Why the Manna Fell at Everyone's Doorstep -- in Different Amounts
Why the Manna Fell at Everyone's Doorstep -- in Different Amounts
Part of Shemot · 19:33
A sugya on the manna's distribution, how it revealed who was a beinoni or a rasha, and the halachic timing for eating meat versus bread.
Audio Transcript
Yoma? Yeah. The little סימן ס״ה. You hear it's ריש ל״א עמוד א'. We're holding on top in third line from the top. What does it say about the man here? כתיב, one pasuk says, וברדת הטל על המחנה לילה. When the טל came down to the camp at night, they would see the man the next morning. So where did it come? In the מחנה, in the camp. כתיב, another pasuk says, ויצא העם ולקטו. They had to go out of the מחנה to collect. כתיב, another pasuk says, שטו העם ולקטו. They even had to spread out. They had to go not just out of the מחנה, had to go far. Ha keitzad? How does it work? So the answer is, צדיקים, ירד להם על פתח בתיהם. Tzadikim, it came flush in the מחנה in front of their door, to save them the job, the tircha. בינונים, יצא העם ולקטו. Beinonim had to go out to collect, but not that far. And רשעים, שטו העם ולקטו, they had to go spread out, go far. I
once heard a pshat, it's not a real pshat, but it's like a jokey pshat on this this Gemara. There's a pasuk that says, ויענך, we learned that earlier, ויענך וירעבך ויאכילך את המן. Hashem made you hungry and gave you the man. So the question in the Gemara, what do you mean made hungry? If He gave you the man, it means He gave you food, so you're not hungry. So the Gemara answered that since they tasted in it the food, but they didn't see it, you don't get so full if you don't see the food. Also, they didn't have anything in storage. Every day they had to pick up and they had nothing, so that causes hunger. So I heard of a pshat, this Gemara says that the reshaim had to go far. So it was very obvious who's a tzadik, who's a beinoni, and a rasha. Some of the reshaim were embarrassed, so they better they didn't go to collect! So they stayed hungry! So the pshat He gave him the מן, ויענך וירעבך ויאכילך, gave us the man, so He kept kept the kept some people hungry! How did they decide You saw they went How did they decide who's No. Oh, yeah. It fell in front of the house. By tzadikim, in front of their house. So the beinoni tzadik one, how do I know it belongs to this? No, if it came in front of your house But what if he is שכנים? Yeah. And we have the next door So, in front of in front of your door, in front of my my door. Sometimes, yeah, literally in front of in front of the פתח פתחי בתיהם. Huh? And the beinoni has to walk. Had to walk.
Who decides who's beinoni, who's rasha? Well, they test, but they I mean, you got lucky you got in front of the door. I didn't get in front of my door. That's the problem! Excuse me, how do I know if that's Why is that? How come that he Oh, so I'll tell you. So we had to do it by then? No. If you're If the person was a rasha, if the guy's a rasha, and he went to collect the middle, he would come home with nothing. The מן, how much you collect How does he know? You went to collect! How do you expect You thought you're a beinoni! The guy thought But it's on this package, that's No, no, no. There were some in this area, there were three areas. Some in front of the door, right? Some were a mile away. Some was two miles. So you assumed you went to the mile. Why go to two miles? How do I know? No, you went, you tried! You tried to go to the The further, the better. You tried to get a mile away It didn't work. You got and you got came home and you had nothing, because the מן, if you didn't deserve it, just like if you took too much, you got less. Huh? There was no sign on it. There's a sticker on the on the package Yeah? No, it was no sign. You came and you picked a package. So if you If a person is a rasha, if he picked a package far, he got it. He came home with a package. If he picked a package where it's not his place, he came home, it was empty. So, some people probably went all three. They went very far, they picked it from there, in the middle, and then they came Well, okay, they tried it, and then they came home and they only had enough. Says it, המרבה לא ה- if someone took more, he didn't get. He came home, it became less. So the same thing here. When they came home, they didn't have. Wouldn't you have anavah? Huh? You have anavah, where you'd say No, but if it's in front of the house, there's no anavah. It came in front of the house. And the other one they probably went further. So they went further. So probably on the way But the other was the righteous one. No, he's asking the people who assumed that they were a rasha, but really they weren't. So they went to the third level. And saw nothing. But really they could have gone before. So probably one day they tried and they saw it wasn't good, so the next day they knew where they belong. And once they came they did teshuvah, whenever, you know, on the way out On the way they did teshuvah? Oh, okay. Doesn't say baalei teshuvah. It says צדיקים, בינונים, רשעים. I don't know if baalei teshuvah is a suspension! There is something.
