They Strolled Around and Picked it Up
How the Taste of the Man Was Determined
Shortly after leaving Mt. Sinai, the Erev Rav started to complain about their diet (Bemidbar 11:4): וְהָאסַפְסֻף אֲשֶׁר בְּקִרְבּוֹ הִתְאַוּוּ תַּאֲוָה וַיָּשֻׁבוּ וַיִּבְכּוּ גַּם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמְרוּ מִי יַאֲכִלֵנוּ בָּשָׂר (And the rabble that were in their midst were overcome with lust and B'nei Yisrael turned and also wept, and they said, Who will feed us meat?). To put it mildly, they were unimpressed with the man (11:6): וְעַתָּה נַפְשֵׁנוּ יְבֵשָׁה אֵין כֹּל בִּלְתִּי אֶל־הַמָּן עֵינֵינוּ (And now our souls are dried up. There's nothing at all, before our eyes, except the man).
A few pesukim later, the Torah provides us with a short description of how they dealt with the man on a daily basis (11:8): שָׁטוּ הָעָם וְלָקְטוּ וְטָחֲנוּ בָרֵחַיִם אוֹ דָכוּ בַּמְּדֹכָה וּבִשְּׁלוּ בַּפָּרוּר וְעָשׂוּ אֹתוֹ עֻגוֹת וְהָיָה טַעְמוֹ כְּטַעַם לְשַׁד הַשָּׁמֶן (The people strolled around and picked it up and ground it in a mill or crushed it in a mortar, and they cooked it in a pot, and they made it into cakes, and its taste was the taste of leshad hashamen).
There is much debate among the commentators regarding the meaning of leshad hashamen. Without getting into a lengthy discussion about it, we'll let R' Yosi and R' Yehudah provide a summary (Zohar ha-Kadosh, Beshalach 63a): אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹסֵי, מַאי לְשַׁד הַשָּׁמֶן? אִיכָּא דְּאַמְרֵי דְּלִישׁ בְּמִשְׁחָא כְּתַרְגּוּמוֹ. וְאִיכָּא דְּאַמְרֵי מַה הַשּׁד אִתְחֲזָר לְכַמָּה גַּוְונִין אוּף מָנָא אִתְחֲזָר לְכַמָּה גַּוְונִין. רִבִּי יְהוּדָה אָמַר, לְשַׁד הַשָּׁמֶן יְנִיקָא דְּמִשְׁחָא (R' Yosi said, What is the meaning of leshad hashamen? Some say, kneaded with oil, as in the Targum [Aramaic translation of the Torah]. And others say, just as the שד [shed or shad] appears in many gevanin so too the man appears in many gevanin. R' Yehudah said, leshad hashamen, sucking [or 'nursing'] from oil). The first approach of R' Yosi is plain enough to grasp. The people took the man and kneaded it with oil to make an oily dough. Yum. That had to taste good.
At least two approaches have been offered to explain R' Yosi's second interpretation, and they differ fundamentally because of their different approaches to the word שד. One approach holds that שד [shad] refers to a mother's breast. Here, gevanin—literally, 'colors' or 'hues'—is understood to refer to flavors or tastes. Just as the diet of the mother changes the taste of the milk that emerges from her breasts, so too the flavor or taste of the man also changed—in this case, based on the thoughts or the words of the one eating it (see Midrash Shemot Rabbah 25:3). The second approach holds that שד [shed] refers to a demon, and a demon's gevanin would refer to its shapes or forms. Just as a demon can change into different shapes or forms, so too with the man—it had the ability to change into different gevanin, that is, different tastes or flavors.
What does R' Yehudah say is the meaning of leshad hashamen? The Mikdash Melech explains: יניקא דמשחא פירוש אינו נלוש בשמן כת"ק אלא אחר הלישה מטגנים אותו בשמן ויונק מהשמן (The explanation of 'sucking from oil' is not kneading with oil like the Tanna Kamma [i.e. R' Yosi] but rather, after it was kneaded they fried it with oil and it [i.e. the dough] absorbed the oil). Keep in mind that the Tanna'im, especially those of R' Shimon's chabura, spoke about the deep secrets of the Torah. Therefore, R' Yehudah's explanation could mean that the man, when approached properly, when eaten with the right spirit, with the right kavanah, could lead one to a deeper understanding of the secrets of the Torah, i.e. the true 'oil' that lights all the worlds. We shall return to this idea later.
For now, let's focus on the rest of Bemidbar 11:8—the people strolled around, collected the man, ground it up or crushed it, and then cooked it in pots or baked it into cakes. Why is all this important relevant? The Zohar ha-Kadosh (Parashat Beshalach 62b-63a) discusses this at length, and it is worthwhile for us to consider the important lesson that can be derived from there.
