The Law of Daily Bread

Abstract

We have reached the great episode of the manna. The phenomenon of the “manna” is a sweet and aromatic resin produced by two parasites of a plant (tamarix mammifera) in the central area of the Sinai. Coming from Egypt, the people could not know the manna, and so they ask, ‘What is it?’. And Moses answers and explains. Without the eyes and words of the prophets our ‘What is it?’-s remain unanswered, or, more simply, we seek and we find other cheap answers that leave us hungry. The greatest form of free gift is the one that comes down from heaven every morning together with the dew. The world is surrounded by gratuitousness. In fact, it is more real and present than evil that is also present. It dwells in our midst, we can find it in the trees, in our families, in the bushes, under our warehouses and offices, in the markets, in the streets, in hospitals, in schools and deep in the hearts of our people. It is here, in the amazement of ordinariness, that we may find the type of gratuitousness that saves us. Crossing our deserts would be much more bearable if only we knew how to recognize, with the help of the eyes of the prophets, the providence that surrounds us, that we can feed and that feeds us.

... (Moses) taught them the prayer in which they were to offer thanks after eating manna, which read: “Blessed be Thou, O God our Lord, King of the world, who in Thy bounty, dost provide for all the world; who, in Thy grace, goodwill, and mercy, dost grant food to every creature, for Thy grace is everlasting. Thanks to Thy bounty we have never lacked food, nor ever shall lack it...

(Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Vol. III)