What do you say? A tzadik, with all the respect, why would he want to He gets up before everybody else, takes it in, so nobody sees. No, but if it's in front of your house, it's nothing to do with anavah. It's there. So, you take it. It's there. You're not a tzadik. I don't know, I'm not a tzadik, but the the plain Oybershter gave it to me in front of my door, so I just No anavah here. And בכלל, you have to know that there's nothing to do with anavah. Anavah doesn't mean that tzadik thinks he's a rasha. That's not anavah, that's stupidity. That's shtut. He doesn't behave like bitul. What's bitul? No, does bitul mean that you don't know your maalot? Farkert. It says just like a person is supposed to know his chesronot, he's supposed to know your maalot. You don't know your maalot, you're a fool. The pshat is that an anav means that I think that if somebody else would have had my upbringing, and my maalot, and my head, and my this, and my that, would have been ten times better than me. But I know, Moshe Rabbeinu was the biggest anav, but he didn't know he was Moshe Rabbeinu? He says, מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה. Every rasha he felt he's much better than me, he didn't know he's the מקבל התורה? I guess he also answered him. No, right. An anav is not a shtus. Adaraba, Moshe Rabbeinu fought, he killed in the Mitzrayim. No, so alright. Good, but the point being it says in Parashat Beha'alotcha, which was way after Matan Torah, it says Moshe was the biggest anav out of all the people in the world. What does mean anav? He So, I'm telling you the pshat. It doesn't mean he thought he was worse than this other all other people. He knew he's not worse, he knew he's a tzadik, he knew A צדיק הדור doesn't know he's a tzadik? He thinks that it's all not my I don't get credit for it. Somebody else would have had the same maalot would have have a billion times better. Moshe thought the worst Yid would have the same father as him, the same neshamah, would have worked much better, would have been much better. That's called an anav, but otherwise a fool. Otherwise not not a a a a שוטה. But an anav to take what he's like according Yeah. Yeah. But whatever whatever is supposed to do. The pshat is, what does he expect of himself? If a person would be an anav and say, I'm nothing. You know what he'll do? He won't learn, he won't daven, I'm not shayach to it. No, it says that's why you have to know your maalot. If a person knows I have a good head, it's expected of me to learn more. But if I think, my head isn't worth I can't gornisht, I know nothing, then that's not an anav, it's Okay, we'll get back here. Etz Chaim Etz Chaim, yeah. That's what we're learning right now. Yeah. This ma'aseh is not shayach to learn. To learn learn. That's right. That Yeah. Right now. That's it, but you can't say that. Yeah. That's for an anav. See, in the beginning of Tanya he asks the she'eilah he wants to prove a beinoni has no aveirot. The re'ayah is that Rava thought he was a beinoni. Now, how could Rava make a mistake he's a beinoni? Right away when you learn that perek, in the first perek, it's the first page! Right away you answer very simple, he was an anav. Really he was a tzadik. Why did he say I'm a beinoni? Because he was an anav. But then to that that word is not an answer. A person tzaddik knows he's a tzaddik. The answer in Tanya is that there's a type of beinoni which is so close to a tzaddik, his kelim and his and his and his neshama he's mamash, he sleeps the whole day, then you could make a mistake. But between a tzaddik and a beinoni you can't make a mistake. A rasha now here like I said, I didn't put on tefillin today, right? I'm an anav, I say I didn't put on tefillin. You're a meshuga, it's not like that. Anyway, so the
