Parshas Beshalach 5786 "Behold, I will rain down for you bread from the heavens" - Today's livelihood is bread from heaven

00:00 This was in the month of Teves 5744. The Sadigura Rebbe came to see the Rebbe, and they discussed a number of subjects. It was a very interesting conversation, covering many matters. Among other things, they spoke about the need for Jews to have a livelihood. The Rebbe said something very interesting: In the past, people thought that material wealth was not fitting for a Jew, because it brought challenges. On the other hand, there is joy and satisfaction when a Jew has wealth and can observe mitzvos beautifully, with a fine esrog, fine tefillin, and a fine tallis. The Rebbe spoke about this very emphatically. He asked the Sadigura Rebbe—and even pressed him—to agree that Jews should be blessed with an ample livelihood and wealth. In the course of the conversation, the Sadigura Rebbe told a story about his great-grandfather, the first Sadigura Rebbe, son of the holy Ruzhiner, the author of Avir Yaakov. He related that a wealthy Jew once came to him after falling into debt and facing all kinds of financial difficulties. He came to the Sadigura Rebbe, the Avir Yaakov, and complained about his financial situation and the pressure he was under. The Avir Yaakov replied: The verse says, “If you walk in My statutes, I will give you your rains in their season.” When there is

01:50 “If you walk in My statutes,” Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees to it that “your rains”—your material needs—come “in their season,” and you receive what you need when you need it. That Jew, who was in distress, responded: “In My statutes” or not “in My statutes”—a Jew needs a livelihood. The Avir Yaakov took offense at this and simply closed the door; he did not want to receive anyone else for yechidus at that time. The chassidim were very alarmed that the Rebbe had taken offense. They feared that the tzaddik’s displeasure might cause harm, G-d forbid, not only to the Jew who had spoken that way, but more broadly as well. A tzaddik’s displeasure is not something desirable, and it could lead to further consequences. They considered what to do. The senior chassidim gathered and decided that several prominent chassidim should go in to the Rebbe and plead for mercy. One of the elder chassidim was there, and they went in to the tzaddik. That chossid said: “I will repeat a saying of Reb Mendel of Rimanov.” He spoke about the words “that I may test them.” As we know, in Parshas Beshalach, in the passage about the manna, the verse says, “That I may test them, whether they will walk in My Torah or not.” When speaking of all the blessings of livelihood, of the manna and all the blessings, it says: “That I may test them, whether they will walk in My Torah or not.” The plain meaning is that the manna was

03:39 a test, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu put them through that test. Rashi says the test was to see whether they would observe the mitzvos and laws connected with the manna’s descent. But Reb Mendel of Rimanov interpreted “that I may test them” this way: Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, “I will elevate them.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu says of the Jews: I will give them “a test”—the Hebrew word for “test” is related to the word for “banner,” something raised high. Hakadosh Boruch Hu says: I will elevate the Jews; I will give them abundant blessings, wealth, and greatness. “Whether they will walk in My Torah or not”—will they walk in My Torah or not? “I will elevate them”—I will give them everything they need. We do not know all the calculations, but Hakadosh Boruch Hu will elevate them; that is the main thing. When the tzaddik heard this thought, this saying about material blessings, the stern judgments were sweetened, and he said: “Indeed, that is how it should be.” He also said: “May Hakadosh Boruch Hu help that Moshiach come in a generation that is entirely indebted.” The chassidim were alarmed: What kind of statement was that? The Gemara says that Moshiach will come either in a generation that is entirely meritorious or in one that is entirely guilty. In the plain meaning, either everyone will be righteous and meritorious, or everyone will be wicked and guilty. But the tzaddik explained: No, the meaning is entirely different. There are two situations one can see in the world. Sometimes a person is unfortunate, [unclear]