R' Shimon bar Yochai says that even before Ha-Kadosh, baruch Hu gave the Torah to Yisrael, He differentiated between those who had emunah and those who didn't. How did He do this? R' Shimon answers: בַּמָּן כְּמָה דְּאִתְּמַר אֲנַסֶּנּוּ ([He did it] with the man, like it says [Shemot 16:4]: 'I will test them'). This is very strange. How so? The end of the pasuk that R' Shimon quotes gives us more information about the test: הֲיֵלֵךְ בְּתוֹרָתִי אִם־לֹא (Whether they will walk in My Torah or not). So Hashem gave them the man in order to provide them with a test to determine whether they would walk in His Torah or not. And yet, Hashem hadn't actually given them the Torah at that point. How are we to understand this?
We can better understand the test from Mishlei 13:25: צַדִּיק אֹכֵל לְשֹׂבַע נַפְשׁוֹ וּבֶטֶן רְשָׁעִים תֶּחְסָר (A righteous individual eats to satisfy his soul, but the belly of the wicked will lack). As R' Shimon explains, this relates to the man: וּמָנָא אַכְרִיז וְאָמַר וּבֶטֶן רְשָׁעִים תֶחְסַר וְעִם כָּל דָּא לֹא הֶעְדִּיף הַמַּרְבֶּה וְהַמַּמְעִיט לא הֶחְסִיר (And the man itself proclaimed and said, 'but the belly of the wicked will lack,' and in spite of this [Shemot 16:18]: 'the one who gathered much didn't end up with extra and the one who gathered less didn't lack'). Although the amount of effort put into collecting and preparing the man to eat had deep spiritual significance—as we will see—it had little to no practical relevance. At the end of the day, both groups of people ended up with nothing. The one who spent a lot of time and effort collecting and preparing had nothing left over to save for the next day. And the one who didn't collect very much was still satisfied and didn't have any lack.
That being the case, what was the difference between these two groups? Why would somebody invest so much time and effort in something that ultimately resulted in the same outcome as someone who didn't invest so much time and effort?
The difference between them concerns their emunah. According to R' Shimon, those who were b'nei emunah went out each day and gathered up the man and made berachot over the man. Before they ate, they made the berachah of ha-motzi and afterward they made the berachah of ha-zan. These were the sincere people who were truly grateful for what Hashem had provided for them: וְהַהוּא מָנָא הֲוָה סָלִיק רֵיחִין דְּכָל בּוּסְמִין דְּגִנְתָּא דְּעֵדֶ…שַׁוְיֵהּ לְקַמֵיהּ בְּכָל טַעֲמָא דְּאִיהוּ בָּעֵי הָכִי טָעִים לֵיהּ (And an aroma emanated from the man, which had the aroma of all the scents in Gan Eden…and when one placed it before him [to eat it], he tasted in it every flavor that he desired). If you go back to our earlier discussion, you will see that this reflects R' Yosi's second explanation of leshad hashamen—many flavors and tastes. This corresponds to the righteous individual, the tzaddik mentioned in Mishlei 13:25. He eats to satisfy his soul.
What does eating to satisfy his soul actually mean? It means that the man literally satisfied the needs of his entire existence. It satisfied not only his physical body but, more importantly, his spiritual essence, his soul. And when someone ate with this mindset, he was able to grasp the deep secrets of the Torah. As R' Shimon explains: וַהֲוָה מִסְתַּכֵּל וְיָדַע לְעֵילָּא וְאִסְתָּכֵי בְּחָכְמָה עִלָּאָה וְעַל דָּא אִקְרוּן דּוֹר דֵּעָה. וְאִלֵּין הֲווֹ בְּנֵי מְהֵימָנוּתָא, וּלְהוֹן אִתְיְהִיבַת אוֹרַיְיתָא לְאִסְתַּכְּלָא בָּהּ, וּלְמִנְדַּע אָרְחָהָא (And one looked into and understood that which was Above [because the man was not physical food at all that clouds the mind and prevents it from grasping spiritual intellect], and he looked into the Supernal Chochmah [i.e. the inner dimensions of the Torah], and for this reason they were called the 'Generation of Da'at.' They were b'nei emunah and were given the Torah to look into it and understand His ways). That's the meaning of eating in order to satisfy one's soul, something which can only be accomplished through a deep and vibrant emunah.
But what about those who were not b'nei emunah? They didn't eat to satisfy the desire of their soul. They ate to satisfy the lusts of their physical body. Such individuals had little or no desire to look into the deep secrets of the Torah. Their focus wasn't on their soul, but rather on their body. As a result, they were quite willing to fill up their days in mundane activities of gathering the man, grinding it, crushing it, baking it, etc. And it didn't really matter to them—so much—that at the end of the day they had nothing left over. How come? They needed the distraction of being occupied in the needs of their physicality.
