There are two very beautiful thoughts on bitachon in this week's Parasha. The first one is based on the pasuk describing the manna. It says,
שָׁ֩טוּ֩ הָעָ֨ם וְלָֽקְט֜וּ וְטָחֲנ֣וּ בָרֵחַ֗יִם א֤וֹ דָכוּ֙ בַּמְּדֹכָ֔ה וּבִשְּׁלוּ֙ בַּפָּר֔וּר וְעָשׂ֥וּ אֹת֖וֹ עֻג֑וֹת וְהָיָ֣ה טַעְמ֔וֹ כְּטַ֖עַם לְשַׁ֥ד הַשָּֽׁמֶן׃
The people spread out and gathered, grounded it in the mill. They pounded it, and it tasted like Shad Hashemen (a certain sweet delicacy).
The Zohar questions the meaning of the words Shatu Ha’Am/ They spread out. But the word shatu has the same root as the word Shtut/foolishness. They acted in a foolish way. They didn't have enough Emunah. They were grinding and pounding… Why? If their Emunah was enough, they would not have had to go through all that effort. It would've come to them without the effort that they put in. They could have eaten it as is, and it would have had the taste that they thought of.
It says they were foolish because they ended up putting more effort in than was necessary.
Furthermore, the Zohar says that the manna had the smell of Gan Eden . When it came from Shamayim it passed by Gan Eden. .and therefore, whatever good flavor you wanted to taste, you would taste. But that was only for the people that didn't go through the extra, added trouble. Those people that grounded and went through all the added trouble, only tasted the taste of the sweet delicacy of the Shad Hashemen.
So a person's worry and lack of Emunah causes him to lose. That is the first lesson that we learn from the manna in the Parasha.
The second lesson is another famous one. Al Pi Hashem Yachanu, V’Al Pi Hashem Yisav/ The people camped on the word of God and traveled on the word of God.
There's a question on this week's Parasha- which is that we learn all the halalachot of Shabbat from the manna.
That means whatever they did to build the Mishkan was forbidden on Shabbat. They wrote in the Mishkan, so we’re not allowed to write. They dyed in the Mishkan, so we can't dye on Shabbat, and the same with all 39 forbidden activities of Shabbat- they come from the Mishkan.. The question is asked, Where do we learn that you're not allowed to take down a building? We learn from the Mishkan that they took the Mishkan down, and put it up later. The question is that you're only responsible on Shabbat if you take apart of building with the intention to rebuild it in the same spot- like if you knock a house down and you plan on building on that lot. But if you take down a house and you plan on using that wood someplace else, then that's not considered destroying. It has to be that you’re destroying to build on that spot. But in the case of the Mishkan, you took it down and moved it to another spot. So how can we learn out and compare to the Mishkan? And the answer is given that the Jewish people in the desert camped and traveled Al Pi Hashem, so it was as if they were in Hashem's hands all the time. Just like when a lady is traveling with a baby, and if the baby could talk, and you were to ask the baby, “Where are you?” The baby would not give the latitude and longitude. The baby would say,” I'm in my mother's arms.” And so too, the Jewish people throughout their travels, never really moved. They were always in the same spot. They were in their mother's arms. And that's our lesson.
These lessons of the desert, says the Bet Halevi, are not just lessons of the past. The lesson of the manna is a lesson of today. Those that put in too much hishtadlut and too much effort will not get more of anything.
If anything, they'll get less.
That’s lesson number one.
Lesson number two is that everyone has their own travels in life, like they had in the desert. We have to realize that we never really change places. We're always in the same spot. We're in Hashem’s arms. We're always in the same calm, relaxed spot on the clouds of glory, taking us through our lives. Manna and clouds of glory. The only thing we're missing is the Be’er of Miriam. We will save that for a different day.
Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.