05:13 he lacks what he needs for a livelihood, he lacks good health, he has no children, or he lacks other things necessary for his life and well-being, and he sighs and complains about his circumstances. And sometimes the situation is exactly the opposite: a person has, boruch Hashem, great abundance—an ample livelihood, much nachas from his children, health, and everything he needs. Then he sighs because he feels unworthy of it all: Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives me so much abundance and so many good things, and I do not deserve them. Who am I, and why do I deserve all this? He feels indebted to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as though he owes Him a debt. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives me such abundance, and I am like a debtor to Him. That is what the tzaddik meant when he said Moshiach would come in a generation that is entirely indebted: that we would be indebted to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That Hakadosh Boruch Hu would give us such abundance that we would feel we owe Him a debt. This was the story the Sadigura Rebbe told the Rebbe. The Rebbe accepted it and was very, very pleased with the story and its message. He indeed wished that there should be a generation entirely indebted: that Hakadosh Boruch Hu would give such abundance that Jews would feel indebted to Him. And this is connected to the weekly parsha, Parshas Beshalach. Among the many

06:30 wonderful matters in the parsha is the passage about the manna. That is where the verse appears: “That I may test them, whether they will walk in My Torah or not.” In general, the plain meaning of the passage about the manna is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the Jews a livelihood—food and everything they needed to get through forty years in the desert. The Jews complained to Hakadosh Boruch Hu that they were traveling through the desert and had nothing to eat, and so on. Hakadosh Boruch Hu told them: “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.” They would have all the blessings and good things Hakadosh Boruch Hu bestowed through Moshe Rabbeinu. But as we know, every matter has an explanation according to its plain meaning, and also an explanation according to its inner dimension. In the passage about the manna, we find something very interesting, both in the plain meaning and in the spiritual meaning. First of all, in the plain meaning, we find that the Jews left Egypt with matzos. They traveled with bread from the earth—the matzos they had baked—and it lasted them for many meals, for thirty days, from Pesach night, 15 Nissan, until 15 Iyar. As we know, they ate the remaining matzos and traveled with bread from the earth. And afterward, following all

07:59 the events in the parsha, Hakadosh Boruch Hu told them: “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.” They received bread from heaven—the manna—and ate manna for forty years. Later, when they entered Eretz Yisroel, the manna stopped again. “You will dwell there securely,” in an inhabited land, and they had to sow and reap: “For six years you shall sow your field.” They needed bread from the earth. We find something interesting here: Regarding the wording of Birkas Hamazon, the Gemara says that Moshe Rabbeinu instituted the first blessing. What is the first blessing of Birkas Hamazon? The first blessing, which is the main one—“You shall eat and be satisfied and bless Hashem your G-d for the good land that He has given you.” Birkas Hamazon, as the Gemara puts it, is a Torah obligation. Moshe Rabbeinu instituted the first blessing in the desert, when there was the blessing of the manna. Moshe Rabbeinu instituted the text we say, “Who nourishes Israel,” and so on, “in His goodness, with grace, kindness, and mercy,” in response to the manna. And every Jew says this when eating bread—bread from the earth, not bread from heaven. Then there is the second blessing, which Yehoshua instituted, as the Gemara says: the blessing “for the land and for the food.” The land is [unclear] food, land [unclear] food. The first blessing is “Who nourishes all,” and it relates to bread from heaven, [unclear] the second blessing mentions Eretz Yisroel, and that follows from bread from the earth. Here a strong question arises: What does bread from heaven, the manna, have to do with Birkas Hamazon? Birkas Hamazon is “You shall eat and be satisfied”; we thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu for the food a person eats here. A Jew sits in his home and takes out [unclear].

09:49 Even though we receive bread from the earth, work hard to earn a living, and in the end bring food home, prepare it, cook it, fry it and do whatever else we do with it, then eat the whole meal and are satisfied—when we recite Bircas Hamazon, we say in its first and main blessing that it is bread from heaven. This piece of bread is bread from heaven. So the institution of Bircas Hamazon teaches us that even today, our bread is bread from heaven. That is the simple question, even though we are speaking about eating physical food. Later we will learn from what the parsha says: “Behold, I will rain down bread for you from heaven.” We need to understand: What does “I will rain down bread for you from heaven” mean? That wording is not at all clear. The manna came with dew. The parsha says that when the manna descended, there was dew—not rain. And there is a well-known distinction between dew and rain, which, as Chassidus explains, is essentially the distinction between bread from heaven and bread from the earth. Dew always comes from heaven as a gift. One does not need to ask for dew. The Gemara says, “Dew is never withheld.” Dew never ceases; it is always there, every day. Even Eliyahu Hanavi, we are told, when the decree was in force, may Hashem spare us, and no rain fell for three years, wanted to bring about a cessation of the dew as well, but Hakadosh Boruch Hu