Gemara writes, כתיב one פסוק says לחם that the מן came down as bread. כתיב, one פסוק says it came down as עוגות. עוגות is like a cake. כתיב, another פסוק says וטחנו, had to grind it. How came that? צדיקים לחם, it came fertig, finished bread. בינונים עוגות that they still had to bake, but it came down like dough already. And the רשעים וטחנו ברחיים. The רשעים came down and they had to grind it and had to make it into flour and. Then it says weiter, the פסוק says ודכו במדוכה, that they would grind it with a grinder. אמר רב יהודה אמר רב, יהודה said in the name of רב, ואיתימא some say רבי חמא בר חנינא said this, מלמד שירד להם המן לישראל שירד להם לישראל עם המן תכשיטי נשים, makeup that the women used came down together with the mann. דבר שנדוך במדוכה, this makeup, this powder, these things that they have to grind, and it says ודכו במדוכה that means they got all that together with the mann. Then it says ובישלו בפרור, אבנים טובות? That's not that's not here, that's further. They were afraid also that they might make their make up on Shabbos so it was No, he wasn't afraid. No, the vort is the mann was such a ruchniyusdike thing that it had a full שלמות. All the good zachen came with it. It came with it or they ate it and No, no, it came along. When they found the מן they also found this thing. Now, the next thing is
ובישלו בפרור, אמר רבי חמא, מלמד שירד להם לישראל עם המן ציקי קדרה. Together with the מן they got spices for food came along. You think only the מן. The מן was like the bread, the מן was like the flour, but then geschmacke things along with it. Then it says, it says by the מלאכת המשכן, when they brought the נדבות, their donations, it says people brought, and then הם, the workers, הביאו אליו עוד נדבה בבקר בבקר. Every morning they brought more. מאי בבקר בבקר? What does it mean בבקר בבקר, morning morning? אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן, he says, מדבר שירד להם בבקר בבקר. But they brought things which came down to them every morning. What came down every morning? The מן. So, what did they bring? They didn't bring the מן, they brought gold, silver, jewels. מלמד שירד להם לישראל אבנים טובות ומרגליות עם המן. It shows that it was together with the מן came down jewels, and diamonds, and and everything came down, gold, everything came down with the מן. So, that's where they got all the money to do business with עוברי That's one of the places. They got money from before, they had from Mitzrayim already. They had plenty from Mitzrayim. The one that came out with the least came out with 90 donkeys loaded with gold and silver and diamonds. They had plenty. Now they got more. And that's, takeh, one of the שאלות, If they had so much money, why did the Oibershter have to give them more of אבנים טובות ומרגליות? What's the purpose of a nes? Nes is only for a reason. The answer is this wasn't a nes. It was natural. Since the מן was מאכל אלוקית, it was a godly thing, so it came down with all the שלמות. Automatically it came down with gold and silver. Why did it have all the tastes? Is that a special nes? Because it wasn't מוגבל. It was lechatchila, says in the pasuk, it calls it לחם מן השמים and דגן שמים. It's דגן, grain מן השמים. So in Chassidus it says that the מן was a רוחניות'דיקע מאכל, and when it came down למטה, it maintained its רוחניות'דיקע ענין. And therefore all these things that came along with it, gashmiyut, all the best that ruchniyut and gashmiyut, says the man gave them koach to learn. Says a Midrash: לא ניתנה תורה אלא לאוכלי-- מדרש אלא לאוכלי המן, or let's look in this, Baal Haturim, that the Torah was given who could really darshen it, those who ate the man. Now, really what it means, the peshat, it means they're eating in the midbar. But why did he say the man? Say that the Torah was given ליוצאי מצרים or dor hamidbar, those in the midbar. It has to do with the man, because the man was such a רוחניות'דיקע ענין that it gave all the inyanim, ruchniyut and gashmiyut, it brought out everything. Sounds like when Mashiach comes, we can eat... When Mashiach will come, we'll taste the man again. Yeah. It says, in Sefer Chasidim it says that when Mashiach will come, we're going to eat from the man, we'll make a berachah: המוציא לחם מן השמים. Does that mean that the... the man that was left, there'll be enough, everyone will have a taste. It says they make, it says in the midbar they made the ברכה המוציא לחם מן השמים. This will be from the jar of man that they put away in... Yeah, it'll be enough for everybody. Where did Yidden keep all these גשמיות'דיקע treasures? What's that? In the midbar. You need ninety donkeys to