B"H

Friday, Shevat 12, 5779 / January 18, 2019

 

This Shabbat, Parshat B’Shalach, is called "Shabbat Shira" - "Shabbat of Song".  In this Parsha we read about the splitting of the Red Sea and the "Shira," the “song” which Moshe and the Jewish people sang praising G-d for the great miracle which they just witnessed.

 

Another miracle about which we read in this week's Parsha is how G-d provided for the Jewish people the manna - "bread from heaven" - which came down each morning throughout their forty years journey in the desert. On Friday, they would receive a double portion – for Friday and Shabbat.  

 

Q.  Why was the “bread from heaven” called “manna”?

 

A.  When they first found this bread it was unfamiliar to them.  They asked, "Mann Hu” - “What is it?"  In response Moshe told them, "This is the bread which the L-rd has given you to eat... Gather of it one Omer measurement per person according to the number of your people in one's tent shall you take." 

 

If one collected more or less than an Omer per person, when they brought it home there was exactly one Omer per person. The name "manna" is derived from their expression concerning the heavenly bread, "Mann Hu"- "what is it?"  

 

G-d commanded that they should take some manna and store it for future generations, “So they can see the bread which I fed you in the desert.” The purpose for this was, so that the Jewish people in future generations will know that sustenance comes from G-d.

 

Q. Before we eat bread, we recite the blessing, “Hamotzi” – thanking G-d for giving us “bread from the earth.” What blessing did they recite on the manna, which came from heaven?

 

A. They substituted the words, “from the earth,” with the words, “from heaven.”

 

Many of the customs we observe each Shabbat remind us of the miracle of the manna.

 

Custom:  We recite the blessing over two Challot (Shabbat breads) for the Shabbat meals.

 

Reason:  This symbolizes the double portion of manna which G-d sent on Friday in honor of Shabbat.

 

Custom:  Why are the two Challot covered?

 

Reason:  In order to recall the manna, which came down covered with a layer of dew. 

 

Custom:  Why is it customary to prepare a stew (Cholent) which is placed on the stove before Shabbat in order to stay hot and delicious for the Shabbat day meal.

 

Reason:To remember the manna which remained fresh, from Friday through the day of Shabbat.

 

SHABBAT  SHALOM

Montrealcandle lighting time: 4:22  / Shabbat ends: 5:31