It is about this second group that the pasuk testifies: שָׁטוּ הָעָם וְלָקְטוּ (The people strolled around and picked). Rashi adds that they strolled around בְּלֹא עָמָל [without exertion]. They weren't frantic. They weren't in a hurry. They took their time. They spent the whole day—merely to stay occupied with something—as long as it didn't require them to eat with the kavanah of satisfying their souls and contemplating the deep secrets of the Torah.
In this light, R' Shimon offers a profound reinterpretation of the word שָׁטוּ—they strolled around. Deviating from the plain meaning of the word, he says: מַאי שָׁטוּ? שְׁטוּתָא הֲווֹ נַסְבֵּי לְגַרְמַיְיהוּ בְּגִין דְּלָא הֲווֹ בְּנֵי מְהֵימָנוּתָא (What is the meaning of shatu [they strolled around]? They took shetuta [foolishness, stupidity, absurdity] to themselves because they weren't b'nei emunah). They were the ones who spent all day collecting and grinding and cooking, etc. They busied themselves with all this trouble not because they had to but because they wanted to, because they didn't have emunah and weren't that interested in spiritual pursuits: וְאִינּוּן בָּעָאן לְאַטְרְחָא גַּרְמַיְיהוּ כָּל יוֹמָא בָּתַר מְזוֹנָא יְמָמָא וְלֵילֵי דִּלְמָא לָא סָלִיק בִּידַיְיהוּ פִּתָּא דְּנַהֲמָא (And they wanted to bother themselves every day after food, day and night, because perhaps a loaf of bread wouldn't come into their hands [if they didn't do so]).
In contemporary terms, they had fallen into the trap of 'working for a living.' But according to R' Shimon bar Yochai, this was a delusion, a foolishness, a form of insanity. The truth wasn't that they believed they needed to do all that work—'You have to do your hishtadlut, after all,' they might say—rather, it was that they didn't want to spend all day probing the depths of our Holy Torah. They just weren't interested. Rather, they came to believe what the Torah explicitly warns against (Devarim 8:17): כֹּחִי וְעֹצֶם יָדִי עָשָׂה לִי אֶת־הַחַיִל הַזֶּה (My power and the strength of my hand made for me all this wealth). This is why R' Shimon said they weren't b'nei emunah.
Earlier, we read that the man had the aroma of Gan Eden and the taste of anything that the b'nei emunah desired. But what about those who were not b'nei emunah? After all their labor and time-consuming activities, what did the man taste like for them?
R' Yosi's first explanation about the leshad hashamen was that the people kneaded oil into the man creating an oily paste. This fits well with R' Shimon's description of those who were not b'nei emunah. When the pasuk says that the man tasted like leshad hashamen, it means that it tasted like oily dough for those who spent all day collecting and grinding and cooking, etc. After all their work, after all their toil and bother—all they ended up with was a shapeless blob with the consistency and taste of oily dough. No wonder they cooked it or baked it.
That describes our world rather well, does it not? If we can see a reflection of our true selves in this revelation from the Zohar ha-Kadosh then we can find our rectification, the tikkun of our souls. It'll take courage though, courage to evaluate ourselves, courage to look deeply within, courage to face the truth head on without flinching. But we can do this. At the end of the day, the question is rather simple. Are we closer to the b'nei emunah who were satisfied, deeply, truly soul-satisfied? Or are we closer to those who put a lot of effort into chasing after parnasah, but in the end, were left empty, without having acquiring soul-satisfaction? We have to assess ourselves because no one else can do it for us. And if we sense that we might be closer to those who were not b'nei emunah and we'd like to rectify the problem, what is our solution?
If we lack emunah, what good is it for us if someone just says that we need emunah? The real issue is not that we need emumah, but rather how we acquire it. That's the key. Referring to this very teaching of R' Shimon in the Zohar ha-Kadosh, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov illuminates our path with words that pierce the soul (Likutei Moharan 56:6): וּלְפִי הַגְדָּלַת הַדַּעַת כֵּן הַפַּרְנָסָה בְּנָקֵל. כִּי פַּרְנָסָה בְּנָקֵל תּוֹלָה בְּדַעַת, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: שָׁטוּ הָעָם וְלָקְטוּ – בִּשְׁטוּתָא, כִּי כָּל מִי שֶׁחָסֵר דַּעַת בְּיוֹתֵר, הוּא יָגֵע וְטוֹרֵחַ אַחַר הַפַּרְנָסָה בְּיוֹתֵר (The greater the da'at, the easier it is to earn a living, for easily earning one's parnasah depends on da'at, like it is written [Bemidbar 11:8]: 'The people strolled around and picked'—with foolishness—for the more one lacks da'at, the more he works hard and labors after parnasah).
The problem is not a lack of emunah in and of itself. The problem is a lack of da'at. And that we can rectify by learning Torah lishma and praying with kavanah. There are no shortcuts. But at least, it's doable.