11:40 said: No. Dew is always present. In other words, dew does not depend on what a person does, asks for or prays for. It is always given as a gift from above; “dew is never withheld.” Rain, by contrast, as we know, must be requested. There must be “May my teaching drop like rain”; there must be teshuvah and blessing. Rain depends on these things. One must ask and pray for it, even to the point of fasting. An entire body of laws, Maseches Taanis, deals with how to ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu to give rain. In general, as explained, this is the distinction between bread from heaven and bread from the earth. Bread from the earth comes from below; it comes through toil and work. The whole process of obtaining bread from the earth also exists spiritually: these are matters of avodah, and prayer is an awakening from below. We arouse it through our actions, through an awakening from below, so that there will be an awakening from above and rain will come down. Dew, by contrast, comes entirely as a gift from above. That was the nature of the manna: it came as a gift from above. They had manna for forty years, every single day of the week except Shabbos, as is well known; for Shabbos they already had manna through the blessing. But the dew itself appeared on every weekday, and they received the manna without even making an effort. As we know, that is how “Behold, I will rain down for you” worked—it was a gift from above. That is why dew accompanied the manna: dew above, dew below, and the manna in the middle, with everything that entailed. From this we see how

13:21 the account of the manna begins here: “Behold, I will rain down bread for you from heaven,” not bread from below. That is what it means. Chassidus discusses this; the Rebbe speaks about it in a maamar for 15 Shvat, and the substance of the matter is [unclear]. The Rebbe spoke about this at length. In general, when we discuss this matter, it is all avodah, and that is understandable. I understand that even in physical matters, there are two levels of serving Hashem: bread from the earth and bread from heaven. Bread from the earth, in serving Hashem, is the avodah a person does through toil. In general, this is the avodah of a person here below, who must exert both soul and body to come close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In Chassidus this is called avodah from below. There is an animal soul, an evil inclination and a body, and the struggle with the body—the refinement and elevation of the body and animal soul—is the idea of bread from the earth. This was the avodah required when they were in Egypt. As we know, the Jews in Egypt were on a very low level. They were in a state of utter lowliness and impurity, in the forty-nine gates of impurity, in the exile of Egypt. It was not only a physical exile; it was a spiritual exile as well. They were very far from G-dliness. Any sense of G-dliness was very remote from them, far beyond their understanding, and their conduct too was very far from it. The one thing they had was the point of faith. The Torah tells us in Parshas Shemos that when Moshe came to them, “the people believed.” That was the point of faith, and faith was only a point.

15:11 But all this manna was something that could begin with a simple person, with simple faith. His senses, pleasures, faculties and understanding, however, were still very coarse, very low and very prominent, and the evil inclination and animal soul governed his life—even though this was already after the Exodus from Egypt. Afterward came matzos, bread from the earth, but bread from the earth in the form of matzos. Chassidus explains that the whole point of eating matzah is that “a child does not know how to call ‘Father’ until he tastes grain.” When that very young child tasted grain—bread, wheat—he gained the ability to say “Father.” This is how they came to have bread from the earth. The matzos were not just faith. Faith was drawn further and supplemented, until a Jew gained the ability to understand it, hear it and feel it—to perceive it and experience it. This is explained at length in Chassidus. Still, it was bread from the earth. It was the avodah of struggling with the body and animal soul, avodah involving a person’s lower faculties. The aim is to be able to transform the body and animal soul. Yes, but it is avodah carried out through struggle. After that they reached a higher level. The Rebbe wanted to bring together what Chassidus calls the higher level—yichuda ila’ah, complete self-nullification, intellectual understanding, prayer and cleaving to Hashem—which is the level of

