Shabbat Behaalotcha
Have you ever wondered what the "manna" in this weeks Parasha was like? I mean the rabbinic tradition glorifies its taste by comparing it to honey mixed with coriander seeds. Can you imagine the image of this falling from the sky and the Israelites wallowing in the dust of the desert as they collected it?
I believe that the manna was far from physical. The taste was an activated memory of their Jewish souls back to the time before Egypt. Once in the wilderness, removed from slavery, the Israelites could feel their deeply imbedded Jewish selves as descendents of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sara, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel emerge. The sweetness of their memories were to be their sustenance in the wilderness and remove the more human pangs of hunger which would drive them back to Egypt.
As the commentator, "Kedushat Levi" taught, the manna was more than physical, it was spiritual. As the Israelites opened themselves to the wilderness, they were sated by the manna which filled their souls with sweetness. It was just like the drop of honey the Melamid places on the Hebrew letters as a child learns them. Food for the soul.
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