Manna From Heaven

This explains a most puzzling fact of life: how is it that man, the highest form of life, derives vitality and sustenance from the lower tiers of creation -- the animal, vegetable and mineral?
But the true source of nourishment is the "Divine utterance" in every creation, and, as the Kabbalists teach, the "lowlier" the creation, the loftier the divine energy it contains. In this, the universe resembles a collapsed wall, in which the highest stones fall the farthest.
(Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi)

יומא ע״ה א:כ׳

(במדבר יא, ח) והיה טעמו כטעם לשד השמן א"ר אבהו מה שד זה תינוק טועם בה כמה טעמים אף המן כל זמן שישראל אוכלין אותו מוצאין בו כמה טעמים א"ד לשד ממש מה שד זה מתהפך לכמה גוונין אף המן מתהפך לכמה טעמים

Yoma 75a:20

It was also said with regard to the manna: “And its taste was as the taste of a cake [shad] baked with oil [hashamen]” (Numbers 11:8). Rabbi Abbahu said: Shad means breast. Just as a baby tastes different flavors from the breast, since the taste of the milk changes somewhat depending on what foods his mother eats, so too with the manna, every time that the Jewish people ate the manna, they found in it many different flavors, based on their preferences. There are those who say that the word is written as shed and means literally a demon. How so? Just as a demon changes into different forms and colors, so too, the manna changed into different flavors.

יומא ע״ו א:ט׳

תניא איסי בן יהודה אומר מן שירד להם לישראל היה מתגבר ועולה עד שרואין אותו כל מלכי מזרח ומערב שנאמר (תהלים כג, ה) תערוך לפני שלחן נגד צוררי [וגו' כוסי רויה] אמר אביי ש"מ כסא דדוד לעלמא דאתי מאתן ועשרין וחד לוגא מחזיק שנא' כוסי רויה רויה בגימטריא הכי הוי

Yoma 76a:9

Similarly, it was taught in a baraita that Isi ben Yehuda said: The manna that fell for the Jewish people would accumulate and ascend until all the kings of the East and West could see it, as it is stated: “You prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anointed my head with oil; my cup runs over” (Psalms 23:5). God prepared food for the Jewish people, so that their enemies would see their greatness over the world. “My cup runs over [revaya]”; Abaye said: We learn from this that the cup of David in the next world holds 221 log, since it is stated: “My cup runs over,” and the word revaya has that numerical value.

קידושין ל״ח א:ד׳

תניא אידך ובני ישראל אכלו את המן ארבעים שנה וכי ארבעים שנה אכלו והלא ארבעים שנה חסר שלשים יום אכלו אלא לומר לך עוגות שהוציאו ממצרים טעמו בהם טעם מן

Kiddushin 38a:4

It is taught in another baraita with regard to the verse: “And the children of Israel ate the manna forty years” (Exodus 16:35). But did they really eat it for forty years? But didn’t they eat it for forty years less thirty days? The manna began to fall on the sixteenth of Iyyar in the first year in the wilderness, and they stopped eating it on the sixteenth of Nisan in the fortieth year. Rather, this verse comes to tell you that they tasted the taste of manna in the unleavened cakes that they took out from Egypt on the fifteenth of Nisan in their first year, and this sustained them until the manna fell.

כריתות ה׳ ב:י״ח

ואמר רבי אלעזר אתיא שם שם

Keritot 5b:18

And Rabbi Elazar says: How do we know that all these items needed to be sequestered together with the Ark? The halakha that the jar of manna was to be kept with the Ark is derived through a verbal analogy between the words “there” and “there.” The word “there” is stated with regard to the Ark: “Where I will meet with you there” (Exodus 30:6), and it is also stated with regard to the manna: “And put there” (Exodus 16:33).

רבנו בחיי, שמות ט״ז:ט״ו

(א) מן הוא. מלשון (שמואל א א׳:ה׳) מנה אחת אפים, וכן (ויקרא ח׳:כ״ט) למשה היה למנה, ועל כן נותן הכתוב טעם כי לא ידעו מה הוא כלומר מפני שלא ידעו מה הוא קראוהו מתנה מן השמים ולא קראוהו בשם מיוחד כי לא היו יודעים מהותו, ורבינו חננאל כתב מן הוא כלומר מאין הוא לפי שלא ידעו מה הוא.