16:52 the G-dly soul. A Jew has a neshamah, and the neshamah is a part of Havayah, a part of the name Havayah, above the level of memalei kol almin. True faith, true connection and the true essence of the matter—in the language of Chassidus, not only the lower level but the higher one; not only yichuda tata’ah but yichuda ila’ah; not only “Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever,” but “Hear, O Israel.” This means reaching the highest level of awareness of Hashem’s oneness, the highest level of connection to G-dliness. This is the idea of bread from heaven. By eating the manna, Jews could reach a higher level of cleaving to Hashem, of self-nullification and oneness, and absorb G-dliness on the level of sovev kol almin—G-dliness that transcends the world. In general, as we said, when we speak about Torah, there are two aspects: bread from the earth and bread from heaven. As Chassidus explains, these are two aspects within Torah itself: the revealed dimension of Torah and the inner dimension of Torah. As we know, the revealed dimension is called bread from the earth, and the inner dimension is called bread from heaven. Why? In the revealed dimension of Torah, one must engage with physical matters. There must be questions, give-and-take, “But this contradicts it,” and “Come and hear,” until one reaches a conclusion in accordance with halachah. All of these are forms of struggle within Torah itself—the battle of Torah—until one arrives at practical halachah concerning physical matters. That is bread from the earth: Torah in its revealed dimension. The inner dimension of Torah is called bread from heaven: heavenly bread, G-dly bread.

18:24 These are matters given from above from the outset: Kabbalah, the secrets and inner dimension of Torah, which were revealed—the work of the prophets, through the [unclear]. The inner dimension of Torah was revealed by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the other Kabbalists, the Arizal, and later the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid of Mezritch and our Rebbeim, who revealed the teachings of Chassidus, the inner dimension of Torah. This is manna from heaven, G-dly bread, “bread of the mighty”—higher matters, G-dliness, which is above [unclear]. But it relates to the higher level here, when we speak about higher levels of awareness of the oneness of Havayah. This capacity was given through the Jews’ eating the manna, which charged them with reaching a higher level in serving Hashem, like bread from heaven. This is the meaning of the words, “Behold, I will rain down bread for you from heaven.” Accordingly, we can understand that “I will rain down for you” expresses the ultimate purpose. Here we come to the heart of the matter: the two aspects must be joined. As explained at length in the well-known kuntres that the Rebbe Rashab wrote for the Temimim in Lubavitch—the famous Kuntres Eitz Chayim—the ultimate purpose of our leadership, of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah as a whole, and of Chabad Chassidus is to unite yichuda ila’ah with yichuda tata’ah, to unite the inner dimension of Torah with its revealed dimension, so that “they shall become one.”

19:57 As is well known, the whole purpose of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva was to bring together the revealed dimension of Torah and Chassidus. The students would study the revealed dimension, but within that study they would feel the bread from heaven. Precisely in studying the revealed dimension, they would feel G-dliness, refinement, the chassidic spirit, and the light of Chassidus. And the reverse is also true: the study of Chassidus should not be only a holy study of faith. It should involve in-depth analysis, intellect and discernment, understanding and comprehension—chochmah, binah, and daas. Through effort, one should understand why, understand where things come from, and grasp these matters through understanding and comprehension. For that is the joining of bread from heaven and bread from the earth: the bread from the earth, too, should be illuminated by the bread from heaven. They were not two separate kinds of bread. And in the bread from heaven itself, one should feel that it is not something entirely disconnected from a person. Rather, a person brings it into his own faculties and senses and becomes a vessel for it. This is what the Torah alludes to when it says right at the beginning of the parsha, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” It is indeed bread from heaven, but within that bread from heaven, one must feel the “rain down”—that it descends below. And when we look at the physical side of the story as well, the Torah tells us that

21:21 although the manna was a gift from heaven, an exalted bread, and each person received an omer per head—everyone received the same amount—nevertheless, we find in the words of our Sages that some had to search harder for it: the average people, the righteous, and the wicked. In other words, a certain effort was involved, each person according to his capacity. This emphasizes the point: although it is bread from heaven, the “rain down” must become apparent in it—the way it descends below. And this gives us the strength to carry it forward afterward, wherever a Jew may be, when there is no literal manna. The manna continues in bread from the earth as well. When a Jew eats bread from the earth, within that bread is bread from heaven. These are not two separate kinds of bread. A Jew must know that bread from the earth is, in fact, a garment for bread from heaven. On a deeper level, when a Jew eats bread from the earth, within that bread—this is why we say the first blessing in Birchas Hamazon, which Moshe Rabbeinu instituted for the manna, because bread from heaven truly exists within bread from the earth. And as the Rebbe of Chernobyl explains in Me’or Einayim, he says

