Jüdisches Denken zu Pirkei Avot 5:6

No doubt the portion dealing with Manna is of fundamental significance, since it relates to man's ultimate destiny and salvation. The impediments to achieving final goals are twofold, and stem from people having either too much or too little. Of the two impediments, having too much is undoubtedly the greater impediment on our path towards salvation. A surfeit of worldly goods acts as a greater hindrance to our achieving our spiritual goals than a shortage of such material possessions. We know of many poor people who became great Torah scholars, whereas only a few Jews managed to combine both material wealth and great spiritual leadership in one person. Among those blessed with wealth, some have used it to provide comforts for their families, others, such as the tribe of Zevulun, to enable others to pursue a life of Torah study not interrupted by the need to earn a livelihood. However, the vast majority were snared by material wealth to feed their own greed. As a result, all the good their wealth might have accomplished was wasted. Of the latter people, David says (Psalms 78,33) "they have ended their days in vanity, their years in confusion." Deuteronomy 8,11 -14, warns of the dangers of wealth which can lead one astray. (1) Because G-d was aware of the dangers inherent in wealth, He provided Israel with bread from heaven on a day to day basis. This was to teach them the lesson that He was the great Provider, and that food serves specific objectives, that its accumulation is not an end in itself. Only in this way can one expect to be fed at "the two tables." (2) When G-d provides the Manna, the temptation not to serve G-d because one is busy earning one's livelihood ceases. On the other hand, by not receiving excess food or material wealth, the temptation to wheel and deal, amass fortunes etc are robbed of their very basis, and the impediment to serving G-d due to preoccupation with one's worldly possessions is removed from such an individual. This is the meaning of the words "in order to test you if you will go in the way of My teachings or not." (Exodus 16,4) (8) By providing a double portion for the Sabbath already on Friday, the sanctity of the seventh day is emphasized, for without preparing for that day ahead of time, no prepared meals would be possible on the Sabbath. The lesson is also taught that accumulation of worldly goods is justified when these goods serve a holy purpose, (more about this in chapter 55) (3) When the Jewish people noted a layer of fine particles, they believed it was the Manna which people knew of. That is why the verse cites "they said to one another it is "Manna," because they had not realised what it really was." They had been wrong! Moses pointed this error out to them, explaining that this was not a medication, but food. Moses said "this is the bread G-d has given to you to eat," i.e. it is not what you thought it was. Since, however, they had already named it, the name stuck to it. Since it was difficult to get the Israelites to change the name of that food, we find repeated occasions when Moses refers to it by name, with the added comment "which neither you nor your forefathers knew," or, "who feeds you Manna, which neither you nor your forefathers knew. (Deut. 8,3; 8,16) All this is to let us know that although the Israelites named the food "Manna," it is not identical with the Manna generally known. (4) The essence of the heavenly gift which was absorbed by the body one hundred per cent was, that it was to serve exclusively as food, not as an object of trade or barter. That is why Moses said "gather from it each according to the amount he needs to consume, namely one omer per head." When the Israelites did so, each one estimating the amount he required, he found upon returning to the camp that what he had collected was exactly one omer for each head in his family. The wonderful lesson was that it had been demonstrated that rich and poor require exactly the same amount of sustenance. (5) He who thought that he had collected "a lot," hamarbeh, as well as he who thought he had collected a little, ha-mamit, realised at the end of his respective life that each of them had had exactly enough. The rich person cannot take his wealth with him, and the poor has not been deprived since he has had enough until the day he died. (7) They were not allowed more than one day's supply to comply with the principle of baruch hashem yom yom, may the Lord be blessed daily, to teach us to have faith that G-d will be here to provide for us tomorrow also. The fact that some people starved themselves in order to leave some for the morrow, was not a form of asceticism, but was proof they were miserly. Just as there are many men who because they deny themselves luxuries being miserly with themselves, succeed only in providing generously for the second husbands of the widows they leave behind, so the Israelites were to be taught that self denial for the wrong reason is self defeating. The fact that the Manna melted as the sun became hot, was to dissuade greedy people who might come back to collect the left over quantities. The very crystal like nature of the Manna when freshly collected, gave rise to the belief that it would be easy to keep and preserve. This is the reason all these points are described in detail. (8) (6) Moses had obviously not told the people beforehand that a double ration would be found on Fridays. Moses then told them that if they prepared it for the Sabbath right away, not on the next day, it would keep. "He who labours on the eve of the Sabbath, will eat on the Sabbath," i.e. he who labours in this world will reap a double reward in the world to come. The verse (Exodus 16,26) "on the seventh day is the Sabbath there will not be any on it," teaches that any good deeds accumulated in this life is food stored up for consumption in the hereafter. "Today to prepare it, and not tomorrow to prepare it." (Avodah Zarah 3) (9) Just as there were people who tried to keep what they had already collected for later, so there were some who went out on the Sabbath to collect. They did not want to miss any, in case there would be some. G-d’s anger at these people stemmed from the fact that the lesson of the double ration they had already received on Friday had been lost on them. They were not concerned with their well being in the hereafter, but lived only for the material blessings available in this world. Moses upraided these people saying "here G-d made you a gift of the Sabbath." Their refusal to see the centrality of the Sabbath legislation to the whole fabric of Judaism, was indeed a most serious offence. The visible Providence of G-d in connection with the Manna demonstrated that the Sabbath legislation is indeed fundamental, its observance a keystone in Judaism.

