When Ignorance is the highest form of enlightenment- A lesson in true faith
An Essay by Rabbi Bergson
 In Parshat Beshalach the Israelites have left Egypt. Pursued by hordes of Egyptian chariots bent on destroying them and/or rounding them up back to slavery in Egypt. They miraculously cross the Sea of Reeds which splits allowing the Israelites through and subsequently drowning the Egyptian army. They are finally free. Yet the journey that lies ahead is still one fraught with dangers. They are in the desert. Their supplies of food run out and they complain to Moses and Aaron.
” If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat, when we ate bread to our fill! For you have brought us out into this desert, to starve this entire congregation to death”
The solution to the food shortage is the famous “Manna from Heaven”
Chapter 16 verse 14 describes the Manna
“The layer of dew went up, and behold, on the surface of the desert, a fine, bare [substance] as fine as frost on the ground.”
The next verse is most fascinating
“When the children of Israel saw [it], they said to one another, It is manna, because they did not know what it was, and Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”
The Hebrew phrase “Man Hu” – It is Manna is understood by commentators differently
Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki 1040-1105) understood the word Man derives from the word Maneh which means a portion in this case of food. In other words, the Israelites understood that this was a food but they had no language to describe it so they gave it a generic term portion of food”.
In contrast Rashbam (the grandson of Rashi, Rabbi Shmuel Ben Meir 1085-1158 France) has a fascinating interpretation. He understood that the word “Man” is actually an Egyptian word meaning “What” (or Mah in Hebrew- he gives a number of examples where the Torah quotes people using the words in the language they spoke in and here the Israelites spoke Egyptian as well as Hebrew).
Reading this interpretation back into the verse gives a very interesting angle to the story of the Manna as follows:
“When the children of Israel saw [it], they said to one another, “What is it?” because they did not know what it was, and Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”
A simple reading of the verse read this way is that the people were perplexed by this new phenomena and Moses enlightens them by explaining that this is the bread that will provide them nourishment throughout their sojourn in the desert.
The Sefas Emes (Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Keib Alter 1847-1905 Poland Second Gerrer Rebbe known or his profound insights into the Torah that are often very cryptic) — develops the interpretation of the Rashbam explaining this on a deep level that provides spiritual insight.
Instead of reading the verse to mean that Moses simply explained to the people that this Manna was bread for them to eat, he reads the verse to mean that Moses explained to the people that the “What is it” (Man Hu) is itself the “bread” that Hashem is given you them to eat.
What does this mean exactly? I will attempt to elucidate his idea.
He explains that true knowledge of the essence of reality, of God is beyond human apprehension. As the Zohar points out “No thought can grasp Him”.
The pinnacle of true knowledge is that “I do not know”. Let us unpack what this means in our lives.
Human beings are endowed with a mind that can think logically. The whole scientific method is based on dissecting data, breaking things down into their constituent parts to work out the nature of things (to paraphrase Rabbi Lord Sacks). This is extremely important. Since the dawn of civilisation our pursuit of knowledge has progressed society forwards (bar the dark ages!), enabling humans to control and harness nature for our benefit. In the words of God’s blessing to man in Genesis 1:28 “to subdue it”.
This type of knowledge is “knowledge of and about the stuff of our world and our cosmos”. It is knowledge we celebrate. We even make a blessing invoking God’s name when we meet a great scientist. But this knowledge is still limited by our intellects and our minds. It is knowledge that is a function of language which defines things.
But then there is a higher type of knowledge which is beyond the intellect which I call essential knowledge. It is a knowledge that is beyond words to describe.
On the deepest level to be able to experience the ultimate truth of reality that all is subsumed in the Oneness of Hashem. this is knowledge that the tools of the mind are incapable of accessing.
It is not subject to the scientific method
For example: The love you have for someone is not measurable in a test tube or by the scientific method. This does not diminish its authenticity and importance and truth.
The great spiritual masters of our tradition understood this and hence they taught “the ultimate knowledge is that we do not know!”
Hashem is infinite, and we are finite. But in truth our Divine soul is rooted in Hashem. To be connected to Hashem we therefore need to first and foremost be open to the idea that there is a mystery that eludes our minds. To do this is to become vulnerable, “To open ourselves up to infinity”
This was Moses’ response to the people. He said “Your sense of mystery and wonder, your openness to infinity, your sense of “what is it”- the realisation that Godliness is not something measurable, it is a oneness that is the source of all reality- THIS is going to be your nourishment and bread for the long and uncertain journey ahead.
This is what true faith is in Judaism. Emunah in Judaism is not blind faith or some cultish creed. True faith is that deep conviction that despite all the knowledge I have or may acquire in the future – the true essence of all reality is beyond my mind. And it is to this mystery that I must humbly surrender myself to.
Application of Faith
Faith – Emunah (אֱמוּנָה) comes from the Hebrew word Uman (אֻמָּן) meaning a craftsman. Just as a craftsman must nurture and develop his innate talents, so too faith which is inborn in the soul must be nurtured and exercised so that it can be brought out of concealment.
The prophet Jeremiah describes the journey of the Israelites in the desert as one of pure faith.