tell you it was nothing... What did they do with all the animals that they had? They had צאן ובקר, מן הסתם that's what the machaneh sold to the... Huh? Slowly through the years they ate them. Why did they complain about the slow... when they had a ton of... Exactly. That's why the Eibershter was upset. Aha. It's like I was upset. Because of the fact that they had... Yeah, different reasons. First of all, they don't ask for meat. You have bread, thank God. Don't ask. And then especially that they had. Why, takeh, did the Bnei Gad u'Venei Reuven have so much sheep, so much cattle? Because they חבבו את המן. They loved the man, so they didn't eat their meat. That's why it's called Bnei Gad. Gad, it says the man is זרע גד. So it has to do with this. So the shechitah, that whole inyan was after... like by Noach, right? Like when they... they didn't have shechitah before, after... No, it's strictly by by... After Matan Torah was given shechitah. Yeah, okay. Okay, so he says אבנים טובות came down. Where do we see this? Because someone says in פסוק, והנשיאים הביאו את אבני השהם. The נשיאים didn't bring any נדבות for the משכן. They waited till the end, and there was nothing left, so they brought these אבנים. So it says, who are the נשיאים? So, one peshat is ענני נשיאים ממש. נשיאים means the clouds. The word נשיאים means clouds. כעין, like it says: נשיאים ורוח וגשם אין. When it says there's no rain, there's no clouds and no wind and no rain. So, another peshat is the נשיאים, but this peshat is came the clouds. What else came with the clouds? Came with the mon. So the same things that came down with the mon, so they had these things. That's where they got the אבנים. That's where they got them, yeah. Then the פסוק says, והיה טעמו כטעם לשד השמן. Its taste was like the taste of לשד השמן. What's that? אמר אבהו, אל תקרי לשד אלא שד. Now there's different peshatim. One peshat, a שד is means a real שד, שדים. מה שד זה מתהפך לכמה גוונים, just like a שד could change into colors, אף המן מתהפך לכמה טעמים, the mon could change into many tastes. Ika d'amri it means שד ממש. It means the the breast from where you nurse. מה שד זה, כל זמן שהתינוק ממשמש בו מוצא בו כמה טעמים, the child, as long as he eats from the mother, feels all kinds of tastes, he feels the taste of the food that the mother ate, so he can taste everyday he can taste different foods in the milk, אף המן, כל זמן שישראל אוכלין אותו מוצאין בו כמה טעמים. As long as Yidden ate, they found more more tastes. So does that mean by the cucumbers, the spiced things? That was... One peshat... for pregnant and for... No, no. Yeah, for pregnant woman. Yeah, for the woman or for the for both? For both, yeah. And also no good for a nursing mother. And, but they still tasted it even though... It's the two peshatim we learned yesterday. One peshat they didn't have a taste, one peshat they had the taste, but they didn't have the texture. Didn't have the... So which was dangerous, the texture or the taste? Well, it depends according to which peshat. It didn't have the chemical makeup of... Tasted like it, but had the substance. No, everything else had the substance too. Yeah. Except these five. That's according to one peshat, yesterday we learned. One peshat is like that, one pshat is not. Then there's a pasuk that says... Is that true nowadays, you think? What? The texture or the... the the idea of those five things? Ask the doctors. I'm no physician. Does the Rambam mention that? I think so. Yeah. Says in פסוק, ויאמר משה, משה said, בתת ה׳ לכם בערב בשר לאכול, that ה׳ will give you in the evening meat to eat, ולחם בבקר לשבע, and bread in the morning to be full. So, meat they gave at night, and bread in the during the day. תנא משמיה דרבי יהושע בן קרחה, we learned in the