22:48 Rabbi Nachum of Chernobyl writes in Me’or Einayim about what the Torah says in our parsha: “Take one jar and put in it a full omer of manna ... to be kept for your generations.” What does “Take one jar ... to be kept for your generations” mean? The jar is the vessel. Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu to take the manna and place it in a jar—in a vessel, in a garment—for your generations. A Jew must know that “for your generations” means at any time, even thousands of years after the Exodus, even today: when a Jew has a livelihood today, he must know that the livelihood he has is the manna itself. What he sees is only the jar. What we see today as bread from the earth, as a material livelihood with all its worries and so on, is only a jar. But what is inside the jar? The manna is inside the jar, for your generations. A Jew still eats manna. And as the Rebbe Rashab says, in our generation, and especially in the footsteps of Moshiach, and especially during the time of exile, the entire livelihood of Jews is something wholly G-dly—manna from heaven. It has no explanation according to the natural order. The fact that Jews have a livelihood today, and an ample livelihood, is quite openly something entirely heavenly. It is bread from heaven; it is G-dly bread. And a Jew must feel this in the physical food from which [unclear] in material matters.

24:16 As we said earlier, the Gemara and halachah say that in Birchas Hamazon we must speak not only about bread from the earth but also about bread from heaven—to emphasize that these are not two separate kinds of bread. The bread from heaven is present within the bread from the earth. What a Jew eats—physical bread, meat, fish, and all kinds of delicacies—is, in fact, something G-dly. It is bread from heaven clothed in a garment, and a Jew must always feel that within this garment is the G-dly bread itself. It comes from Hakadosh Boruch Hu; it is G-dly bread, bread from heaven. At the same time, there is “for you”: effort is required. Yes, although it is heavenly bread, there must be a “for you” here, work and effort on the person’s part. This is reflected in our service of Hashem as well. A Jew’s service of Hashem must bring together bread from heaven and bread from the earth. In our service of Hashem, the study of Chassidus must descend below. It cannot be only a holy, heavenly study that remains in an exalted realm. Rather, it must be “I will rain down bread from heaven for you”: studying Chassidus with effort, work, and comprehension, so as to understand and connect the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah. This is the idea of

25:35 bread from heaven: within this bread, within the revealed dimension of Torah, one must feel that this is the Torah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the Giver of the Torah—the G-dliness within the Torah; that the inner dimension of Torah illuminates one’s study of the revealed dimension. This has a special connection to the time we are in now, in the days leading up to the great and holy day of Yud Shvat. Yud Shvat is the yahrzeit of the Frierdiker Rebbe and the day the Rebbe assumed the nesius, whose fruits we see openly to this day. The Rebbe revealed teachings of Chassidus to us, and in our generation we see the spread and expansion of hafatzas hamaayanos: the passion with which the Rebbe pursued printing and distribution, and the explanations and insights we saw from the Rebbe in a most wondrous way, unlike anything seen in all the generations before. This is the tremendous, profound connection between the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah. Even in matters of the revealed dimension, one feels the inner dimension of Torah. We see this especially in the Rebbe’s Likkutei Sichos: the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah are one Torah. They are one and the same—“I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” Bread from heaven and bread from the earth become one. And this is reflected especially in the study of Rambam, where we see the power of the Rambam in the Rebbe’s teachings, and whose study the Rebbe instituted. We are now approaching the days when, if

26:58 Hashem wills, on Sunday, 14 Shvat, we will complete the Rambam in all the study tracks the Rebbe instituted. We begin a new cycle of Rambam. Regarding the study of Rambam in particular, the Rebbe spoke about this and explained it to us, farbrengen after farbrengen, year after year: on the one hand, we must study Rambam and see the revealed dimension of halachah; on the other hand, the inner dimension of Torah is reflected here, so that the revealed dimension and Chassidus are truly one Torah. Bread from heaven is bread from the earth—“so that I may test him.” Through this study, a Jew rises higher: “Fortunate is the people who know the shofar blast.” May we be those who move forward in Torah, going from level to level within Torah itself, and may we reach, through this study—when a Jew studies the revealed and inner dimensions of Torah together, the Torah of Chabad—the Torah of Moshiach. Then there will be the revelation of “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea,” the true revelation of the Torah of Moshiach, for which we are all waiting: “A new Torah will go forth from Me,” immediately, right now.