How could it be that Bnei Yisrael despaired that they would starve in the wilderness so soon after seeing the most amazing miracles of Hashem’s salvation right before their eyes and only four weeks prior? And why didn’t Hashem give them food before their stomachs started to growl?

According to the chassidic masters reading the story of the mahn on the Tuesday of parshas Beshalach is a vehicle for bringing down blessings of parnassah. What then is the great economic truth described in what’s knows as parshas hamahn?
Looking into the text we see that Bnei Yisrael were hungry and they can’t be blamed for that. But for some reason they decided to submit a complaint.
Exactly one month had passed since their redemption from Egypt. Three weeks earlier they had felt the might of Hashem’s Hand when He split the Sea of Reeds before them bringing them to safety while their Egyptian pursuers drowned. They knew Hashem’s power not just as a philosophical abstraction but as a living tangible reality.
How could it be then that such a short time later as soon as they felt hunger pangs they developed a plaintive grousing attitude better suited to Israeli factory workers on strike? The pasuk tells us:
“And the entire congregation of Israel complained against Moshe and against Aharon and they said ‘Would that we had died by Hashem’s Hand in the land of Egypt where we sat over a pot of meat where we ate bread to satiety — for you have taken us out to this wilderness to put all this assembly to death by hunger!” (Shemos 16:3).
What a statement! Had they forgotten everything they’d experienced a mere month before? Was their memory that short? Why didn’t they turn in prayer to the same G‑d Who had saved them until now? How could they so distort their reality remembering how in Egypt life had been wonderful and here in the desert nothing but death awaited them?
We must also ask why indeed didn’t Hashem see to it that they had sustenance in the desert before they reached the point of despair? Why didn’t He take care of them before they complained so that they wouldn’t have anything to complain about?
In fact when they experienced hunger for the first time since their exodus from Egypt Bnei Yisrael came to see that their redemption was not yet complete. Their worry for their future their fear of lack of financial security and concern that they would have no means of supporting their families indicate that their spirits were subjugated to the circumstances of life. Suddenly they saw that the threat of starvation had the power to crush their spirit completely and disperse all memory of the great events they had only recently experienced.
They were only on vacation from the yoke of a cruel oppressor; they had not yet come to redemption and true liberation and Hashem wanted to teach them this at the beginning of their road as a historical nation. This is why He didn’t treat them to a free lunch immediately. First they needed to feel a sensation of hunger that would trigger complaints bringing home that their minds were still in galus. Worry about tomorrow could still paralyze their spiritual powers and their aspirations toward higher values. Only after they realized this did Hashem shower them with the bread of geulah the mahn that would help them build a truly liberated personality. Let us examine how this process took place:
“And Hashem said to Moshe ‘I will make bread rain down to you from the sky. The people will go out and gather enough for each day. I will test them to see whether or not they will keep My law. And on the sixth day they shall prepare what they shall bring and it shall be double the amount they shall gather each day.’” (ibid. 4–5)
These pesukim lay a firm foundation for the economy of Bnei Yisrael in the wilderness which is the antithesis of all the economic systems known in our world. Hopefully these principles would continue to prevail afterward when Bnei Yisrael entered the Promised Land and stood on their own in the realm of independent creative activity. How was this foundation laid?
“The threat of starvation real or imagined undermines every principle and nullifies every positive decision. As long as a person is not redeemed — not from concern over his livelihood per se but from power of that concern — there is no room for absolute fulfillment of Hashem’s Torah…. As long as a person is harnessed to the yoke of making a living on his own limited powers that worry is endless. It is liable to turn his world into a wilderness — not only when he actually goes into the wild but even in the midst of civilization where he has many assets but also many competitors. A person is liable to think that he has to be concerned not only for tomorrow but for his entire future as well as the future of his children grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This mode of thought spurs him on to make conquest after conquest with no peace of mind and no time for settled thought to the point where there is no room left in his heart for any other goal or purpose.” (Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parshah)
This brief passage from Rav Hirsch encapsulates man’s entire struggle ever since it was decreed on him that “by the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread.” The overwhelming concern for sustenance has cast the mold of man’s world since the dawn of history. It has corrupted his character and determined his priorities making livelihood and profit the highest goal. It has pushed him toward unrestrained acquisitiveness on both the personal and the national plane. Concern about lack of money completely enslaves man’s spirit permitting him to trample and destroy anything that stands in his path to the top — be it a neighbor a competing business the other political party or the other nation that is infringing on his lebensraum. A society that makes material acquisition its supreme mandate puts all its resources into that ceaseless struggle leaving none for spiritual gains (or no time even if the desire is there).
The alternative economy of the mahn in the wilderness came to redeem Bnei Yisrael from their natural human tendencies. Their complaint about their perceived threat of starvation showed them that they too were affected by the common malady of fear of the unknown. They too were at risk of sliding down the slippery slope of “advancement.” The mahn was given to them as a daily training regimen to strengthen their spiritual muscles against such a downslide.
How did it work?
The first basis was: “Deep recognition that even the concern for livelihood the first of all human concerns is not imposed primarily on man alone. Man is allowed and required to do the duty Hashem lays upon him while his success is in Hashem’s hands.…” (Rav Hirsch ibid.).
And therefore “The people will go out and gather enough for each day. I will test them to see whether or not they will keep My law.”
Keeping His law “is conditional upon [His] finding men who will make do for their livelihood and that of their wives and children with a day’s worth each day who do their duty today and eat today with joy and well-being — and toss their concern for tomorrow on Hashem. He Who created today and its livelihood will also create tomorrow and its livelihood. Only a person who trusts Hashem unconditionally is assured that he will not transgress the Torah because of worries real or imagined over parnassah. He who has not learned to toss the concern for tomorrow’s parnassah on Hashem will stray from Hashem and His Torah. This is the basis of the saying of Rabi Elazar HaModai: ‘He Who created today created its livelihood… anyone who has sustenance for today and asks “What will I eat tomorrow?” is lacking in faith.’” (Rav Hirsch)
For 40 years in the wilderness Bnei Yisrael practiced not worrying about tomorrow. They received a day’s worth of food each day but they were required to gather it each morning. Anyone who didn’t gather his portion had nothing to eat that day to teach them the other rule of parnassah: their duty to strive for a living and not allow trust in Hashem to lead to parasitism or greed. Anyone who collected more than his portion would find when he got home that his efforts were in vain:
“And they collected one more and one less and they measured in an omer basket and he who collected more had no more and he who collected less had no less each man according to his sustenance … and Moshe said ‘No man shall leave any of it over until morning ’ and some men did not listen to Moshe and left some of it over until morning and it became wormy and spoiled …” (ibid. 17–20)
The nation’s experience collecting mahn six days a week stood them on the foundations of Jewish parnassah and gave them an economic legacy for all generations — eschewing laziness greed stinginess and worry replacing those negative traits with diligence trust and enjoying one’s G-d-given portion. —
Next week: Beit Naomi and the kids on the street — Part II