name of רבי יהושע בן קרחה, לחם ששאלו כהוגן, נתן להם כהוגן. Bread that they asked properly, a person needs bread to live, so what they asked for is the right request. So the Eibershter gave it the proper way, during the day when everything is fine. בשר ששאלו שלא כהוגן, when they asked for meat and that's something they didn't, and besides that, first of all, they did he could manage without, and besides that, they had so much sheep they could have eaten, why did they ask for meat? They could have had their own animals. נתן להם שלא כהוגן, was also given to them not in the proper way, he gave them at night. ומכאן לימדה תורה דרך ארץ, the Torah taught you דרך ארץ, שלא יאכל אדם בשר אלא בערב, should only eat meat in the evening, night. Freigt די Gemara, didn't we learn yesterday we learned אמר אביי, האי מאן דאית ליה סעודתא לא יאכל אלא ביממא, if a person has a meal, he should eat it during the day. And the reason we gave because if you don't see what you eat, you'll never be full. So, eat it during the day. And now we're saying you should eat at night. But the Gemara answers, מאי יממא, what do we mean during the day? כעין יממא, come in like day, means with a candle. Don't eat in the dark! That's all he's saying. Don't eat in the dark, cause eat in the dark you don't see. The other was kind of a punishment. In other words, they asked they didn't ask in the right way, so they got the meat at night. They had to eat it at night, that was their punishment. Yeah, but Without a candle, I mean. They could have had candles for it also. They could have candles also. אמר רב אחא בר יעקב אמר רב חסדא, רב אחא בר יעקב said in the name of רב חסדא, בתחילה היו ישראל דומים לתרנגולים. Till then, the Yidden were like chickens. When does chicken, when is their mealtime? שמנקרים באשפה. All day they're picking, there is no time. So the Yidden ate all day. עד שבא משה וקבע להם זמן סעודה. Came Moshe Rabbeinu and made a time. This time you'd eat in the morning, time he said here: in the morning you eat the bread, night you eat the meat. He told them a time. Isn't that healthier, eating that little bit at a time during the day instead of sitting down for big meals? Snacking all day? Yeah. No, it's that's healthy? Why is it healthy? The whole rush is snacking. Then the pasuk says, הבשר עודנו בין שניהם, the Eibershter was upset that they asked for the meat, so even while the meat was still between their teeth, they died. So, one pasuk says they died right away, כתיב another פסוק, עד חדש ימים, till a month. Took a month after they got the meat, that's when they died. הא כיצד? So the answer is, בינונים לאלתר מתו, the beinonim died right away. They didn't suffer. ורשעים מצטערין והולכין עד חדש ימים, they were suffering for a month. Only the ones who asked for it died, or? Yeah, I guess so. Most people asked for it. So most people died after they had the שלו? I don't think most, a lot of people. Not everyone died, but there was a מגפה. Because they didn't ask for the שלו? Who? Doesn't mention the tzadikim, yeah? So, because I guess they
didn't ask, they they were okay. Could be no, could be they ate it also. Could be they ate it, but they but when it came, they ate it. They didn't complain. They didn't complain, yeah, they didn't complain, yeah. So only the beinonim and resha'im. If I understood what you just said before, they they they asked for it not כהוגן, therefore the Eibershter gave it to them at night, and that was when Moshe Rabbeinu said that's when you should eat the meat? No, that's that's two separate things. He gave it at night, which is hard to collect. It's a much harder job to collect at night. But the fact is, since he gave it at night, he taught a lesson, that you should only eat eat meat at night. But if a person had it at night, it means of course you should eat at night, but eat in front of a candle, you should see it. So that's like a side a side הוראה that we got from here. They also didn't have time to prepare it, you need to freeze it, if it came at night, they didn't couldn't prepare it for supper. Eat it the next day. Goodbye. Did they get like that every day, like the mann? Like they get like that every day the meat? Like there was a portion also? There's a machloket whether it came once or twice, or throughout the whole There's one shita that throughout the whole מדבר years they had שלו. There was so much of it that it came all the time. Yeah, they got fed up with it.
When it says you're supposed to eat light at night, he means that you should eat bread at night? Eat a little bit of meat, maybe, and light, not too much, not like a full meal. But anyways, that's no re'ayah for nowadays.