“so said the Lord: I remember to you the lovingkindness of your youth, the love of your nuptials, your following Me in the desert, in a land not sown”
Our lives have many ups and downs, challenges and difficulties. Sometimes we can feel like we are living in a “desert”.
It is our openness to the mystery of Hashem’s oneness, that enables us to live life with joy, passion and zest.
Often we can find ourselves bemoaning our circumstances. We have a specific definition of successful life, career, family, holidays, relationships etc. When we do this, we are constricting ourselves to view the world through our prism. We have decided what box life should fit it. Yet so often life does not fit into that box! Things don’t go the way we desire them to. This leads people to a few options none of which are good:
Some will respond through denial of reality or the repression of their deeper emotions which only worsens matter. By preventing issues from surfacing to our consciousness, the problem continues to fester under the surface in our subconscious which can then resurface in strange/difficult behaviours.
Additionally, the body holds our traumas and if we avoid processing the difficult emotions and themes in our lives, they can be buried in the body itself. Often denial is accompanied by distraction or numbing behaviours to avoid confronting the pain of the situation.
Other people can find their problems lead them to despair and depression which is inward directed negativity, or to anger and bitterness or worse still cynicism which directs the pain outwardly. We become disillusioned.
The theme though is the same: when we attempt to fit life into our premade categories, we inevitably find the fit is never perfect. We end up in a viscous cycle of fight or flight type responses where the reptilian part of our brains is on high alert and activated most of the time (often we are not even aware as it has become second nature). All this can make life even more difficult.
But there is an alternative to these approaches to life– that is life lived through the prism of Emunah.
With Emunah we are open to the infinite mystery of Hashem. We stop thinking that the circumstances of our lives are “wrong”. We stop “fighting” with our lives and open up to the notion that Hashem is in control of what is best for us. With Emunah consciousness we are no longer confined by boxes and categories we impose onto reality.
Deeper still we open ourselves humbly and vulnerably to a real relationship with Hashem and turn in prayer to Him to ask for his guidance in a particular circumstance.
With this Emunah- attitude the burden of life’s problems is lifted from our shoulders. Life begins to feel lighter. We become comfortable in our own skin no longer creating multiple masks we wear for others or even for ourselves. We can live life with true inner joy (Simcha) as we know we are connecting to our deepest source and fulfilling our potential.
In our relationships we start to apply Emunah which means we are humble in the awareness that however much we think we know a person one we never know their true essence. Once we box another person then even as they enter the room we have already primed ourselves with a set of ideas negative or positive which of course is more about my perception of the person then the actual person themselves. Emunah allows us to be open to new possibilities.
Emunah is the foundation of authentic relationships. Is it any coincidence that with the regression of faith and religion in the west we have an increase in breakdown in all forms of relationships?
With Emunah we have a deepened awareness that “Wherever we find ourselves, that is the place Hashem wants him to be at that moment”.
Or in the words God told Moses at the burning bush “the place upon which you stand is holy soil.”
When we live life on this level then we are living in the moment unencumbered by our past traumas and unconcerned as to what the future may bring. We stop running away from our lives or from ourselves because we are living in the NOW in the intimate divine embrace.
This is the true Manna (What is it- openness) that sustained the Jewish people throughout their 40-year sojourn in the desert.
It is this manna – the “What is this?! Humility and openness that we so desperately need as part of our balanced spiritual diet.
Shabbat Shalom
(I would like to thank Rabbi YY Jacobson of Monsey NY for many of the ideas of this article)
Postscript
A few fascinating insights into the manna
1) The Talmud in Yoma 75b describes the Manna as the bread of angels which is absorbed into the body completely with no digestion or waste – everything in the physical has a spiritual counterpart. Our digestion process separates the nutrients from the waster corresponding to the spiritual task on earth of separating between good and evil (as Adam and Eve ate from the tree of good and evil creating a confusion between them which exists until Moshiach comes)
2) According to Kabbalists no blessing was required on the Manna because the purpose of a blessing is to extract holy sparks from the impure and profane shell of the food Manna is completely holy.
3) However, Rabbi Menachem Azariyah of Fano (1548-1620) maintained that there was a blessing
As follows: “Blessed are You, G-d, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from heaven” in contrast to the regular blessing on bread “Who brings forth bread from the earth.”
4) the double bread (Lechem Mishna) we eat on Friday night and Shabbat are a symbol of the double portion of Manna that fell for the Israelites on Friday in preparation for Shabbat. The Challah board and the challah cover represent the two layers of dew that covered and protected the Manna both above and underneath.
5) The Talmud has a tradition that the Manna would taste of anything the person desired (protein carbs etc)!
6) Rabbi Moshe Shapiro (1917-2006) notes that the word manna (mahn in Hebrew) shares the root for the word Emunah — faith or trust. Manna also means portion (Rashi). The lesson seems clear: One’s “portion” is directly related to one’s faith. This idea comes into sharp focus for us almost daily. When our needs are adequately taken care of, we are content. However, our faith is tested when we feel that we lack adequate sustenance |
Shabbat Shira (The Sabbath of the song commemorating the splitting of the sea) –There is an interesting custom to put out food for the birds on Erev Shabbat Shirah.