He doesn't come out to talk to everybody. He's so busy now with his cigar and the VIP lounge and So he goes up and tells him, "What's going on here? I gave you a blessing to be rich so you can continue this beautiful Haknasat Orchim. Now you're running the show like a country club. What's going on here?" So the person tells him, "You know what? I I I don't know. I don't know how to explain it to you." So the tzaddik takes him and he tells him, "I want you to see something." He takes him to the window and he makes him look through the window and he says, "What do you see out there?" He says, "Well, I see many people walking in the street." Ah, good. And he takes him into the room and he puts him in front of a mirror. He tells him, "What do you see now?" He says, "Well, I see myself." Very good. Now what is the difference between the glass that is on the window and the glass that is on the wall? It's both of them are pieces of glass. How come in the glass in the window you see other people and in the glass inside the room that what we call mirror, you see yourself? What's the difference? What is the difference between the between the two pieces of glass? And the person says, "I don't know." The tzaddik tells him, "I'll tell you what's the difference. The the mirror has a thin layer of silver and then you see yourself. All it takes is a little bit of silver and you don't see other people. You only see yourself. And that's the problem with when a person comes a little bit comfortable and there's a little bit of money, they stop seeing other people. They see their own. They see themselves. So having a little bit of money in your pocket there's nothing wrong with that, but it comes with also with a test. And many people and some of you are nodding and I'm sure that many others I don't have to know all of you person in the world. Most people they have periods in their life that they barely pay the bills and sometimes they periods in their life when things are good. Hashem is testing us. And some people their test is all their life. Nevertheless, the man is the power to give you when it comes to the test of money. And this is not such an easy test. This is one opinion about the idea what's so powerful about the man. Is when I'm going to be tested with wealth and money that I'm not going to be falling into Hashem Shalom this place of arrogance and looking down at people and so forth. On the other hand, there's a completely opposite opinion to the Orach Chaim and this is brought down by the Ramban. Not Rambam, not the Maimonides, rather the Ramban. And he says the complete opposite. He says the man is to strengthen you when you have the test of poverty. And unfortunately, we all have this test once or twice in our life that you barely have money to eat. That you counting the 10 cents coins and you missing sometimes 5 cents to buy your little piece of food. And you sitting in the cold cuz there's no money for heating and whatever it is you standing in line for 5 hours to get a piece of chicken or whatever it is. But we all go through some type of a test of poverty. Sometimes it's worse, sometimes it's long, sometimes it's short, but we all have a fair share. And you know what's even if it didn't happen to you in this life by the way cuz some people might say, "Oh, I didn't have that test. Not the money, not the poverty." The Ari Zal says that we all know that we come here in many gilgulim. One life and another life and another life. One person can be rich in this lifetime, but in in the previous life he was poor. The result says that life were like going on a Ferris wheel. When one time that you are up, then somebody else will be down. But the wheel turns and one time that person will be up and you will be down. So even if it doesn't happen to you in this life, for sure there's no doubt that one time in one of your gilgulim, one of your lives, you were wealthy. And one of the gilgulim, you were poor, a beggar, and so forth. But nevertheless, even in this life, like I mentioned, sometimes business is good and you have money, sometimes not, sometimes you're poor. The Ramban says the man is to give you strength when you're battling poverty. And you don't have money. And you know what a hard test it is to be poor? I can't pay my bills. Rent is due today. I can't buy anything to eat. My clothes have clothes have holes in it. This is uh not so easy. Now, the Talmud says that the man was uh specifically for the poverty. Now, why poverty? What's the idea with poverty? Why is man's corresponding to poverty? Because when you're poor, you're constantly under stress, under pressure. How am I How am I getting the next dollar? How am I going to eat tomorrow? You eat now, but you're worried about what's going to be tomorrow. Okay, now somebody gave me a piece of bread. What am I going