Despite many opinions to the contrary, the events related in our verse did indeed take place. Abraham did not see all these events only in his mind's eye. True, there are occasions in the Bible when visions described very graphically-- such as Ezekiel's trip to Jerusalem (Ezekiel Chapter 8)-- were in fact merely visions. Those instances do not prove that all supernatural encounters of outstanding men were merely visions of the mind and spirit. The wealth of detail reported about these encounters, such as reports of sitting, standing, running, etc. bear out the claim that these events took place physically. There are numerous reasons for the visions and encounters Abraham was granted which are listed at the beginning of our Parshah:

Some problems in the text. 1) Exodus 32, 11, tells of Moses being late in returning from Mount Sinai. The time frame involved, according to our tradition, was a mere six hours. Yet we are told that Aaron was besieged by the people, that these people brought him their personal jewelry, having failed to persuade their wives to part with their jewelry. The crucible for melting down the gold seemed to be at hand, Aaron produced a golden calf. How could such a revolutionary change occur so suddenly within such a short space of time? Were there no people prepared to credit Moses with being a day late? 2) If the people were indeed convinced that Moses would not return, why did they not offer the now vacant leadership position to their beloved Aaron? Why did they demand "a G-d who will walk in front of us?" 3) Why did Aaron choose a golden calf as the symbol to be constructed? No materials or specific animal had been requested, after all? 4) Why did not G-d tell Moses that Aaron had made that calf? 5) Why did G-d say "leave Me alone, so that I can get angry"? The words "leave Me alone so that I can destroy them" would seem to have been more appropriate! 6) Moses’s question "why are You angry?" seems difficult to understand Could there have been anything that would have given G-d greater reason to be angry? 7) Why did Moses not get angry till he reached the camp? Had he not believed what G-d had told him? 8) Why did Moses burn the calf? Who burns metal objects? 9) The dialogue between Moses and Aaron is very strange. Aaron seems to deny responsibility, whereas Moses seems to have suggested to him an excuse by asking "what have the people done to you?" It seems as if the people were punished whereas Aaron went scot free? 10) When Moses confessed the guilt of the Jewish people, he avoided mentioning the fact that it was a calf that had been worshipped. Does not a proper confession require the spelling out of all the details of one's misdemeanour? 11) Since we had already read about the people having removed their jewelry, (verse 4) why did G-d instruct Moses to have the people remove their jewelry? (verse 5)