פרשת בשלח תשי"ט - המן

Then the LORD caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

המטיר גפרית ואש HE RAINED BRIMSTONE AND FIRE — At first it was rain (מטר) to see whether they would repent and this was then turned into brimstone and fire (Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 15).

Then said the LORD unto Moses: ‘Behold, I will cause to rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or not.

And Moses said: ‘This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against Him; and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.’

Behold, I will make bread rain. That is, the bread would fall like rain from heaven. The word “bread” (lechem) is used here in a loose sense meaning “food.” Elsewhere the term lechem is applied to meat, as in the phrase, lechem isheh—“it is the food of the fire-offering” (Vayikra 3:11), and fruit, as in the phrase, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit (belachmo)” (Yirmiyahu 11:19).

ערב is the same as לערב AT EVENING וידעתם כי ה׳ הוציא אתכם מארץ מצרים YE SHALL KNOW THAT THE LORD HATH BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT — Since you said to us, (v. 3) “for ye have brought us forth” you shall know that it was not we who brought you forth, but it was God who brought you forth for He will bring quails for you.

וידעתם כי ה׳ הוציא אתכם מארץ מצרים YE SHALL KNOW THAT THE LORD HATH BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT — Since you said to us, (v. 3) “for ye have brought us forth” you shall know that it was not we who brought you forth, but it was God who brought you forth for He will bring quails for you.

ובקר וראיתם AND IN THE MORNING YE SHALL SEE [THE GLORY OF THE LORD] — Not in reference to that glory of which it stated, (v. 10) “And behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud” is this said, but thus, in effect, did he say to them: In the evening ye shall know that His hand has the power to give you your desire and He will give you flesh; but not with a radiant countenance will He give it to you, because you have asked Him something that is not proper (since one can exist without eating meat), and out of a full stomach (i. e. you really have meat for you have an abundance of cattle); but the bread for which you have asked out of necessity — when it falls in the morning you will behold the glory of the radiance of His countenance (His glory), because He will make it fall for you in a manner that is indicative of His love (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 16:7) — in the morning, whilst there is yet time to prepare it, and there shall be dew above it and dew below it as though it were carefully packed in a chest (Yoma 75b).

ערב is the same as לערב AT EVENING וידעתם כי ה׳ הוציא אתכם מארץ מצרים YE SHALL KNOW THAT THE LORD HATH BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT — Since you said to us, (v. 3) “for ye have brought us forth” you shall know that it was not we who brought you forth, but it was God who brought you forth for He will bring quails for you.

ערב וידעתם, “by evening you will know; and in the morning you will see;” this sounds somewhat inverted as usually you see something before you know it. Actually, G-d is simply saying that they will see and become conscious of both blessings, meat and bread. We find a similar inverted construction in Zecharyah 9,17: דגן בחורים ותירוש ינובב בתולות, “producing young men like grain, young women like new wine.” The meaning of that verse is: “G-d will enable the young men and virgins to be receiving blessings appropriate to both genders, instead of each sex receiving only what it had hoped to receive.