to do tomorrow? You're constantly under stress. And that's kind of resembling what they had with the man. It came today. I don't know if it's going to come tomorrow. Who says tomorrow the man is going to come? So this kind of stress of Okay, today I'm okay, but what's waiting for me tomorrow? Now, when you're looking at the man and not only that, looking at our own life, that every day you need the miracle. You know that when they had the manna, every day they needed the miracle. Whether they trusted Hashem that it will come or not, that's a whole different thing. But every day that miracle needed to come again. Every morning the manna had to come down. And when you are lacking something, you are under stress. If you have a lot of money now in your bank, then you're not worried what you're going to eat tomorrow. You're not worried not worried what you're going to eat the next month. But, you know, I have a relative that had a very good job. Unfortunately, here in Israel, the good jobs are in the high-tech industry, but you can get fired like that, and then you're a nobody. Take your degrees and sit in the unemployment office, and you're not going to find a job, especially if you go over the age of 40, we don't really need you anymore. So, I have a relative that got fired. And for 1 month, another month, another month, resumes to half the world, couldn't find a job. And this is an engineer, and uh a computer engineer has a a lot of background, a lot of know- couldn't find a job. Very good resume. Now, when you are lacking something, it's pressure. It's stress all the time. I don't know. How am I going to get How am I going to get through it? Now, when we're looking at the manna, it had two qualities. First of all, like I said, you requested a miracle every day. Because, like I said now, when there's a lack of something, when there's a deficiency, you're under stress. The second quality that the manna had is that everyone tasted the manna in a different taste. One tasted it like sushi, another one tasted it like pizza, another one tasted it like pasta. It had a un- un- defined taste. But, the Talmud says something very interesting that we don't even notice that, but the eye has a very strong and powerful it's affecting the taste. If you now go to a restaurant and close your eyes and just eat, it's not going to be the same. You go to a fancy restaurant, how they give you the food makes a huge difference. They don't just throw it on the plate. It's all designed nice. And when you go to a bakery or uh something in that type, you know, that you see everything. It's all organized nice. And you see how it's it's fake. You know when you see that? When you're taking kids to a nice bakery, they want the the one that has the glaze on it or the sparkly this the the candy on it. It doesn't even taste good. It's the the actual pastry that tastes good. Why are you taking the one that has the color on the top? But you see that in food that if the food is presented nice, then it tastes much better. And the Talmud says the eye has a very strong part when it comes to the taste of the food. If you would have the food plain or you won't see the food, it will affect the taste of the food. And when it looks all nice and presented nice, nice colors and so forth, then it will make it even taste better. And you put it to the test, you'll see. And the Talmud says when the eye is not a partner to eating, then what it will do, you're not going to be satisfied. When sometimes you just need to look at the food and and eat a little bit and you will be satisfied because the eye, which is translated later psychologically to your brain, then you're satisfied with what you ate. But if you take a portion like they give you when I was in the army, there wasn't much of an option. They would get this disgusting thing in the morning. I don't even know how it's called. It's every morning the same thing, like porridge or something, but didn't have any taste, didn't have any flavor, didn't have anything. And and every day you just have to, you know, put it down because there's nothing else there. And you're not satisfied when you're eating that because even if you, excuse my language, even if you stuff yourself, it's not that satisfying. But when you go to a nice meal in a beautiful hall or catering or restaurant and it's all presented nice, you're already full just by looking at the food. So the Talmud says they had two problems with the man. First of all, it's called lo pat b'salu, that they didn't have the food next to them. Then psychologically, it's putting you under stress. You open the fridge and there's a lot of food there, you're relaxed. You open your pantry, there's a lot of food there, whatever I want to eat, I have. When you open the fridge and there's nothing there, it puts you under