דרשני:(Parshat Behaalotecha- (Binyomin Freilich: הבדלים בין גרסאות בדף

Once upon a time there was a man called Yered. Nice man, very involved in community work, humble and a holy soul. We’ll get back to him later. 

The source for covering the Challah on Shabbos is in this week’s Parsha, namely, to help us remember the dew that created a sandwich around the Mon in the wilderness (Tur).

Ironically there was no Mon on Shabbos, as we received a double portion on Friday, so in theory, we should really cover the bread only during the weekday. And only on Shabbos morning. But that is for another Parsha sheet.

Another interesting point, is the word used in the Torah regarding the arrival of the dew.

וּבְרֶדֶת הַטַּל עַל הַמַּחֲנֶה לָיְלָה יֵרֵד הַמָּן עָלָיו - And when the dew came down, the Mon come on top of it.

I’ve seen rain, snow and hail come down from the sky. I’ve seen dew on the grass, but I have never seen it come down from above. It’s “just there” in in the morning.

So you’re probably thinking that it’s only an expression which should not to be taken literally, but I believe that there is more to it. What makes me think so? The fact that Chazal were so hooked on this word, they instituted the praise of dew in Shemoneh Esrei with the same word - מוריד הטל.

And let me tell you a secret. Remember Yered? Most people know him by his more popular name - Moishe Rabbeinu. The Gemara (מגילה יג.), tells us that he was so called because Hashem brought down the Mon in his days and in his merit.

Honestly, if I were to name him, I would call him “Mon”, but not “Rabbi Down”?! Why focus on how the Mon came to Bnei Yisroel ? Who cares? The main thing is that there was food!

Let’s back up a bit.

The day after the Bnei Yisroel left Egypt they were understandably hungry. After a little complaint, Hashem sends them something they don’t recognize. It’s there in Parshas Beshalach, where the Torah provides a description of the Mon as follows:

ויקראו בית ישראל את שמו מן והוא כזרע גד לבן וטעמו כצפיחת בדבש - Circular, white and sweet.

Years later, in our Parsha, we are again reminded of the Mon, but there is a strange arrangement of the Pesukim :

A)    The Eiruv Rav grumble and weep for meat, reminiscing the “Good ’ol days of delicious fruit and veg in Egypt”. 

B)    They say - “We’re fed up of the same boring meal, day in day out. (Rashi)

C)    The Torah describes the look of the Mon as a precious stone like crystal. It could taste and have the texture of whatever you wanted.

Isn’t it odd that the Torah writes additional description of the Mon, now in בהעלותך? This should all have been in Beshalach ?

I mentioned earlier that the dew was like a sandwich around the Mon. Where is the source of this?

The answer is found in the Gemara (יומא עה:) where we pointed to two seemingly contradictory Pesukim:

1)    ותעל שכבת הטל והנה על פני המדבר דק מחספס דק ככפר על הארץ - Implying that the dew evaporated revealing a thin layer of Mon beneath it.

2)    וברדת הטל על המחנה לילה ירד המן עליו - This implies that the Dew first settled, and then the Mon came on top of it.

So there was obviously two sections of dew. Below and above.

The Gemara compares the dew to a container - כמונח בקופסה. Isn’t this a bit obvious. Do we really need a Moshol to describe a sandwich?

Either way, it’s a wonderful Drosho, but I have got a big question on it.

Possuk 1 is in בשלח, whereas Possuk 2 is in בהעלותך? Why aren’t they together?

I haven’t seen this question asked by the Meforshim, so I hope that you will appreciate my humble answer J.

I think we can deduce from here that in פרשת בשלח, at their first meeting with the Mon, Bnei Yisroel were so hungry, they only noticed the dew above the Mon. Once it had gone, they took the Mon, with no time to spare to examine what was underneath.

In fact, Rashi might be alluding to this.

Glance your eyes, for a second, back to the description of the Mon in C) above.

You know who Hashem was talking to when he wrote those Pesukim? He was talking sadly to the dwellers of the earth. “Look how my children don’t appreciate what I have prepared for them. Ungrateful about the dew that I placed underneath.

Ungrateful about the fact that it tasted sooooooo good.

Ungrateful about the pretty shiny crystal look”.  

So now we understand why the Torah writes about the dew being underneath only later in our Parsha. Because they didn’t even notice it earlier till Hashem pointed it out.

And this explains why the Gemara adds the obvious Moshol of כמונח בקופסה, as the Maharsha writes - “Out of love he presented it to them in a gift box”.

The packaging was a treat too. The Medrash says that during the night a wind would first come and sweep the dust off the desert. That was followed by a light shower to “sponja” the floor. (And you thought it was an Israeli invention… J). Then the dew was placed underneath to keep the arriving Mon clean and fresh.

In Beshalach they had a legitimate request for food. As Rashi (בשלח ט"ז ח') points out - שאלו כהוגן.

But when they complained, Hashem got upset, so to speak.

“Look how nicely I prepared it for you! Look how it was presented! Look how I let you taste anything you desired in it”!

It’s true, dew doesn’t really come downwards from the sky. If a warm, clear day is followed by a cool, clear evening, dew will likely form on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening as a result of condensation.

But who designed that? Hashem.

And did you know that if we didn’t have dew, our crop and vegetation would dry out, causing starvation? Dew can even cause death. We say in תפילת טל the words - לחיים ולא למות !

I believe why the reason the Torah calls it - “The coming down” on the Mon, and the reason why Chazal added specifically - מוריד הטל is to teach us, that nothing just appears from nowhere.

The opposite of what I wrote earlier, that in the morning dew is “just there”.

It is not happenstance. Hashem in his kindness has sent it from heaven above. A gift from G-d.

Moishe’s name ירד also emphasizes this point. Mon wasn’t just simply at their doorstep delivered by no one. The רבונו של עולם hand delivered it personally.

We live in such an automated world that can sometimes deceive of us of the true source of goodness. Press a button, coke comes out the machine. Grip the pump at the station, benzine fills your car. Flip the switch in your home and….lights, washing machine and oven go on.

We even believe that our emails “just come in”. That is until the server or provider is down.

Maybe The Server / The Provider above is winking to remind you who the real server / provider is.

So let’s give credit, where credit is due.