Rabbeinu Bahya, Shemot 16:15

(1) . מן הוא, “it is a portion (of food)!” The word is derived from מנה, a gift.” we find the word in Samuel I 1,8 מנה אחת אפים, “a double-portion (of gifts).” Here too the arrival of the manna was a gift for Moses (who had not even had to ask G’d for it). The Torah had to explain this as the Israelites did not know what to make of this new phenomenon. Seeing that they did not know what it was they named it “a gift” (from heaven). Rabbeinu Chananel writes: the words מן הוא mean מאין הוא “where does it come from,” as they did not know its origin.

ברכות מ״ח ב:ב׳

אמר רב נחמן משה תקן לישראל ברכת הזן בשעה שירד להם מן

Berakhot 48b:2

With regard to the origins of the four blessings of Grace after Meals, Rav Naḥman said: Moses instituted for Israel the first blessing of: Who feeds all, when the manna descended for them and they needed to thank God.

יומא ע״ה ב:ה׳

כתיב לחם וכתיב שמן וכתיב (שמות טז, לא) דבש אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא לנערים לחם לזקנים שמן לתינוקות דבש

Yoma 75b:5

With regard to the manna, it is written “bread” (Exodus 16:4), and it is written “oil” (Numbers 11:8), and it is written “honey” (Exodus 16:31). How can we reconcile these verses? Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: For the youth it was like bread, for the elderly it was like oil, and for the children it was like honey. Each received what was appropriate.

יומא ע״ה ב:ה׳

כתיב לחם וכתיב שמן וכתיב (שמות טז, לא) דבש אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא לנערים לחם לזקנים שמן לתינוקות דבש

Yoma 75b:5

שמות רבה כ״ה:ג׳

דָּבָר הָיוּ אוֹמְרִים וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה רְצוֹנָם. אָמַר רַבִּי אַבָּא אַף דָּבָר לֹא הָיָה אוֹמֵר בְּפִיו אֶלָּא חוֹשֵׁב בְּלִבּוֹ לוֹמַר מַה שֶּׁנַּפְשׁוֹ מִתְאַוָּה, הָיָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה רְצוֹנוֹ וְהָיָה טוֹעֵם טַעַם מַה שֶּׁהָיָה מִתְאַוֶּה. תֵּדַע לְךָ שֶׁהוּא כֵּן, שֶׁכֵּן אָמַר יְחֶזְקֵאל (יחזקאל טז, יט): וְלַחְמִי אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָךְ סֹלֶת וָשֶׁמֶן וּדְבַשׁ הֶאֱכַלְתִּיךְ. כָּתוּב אֶחָד אוֹמֵר: הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר לָכֶם לֶחֶם מִן הַשָּׁמָיִם, וְכָתוּב אֶחָד אוֹמֵר: (שמות טז, לא): וְטַעְמוֹ כְּצַפִּיחִת בִּדְבָשׁ, וְאוֹמֵר (במדבר יא, ח): וְהָיָה טַעְמוֹ כְּטַעַם לְשַׁד הַשָּׁמֶן, כֵּיצַד מִתְקַיְּמִין שְׁלשָׁה כְּתוּבִין הַלָּלוּ, בַּחוּרִים הָיָה טוֹעֲמִין טַעַם לֶחֶם, זְקֵנִים טַעַם דְּבַשׁ, תִּינוֹקוֹת טַעַם שָׁמֶן.

Shemot Rabbah 25:3

The Holy Blessed One makes [the taste of manna] according to their desires. Rabbi Abba said, even if the thing is not said out loud, rather it is only thought of in his heart, as the Scripture says, "from his soul he has a desire," thus the Holy Blessed One makes according to his desire the flavor of [manna] according to each one's desire. Know that this is so, for as the prophet Ezekiel said, "My bread which I give to you is flower, oil, and honey that you may eat of it." It is written one place saying, "Behold I will rain down bread from heaven" and in another saying, "the taste is of a dripping honey" and another saying, "its taste is the taste of the finest flower." How do these three texts compare? Young ones taste bread, the elders taste honey, the babes taste the oil.