stress. Not only did it put you under stress, you're not calm. What am I going to eat? What am I going to have? What what what what's what's the what's How the way I'm going to get my next meal? So this is called lo pat b'salu, that I don't pat means bread, sal sal salu is his basket. When my basket is full, then I'm fine. When my basket is empty, oh, wait a minute, I'm under stress. So the Talmud says the problem with the man was that they had one portion. They didn't know what's going to be the next day. Who says the next day we're going to get the miracle? And the second problem with the man was that the eye was not a partner in the meal because it just looked like a little piece of like a ball, it was white. That's it. Didn't have a shape, didn't come with colors, didn't come with nice wrappers. Look at how the food industry is taking food in our generation, how it's packaging it. The package of the packaging of the food makes 90% of your choice what you're going to why you're going to take that. You go to the supermarket, they put two things next to each other. One is packaged nice and The is not, as nice, the one that's packaged nice. So, the packaging of the food makes a huge huge difference. If you look at restaurants, they put in the menu pictures and they put a nice glass box where you see everything, especially the those desserts. The waiter comes and tells you, "Come and let me show you the desserts." They don't tell you, "We have the creme brulee and a and a chocolate cake." They come and show it to you. Suddenly, the the drool starts coming out. Why? Because you see all the nice design. "I want that one." Who says it's tasty? Just because it has a few colors on it? So, the Talmud says the problem with the man was two. First of all, that it needed the miracle. The other one that there was the taste was equal. And the problem with that was again, they they didn't have enough in their baskets and the eye was not partner with that. So, that's the problem. That's the problem of poverty. So, when you take these two options, the Ramban and the Or HaChaim, one of them is saying that the man is we commemorate it or we we do a remembrance to it to give me power to when I'm tested with money. This is the Or HaChaim. The Ramban says, "No, it's the complete opposite. It's when you tested with poverty." So, each of one of us, you choose which one is you, either the poverty or the money, and you say, "If I have money, then I'll stick with Or HaChaim. It's for giving me power for the challenge of of having money." And if Hashem you don't, then you take the opinion of the Ramban and he says, "Okay, this is to give me some type of strength to fight the fact that I have poverty and I'm lacking something." But, nevertheless, this is just one way of interpreting or explaining why do I commemorate the man so many times. But, there's another approach to look at it. And comes the question, what is better? A challenge of having money or a challenge of not having money? What would you take? Now you have uh an option. Imagine somebody will come and tell you, "I'm giving you an option to choose from. Either you're going to get a challenge of having a lot of money and in the flick of a button, you're going to have a lot of money, but you're going to have a challenge with that. And the challenge is what you're going to do with the money. Are you going to do it good things or you give it to charity? Are you going to become an arrogant pots? Are you going to be humble? Or I'll give you another challenge that you don't have any money. Everything that you have is gone. Now you're poor. Which challenge is better? Which challenge would you take? The poverty or the richness? Now, to most people and to most opinions, you know what most people will say? Give me the money. Show me the money. I'll deal with the money. Don't need the poverty. This This is what most people say. And for many commentaries, it says the nisaion, the poverty of of money is better. Now, one one way of looking at it is that poverty, it says "Oni ma'avir adam da'ato." The poverty makes a person very not himself. Worried, anxiety, fears, makes you do things that are not necessarily going to be so kosher. Maybe steal here, maybe cheat here. So, it's kind of you know, messing with your mind. But, there is a verse in the book of Mishlei, in Proverbs, chapter 30, verse eight, where it says "Rosh v'osher al titen li." Rosh means poverty. Osher means uh money, wealth. Don't give me not poverty and not money. That's what King Solomon says. He says, "Give me neither. Not poverty and not wealth. I don't want neither one of them." But nevertheless, in many places we see the poverty is much harder. It's much harder to have no money, worry, stress, and so forth, and shame, and so forth. Nevertheless, the money comes to give me