"Beshalach — Part III — Manna, Shabbos, and Spiritual Discipline"

3.1 — Bread Raining from Heaven: Daily Dependence and the Discipline of Trust

Hunger as the Next Test of Freedom

After the Sea, song fades quickly into complaint. The people who crossed on dry land now stand hungry in the wilderness. The Torah is unapologetic about this transition. Redemption does not eliminate need; it exposes it.

The people protest:

[מִי יִתֵּן מוּתֵנוּ בְיַד ה׳ בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם… בְּשִׁבְתֵּנוּ עַל־סִיר הַבָּשָׂר — “If only we had died by the hand of Hashem in Egypt… when we sat by the meat pots”]

Hunger reframes freedom. The question is no longer whether Hashem can save, but whether He can be trusted daily.

Abarbanel: Why the Torah Calls It “Rain”

Hashem’s response is neither rebuke nor indulgence. Instead, He declares:

[הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר לָכֶם לֶחֶם מִן־הַשָּׁמָיִם — “Behold, I will rain bread for you from heaven”]

Abarbanel pauses on the verb mamṭir—to rain. Bread does not fall like rain. Crops grow; food is earned, stored, and secured. By calling manna “rain,” the Torah redefines the economy of survival.

Rain teaches dependence without control. No one owns rain. No one hoards it. It arrives regularly, but never by human command. The manna therefore trains a new relationship to sustenance—one built on trust, not accumulation.

Daily Portion, Daily Faith

The Torah immediately limits the gift:

[וְלָקְטוּ דְּבַר־יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ — “They shall gather a day’s portion each day”]

Abarbanel explains that this is not logistical efficiency; it is spiritual pedagogy. Freedom after slavery requires reprogramming desire. Slaves store when they can, fearing scarcity. Free people must learn restraint grounded in confidence.

The manna disciplines the people in three ways:

• It forbids hoarding
• It equalizes provision
• It forces tomorrow’s trust to remain tomorrow’s

Dependence becomes habitual rather than humiliating.

“In Order That I May Test Them”

The Torah is explicit about purpose:

[לְמַעַן אֲנַסֶּנּוּ — “In order that I may test them”]

This test is subtle. There is no danger of starvation, only the discomfort of uncertainty. Abarbanel emphasizes that the test concerns obedience under security rather than obedience under fear. Will the people follow Hashem’s word when survival is assured but autonomy is constrained?

This is a more difficult test than crisis. Trust in danger is reactive; trust in routine is formative.

Bread That Educates the Soul

Manna is not merely sustenance; it is instruction. The Torah later describes it as food:

[אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדַעְתָּ — “which you did not know”]

Its unfamiliarity is intentional. It breaks association with Egypt’s food economy and forces the people to redefine what “having enough” feels like.

Ralbag adds that manna trains intellectual humility. Knowledge does not guarantee control. Life remains intelligible but not programmable.

Gratitude Without Ownership

One of the manna’s most radical features is that it cannot be stored. Spoiled leftovers teach a painful lesson: provision that is treated as possession decays.

This reshapes gratitude. Thanksgiving is no longer a response to accumulated wealth, but a daily recognition of gift. Every morning requires renewed acknowledgment.

Conclusion: Learning to Eat With Trust

Parshas Beshalach teaches that freedom is not sustained by miracles alone, but by disciplined dependence. Bread raining from heaven forms a people who learn to live without hoarding, to eat without fear, and to trust without guarantees.

The manna does not remove hunger forever. It transforms hunger into a classroom. In doing so, the Torah teaches that the deepest form of faith is not trusting Hashem to save once—but trusting Him to provide, again and again, one day at a time.

📖 Sources

• Full sources available on the Mitzvah Minute Parshas Beshalach page under insights and commentaries.