פרשת בשלח תשכ"ט - המן

And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: a‘What is it?’—for they knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them: ‘It is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.

ויאמרו איש אל אחיו מן הוא, seeing that they did not know what it was; this is also the interpretation offered by Dunash in a book called “answers of Dunash,’ aimed at the commentary of Menachem, arguing that the end of the verse proves that this must be the meaning. I say that the meaning of the words מן הוא is simply: “whose is it?” Seeing that this is an Egyptian expression, and in that tongue the meaning of מן is the same as the meaning of מה “what,” in Hebrew, the reason why Moses used the Egyptian term is simply because there was no comparable Hebrew word for that phenomenon. It is not so out of character for the Torah when quoting people, to describe what they said in the language in which it was said. Examples are: Genesis 31,47 where the words יגר שהדותא for the monument erected by Lavan and called Galed by Yaakov, is repeated verbatim in the local language Lavan spoke. When, in the Book of Esther 3,7 we read about a פור, which means “lots” in English, but is the Persian equivalent, this reflects what was familiar to people in that region and at that time. Esther and Mordechai did not have to use this Persian term at all. All they had to write was what they did write in explaining the meaning of the word, i.e. הוא הגורל, “that is the lot.” After all, the entire Book of Esther with the exception of a couple of words is written in Hebrew. However, if the Book of Esther had not first mentioned the word פור we would not have understood why the festival was called פורים. The word מן therefore is quite understandable in light of the circumstances.

Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.’

וביום השביעי שבת means but on the seventh day is a day of rest (supply the word הוא); and לא יהיה בו means the Manna shall not be on it; and this verse comes (is written) only to include the Day of Atonement and the Festivals [as being also days when no Manna would fall] (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 16:26).

See that the LORD hath given you the sabbath; therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.’

ראו SEE with your very eyes (i. e. the word is used literally and not figuratively in the sense of “consider”) that the Lord in His glory (i. e. the Lord Himself) admonishes you regarding the Sabbath, for, behold, a miracle is performed for you on the eve of every Sabbath in that He gives you then bread for two days.

ראו!, “try and understand!” כי ה' נתן לכם השבת, the Sabbath regulations are not merely prohibitions, etc, but first and foremost the Sabbath is a gift from G’d to you, a gift for you exclusively, something G’d did not give to any other nation. The Talmud Shabbat 10 phrases it thus: “I have a precious gift in my treasure chamber, its name is “Sabbath.” I want to give it to the people of Israel.” Based on this concept of what the Sabbath is all about, the sages who formulated the Sabbath morning prayer, עמידה, emphasised that “You did not give it to the nations of the world, in fact they are not even allowed, being uncircumcised, to partake in the מנוחה, “the constructive rest, which is so characteristic of the Sabbath.” This is also echoed in Exodus 31,16 ושמרו בני ישרל את השבת לעשות את השבת לדוררותם. “The Children of Israel are to observe the Sabbath to constructively make of it the Sabbath throughout their generations.” The implication is that proper observance of the Sabbath, its concept, will ensure that we will be around throughout the generations, will partake in the redemption.

And Moses said: ‘This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded: Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.’