power for something very, very important. We all have a problem, whether I have money or whether I don't have money, we have a problem with trust. With bitachon, with having faith in Hashem. And whether you have a lot of money or whether you don't have a lot of money, we all struggle with something that is called bitachon. And bitachon, you can say security or trust or faith. There's not really a good word in English for that. But bitachon, when I don't have bitachon, means that the question that is running in my mind is what's going to happen? What's going to be? Now, it can be with money. How am I going to pay my next rent? Can be with health. What's going to happen with me? Am I going to be healthy? Am I going to be sick? What's going to happen? So, we all struggle the same thing of bitachon. Very few people they have very strong faith in Hashem. And they will go blindly through anything. And just imagine what was going on in the desert. They're in the desert, there's no options. There's no options of work. What are they doing there? Can you imagine how much trust they had to have in Hashem? Now, you're stuck here in this world. Okay, you got fired from one job. Okay, let me open the newspaper. I mean, I don't know if the people actually open newspapers in our days, but nevertheless, you have to a person gets fired, there's options. I'll find here a job, I'll get here a loan, whatever. Can you imagine what they had through in the desert? They didn't even have an option. What is he going to do? So, can you imagine how much faith and trust they had to have in Hashem? So, the man came to make them have faith in Hashem. To know how to lean on Hashem, to count on Hashem. You know, there's a place in the Talmud in tractate Sota that it says before Messiah is going to come, there's going to be so much problems. Money, health, governments, hate, jealousies, whatever. And it says we're going to get to a point that we have nobody to trust or to count on, only by our father in heaven. The man comes to give me the awareness and the strength to know that I can only trust Hashem. Can't trust anybody. And I need to put all my trust in Hashem. Just imagine what they went through in the desert for 40 years, they only had the option of trusting Hashem cuz there's no other option. There's no unemployment office, there's no internet to find a job, there's no anything. What are you going to do in the desert? You're going to turn around to other people, can you hire me? Hire me? I don't even have money. Just imagine them walking in the desert, 3 million people, and they have to only trust Hashem. David Hamelech, which I consider one of the most smartest individual in history, King David, with with the best advice. He says in Tehillim chapter 23, Hashem roi, lo echsar. When Hashem is my shepherd, I will lack nothing. If I make Hashem my shepherd, I will never lack anything. If I'm lacking something, it's cuz Hashem is not my shepherd. I have to put all my trust in Hashem. And not only that, the man is here to remind me, Hashem is your shepherd. I am commemorating the month so many times, so it will penetrate into my awareness that I can only trust Hashem. And if I don't trust Hashem, and if I don't put my faith in Hashem, then who am I going to trust? Who am I going to trust but Hashem? And the month is giving me power, so don't worry today what is going to be tomorrow. So many people are so worried. What's going to be? What's going to happen? Who's going to take care of my kids? Who's going to do this? How am I going to pay my bill? What are you worried about? Where are you coming up with the chutzpah of saying, "I don't know what's going to be tomorrow?" How old are you? I'm 50. Well, who took care of you for 50 years? Hashem took care of you for so many times. Hashem takes care of millions of people. He's not going to take care of you? Hashem takes care of billions of animals. He's not going to take care of you? Don't worry today what's what might not happen tomorrow. Why are you getting into such a turmoil in your head of a option that might never happen? What's the point? So, the month comes to remind me, trust Hashem. Now, you know how you how you do that? Many people say, "Okay, easier said than done." You know how you do that? First of all, I tell you I told you now six times how we commemorate the month. When you do that, have in mind that you're commemorating the month. That will give you a lot a lot of strength. But there's another loophole. Thank Hashem. You have something today, be thankful. Tomorrow you might not have it. And you know how you get it tomorrow? When you thank Hashem. Thank Hashem today, then you're going to have it tomorrow. It says the the what uh our sages say, what makes it the hardest for you to serve Hashem? What is the biggest stumble, or biggest