"Evening and you shall know that the Lord brought you out of the land of Egypt": And it was not we who brought you out from there, like you said to us, (above verse 3), “for you have brought us out.” "And morning you will see the glory of the Lord": This is not stated in reference to that glory that appeared in the cloud, since that was on the same day, as when Aharon spoke to them (verse 10), "and they turned to the wilderness[...]. And Rashi explained: Rather this is what he said to them, "'Evening and you shall know' that His hand has the power to give you your desire and He will give you meat; but not with a radiant countenance will He give it to you, because you have not asked it properly, [since it was] from a full stomach. But the bread for which you have asked properly, out of necessity — when it falls in the morning you will behold the glory of His countenance, because He will make it fall for you in a manner that is indicative of His love — in the morning, whilst there is yet time to prepare it." But it is not correct that it should state, "And morning you will see the glory of the Lord," because He will start in the morning with the present for them of the manna — as what glory of God is there in this? And [it is incorrect] also because next to it, [it states] "in His hearing your complaints." And this midrash of our rabbis (that is Rashi's source) is not an explanation of, "and you will see the glory of the Lord." But [rather] they said this because He divided their sustenance for them into two times of the day and He did not give it all in the morning. And so did they say in the Mekhilta (here), "'And Moshe said, "In the Lord's giving to you in the evening"' (verse 8) — from here, you learn that He gave them the pheasants with a dark countenance. And the manna that they asked as was fit, He gave them with a radiant countenance"; that is to say in the morning. And Rabbi Avraham (Ibn Ezra) said: "And morning" relates to the [previous] verse. As since they said, "that you took us out of Egypt," [Moshe] said [that] God will make two signs for you, so that you will know that He took you out from there — the first in the evening that day and the second on the next day in the morning. And it would have been fitting that it would have stated, "evening and morning and you will see that it was the Lord who took you out" — since "and morning" does not relate to "and you will see the glory of the Lord"; as they saw the glory on that same day. And this too does not appear to be [correct]. And what is correct in my eyes is that the wonder of the manna was very great: Since He blew the pheasants from the sea with a wind that traveled from Him, like the [natural] way of the world; but the manna was created for them now, a new creation in the sky, like the matter of the creation story. And this is what [the sages] said about it (Avot 5:6), that it was created at twilight (before the last day of creation). And hence the verse stated, today in the evening with this sign that I shall make for you, you will know that He took you out of the land of Egypt, as He will set up a table for you in the wilderness, but with the great miracle that He will do for you in the morning, you will see the glory of His kingship, about which who is the power in the heavens and the earth who can do like His acts and like His great deeds? As through the great and wondrous acts that God does, He show His glory; as in the matter of "to gather all of the nations and the languages and they shall come and see My glory" (Isaiah 66:18), and it is written (Isaiah 66:19), "and they shall recount My glory," and so [too] many [examples]. And this is the opinion of Onkelos who said, "they will see the glory of the Lord"; and he did not translate it as "[the glory] will be revealed." And know that there is a great matter in the manna. Our rabbis hinted it in Tractate Yoma 75b, "'The bread of powerful ones a man ate' (Psalms 78 25) — the bread that the ministering angels eat," These are the words of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Yishmael said to him, "And do the ministering angels eat bread? And is it not already written (Deuteronomy 9:9), '"I did not eat bread and I did not drink water."' Rather 'bread of powerful ones (abirim) [means] bread that is absorbed [directly] into the limbs (evarim)." And this matter that Rabbi Akiva said is that the existence of the ministering angels is from the radiance of the Divine Presence, and so did they expound (Exodus Rabbah 32:4), "'You give life (mechayeh) to them all' (Nehemiah 9:6) — [You are] nourishment (michiah) to them all." And about it, it is stated (Ecclesiastes 11:7), "And sweet is the light" — that they grasped from the light good reasoning. And the manna is from the products of the higher light that became physical through the will of its Creator, may He be blessed (Zohar Balak 208). And [so] it comes out that the [people who ate] the manna and the ministering angels were nourished from [the same] thing. And Rabbi Yishmael caught him because [the angels'] existence is not from something that became physical from the products of the upper light, as behold, their existence is from the upper light itself. And because of this [the Israelites that ate manna] were able to create whatever taste they wanted, as the soul clings to the higher ones in its thought. And the resting will find life and obtain favor from in front of Him (based on Proverbs 8:35). And they said in the Mechilta Shemot 16:25, "Today you will not find it, but you will find it in the world to come." And this can be understood in two ways: That we should say that there will [also] be in the world to come those whose level has not reached to always enjoy the radiance of the Divine Presence. And [so] their existence will be dependent upon that which is made physical from the radiance of the Divine presence — like the generation of the wilderness who grasped the radiance of the Divine Presence at the Sea, as they said (Mechilta Shemot 16:2), "A maidservant saw upon the Sea what Yechezkel the prophet did not see, and from that time, their soul became elevated to subsist from its products, which is the manna. But more correct is that the verse hints to the words of Rabbi Elazar ben Chisma with the word, "today": that the existence of those that will be in the world to come will be from the basis of the manna, which will be from the higher radiance, as they said (Berakhot 17a), "There is no eating and no drinking [in the world to come]... but rather the righteous ones sit and their crowns are upon their heads and they enjoy the radiance of the Divine Presence." And those in the world to come will exist from their enjoyment of the radiance of the Divine Presence through their clinging to Him with the crown that is on their heads. And the crown is the attribute [of God] that is called like this, that the verse spoke about — "and the Lord of hosts will be for a crown of beauty" (Isaiah 28:5). And about it, it is stated (Song of Songs 3:11), "with the crown that his mother crowned him." And they hinted [in the Mechilta above] to the existence of those that will be in the world to come and they hinted to the main idea [behind the] manna. And the verse stated (Psalms 78:23-25), "And He commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven; And He caused manna to rain upon them to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven: The bread of powerful ones a man ate." And so [too] it stated (Psalms 105:40), "and He satiated them with the bread of the skies;" [such] that we see from this that this 'grain' was in the heavens and He brought it down to them with the opening of its doors. And this is what I have explained — that the light became physical; as about the upper light does the verse speak in such a way, "the skies opened and I saw the visions of God" (Ezekile 1:1). Or [it is possible that the physical form] was already in the heavens, as per their statement (Avot 5:6), that [manna] was created at twilight.