distraction of serving Hashem worry. If you worry, you can't serve Hashem. Serving Hashem means to pray, to learn Torah, to follow the the mitzvot. I mean, we're all trying to serve Hashem, and we have distractions. What is the number one distraction? Worry, de'agah. What is going to be? So, when I'm asking why are we commemorating the manna so many times? And what's so special about the manna? Because the manna is feeding me the power of faith and to know that Hashem is in control. You have all these stickers now. Don't worry, Hashem is in control. Really? Now you figured that out. Of course Hashem is in control. And what I need to take from that is when I have today, be thankful. Say thank thank you to Hashem. That's what we talked about before the class, right? Thank Thank Hashem today. The fact that you're thanking today, that's what's going to make it coming tomorrow. Now, finish with one short story. If you remember, 2 weeks ago I told you about Reb Zusha. Zusha from Anipoli, great Hasidic scholar. And I told you 2 weeks ago in the class how he he had the most powerful midat habitchon. He would pray for so long in the morning, he would finish his shacharit prayer at 12:00. Now, not because he started at 11:00. He started at netz, but he prayed so long. He had such bitachon that he would finish praying, he would say, "Abba, Zusha is hungry. Father, Zusha is hungry." And whoop, his shamesh, his gabbai, would come in with food. He had such bitachon. One time, the gabbai, his helper, his assistant, he was the one who would hear Zusha is hungry, and he would make quickly something to eat and bring him. One time, the gabbai says, "You know, this is not fair. Zusha never thanks me. I'm the one who's chopping the the the salad. I'm the one who's preparing the egg. He never tells me thank you. He says, 'Abba.' He says, 'Hashem.'" So, the gabbai says, "You know what? I'm going to I'm going to show him what it means that he's not thanking me." And one day, he says, "You know what? Tomorrow, I'm not going to serve him food. I'll show him." Okay. The next day, Zusha finishes praying. He says, "Aba, Father, Zusha is hungry." And the guy buys sitting on the side like this waiting to see what's going to happen. What do you know? A kid walks in with a beautiful tray full of food, and he gives it to Zusha. And the guy buys like, "What's going on here? This guy just ruined my my my whole stick here." So, the guy buys runs out to the kid and says, "What are you doing? What are you doing? Why are you bringing food?" He says, "Don't ask." Uh yesterday he runs to the kid and tells him what happened. The kid tells him, "Yesterday, I have done something that wasn't so nice for the for Zusha, and uh my father came and told me, 'Listen, you did something not so nice to the tzaddik, and you have to appease him. And how should you appease him? Well, you should make a meal for him because you did something that was not so nice. So, I made a meal, and I came to appease him.'" So, the guy buys the helper says he understood then that the food the meat only comes from the heavens, not coming from the guy buys, not coming from anywhere. It's coming from only from Hashem. Because the guy buys the helper wanted to get the thanks. And that's when he realized, "No, the food comes from Hashem. Doesn't come from anybody else." There is a a verse in Tehillim, chapter 32, "Lev heart." Unbelievable chapter. Read it every day. You'll see you'll be a whole different person. But it says there towards the end, "Ha bote'ach baHashem, chesed yesovevenu." The one that trusts Hashem kindness will encompass him. Why? Why if I trust Hashem then kindness will surround me all day long? The book of Ikarim the it's called the book of Ikarim Sefer Ikarim was written by Yosef Albo about 500 years ago. And he says why the one who trusts Hashem kindness will surround him? Because the fact that you trust Hashem it arouses kindness. If you don't trust Hashem then you're going to have a problem. You're going to be worried. You're going to have anxiety. You're going to not know what's going to what's the next step. But the fact that you trust Hashem then kindness will constantly surround you. You will not lack anything. All day long you're going to be surrounded with kindness. So the man is not only food coming from the heavens. The man is not only just another miracle. The man is here to remind me that I can only trust Hashem. And when we commemorate six times every week about the man is to give me the strength whether it's coming from wealth, whether it's coming from poverty. It doesn't matter where it's coming from. That there's only one shepherd. Hashem And when I put all my trust to Hashem that I will never lack anything. And not only that I will never lack anything kindness will constantly be surrounding me.