Since there are no Rabbi Frand shiurim on the Parsha until Elul, I have been filling the Thursday's Parsha Tidbits with vorts from other Rabbanim. But this week I would like to try something different and say a series of vorts which I gave as part of a parsha chabura in West Hempstead tonight. Please feel free to post in the comments if you have any questions or corrections on the vorts.
In Devarim 8:3, the Torah quotes Moshe as saying "וַיְעַנְּךָ֘ וַיַּרְעִבֶ֒ךָ֒ וַיַּֽאֲכִֽלְךָ֤ אֶת־הַמָּן֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹֽא־יָדַ֔עְתָּ וְלֹ֥א יָֽדְע֖וּן אֲבֹתֶ֑יךָ". This is loosely translated as Moshe telling the Jews that Hashem afflicted them and let them go hungry and then gave them the manna that they did not know, nor did their forefathers know.
I saw five different explanations of the first three words of the pasuk which I would like to briefly summarize in this post. The first two came from the Ramban. In his first explanation he states that the words are meant to be read literally - Hashem afflicted and starved us and then gave us the manna to eat. But his second explanation reads all events as being about the manna as its based on the Gemara in Yoma 74 which states that there is no comparison between a person who has bread in his basket and one who does not. The person could have waited the same amount of time from his last meal until now, but if he knows that he has bread waiting for him he will be much less ravenous than the person who does not. Thus the Jews who depended on the manna were the afflicted and starved ones, because every day the leftover manna would liquefy and disappear. The next day, the Jews would be like the person with no bread in his basket and be much hungrier.
The third view I would like to mention is from the Tzror Ha'Mor who explains that the affliction and starvation was meant to wean the Jews from the rich but spiritually damaging foods of Egypt. They cried out that they missed the fish and gourds of Egypt, but they needed to be starved and cleansed (almost like the people who do juice cleansing lhavdil) from that food so that they could serve Hashem and learn his Torah. Once they got "off" the Egyptian foods, they were able to train their eyes to the Heavens and know that all nourishment, physical and spiritual, comes from Hashem.
The fourth take I found in the Zera Shimshon who quotes a Medrash that these three words are a hint to lighting the Shabbos candles. He connects it to a parable in the Medrash Rabbah on Koheles which states that they were presented with two portions of gourds - one which was whole and one which was comprised of broken pieces and they indicated that the whole gourd was worth twice as much as the broken. But aren't they the same size? The answer was that the same way that a person enjoys the food with his mouth, he also visually enjoys the food as well.
Thus when a person does not see his food, he has less enjoyment of it. A blind person eats but is not satisfied, thus there is an obligation on us to have lit candles on Shabbos so that we can see and enjoy the food. In order to have both the visual and taste of the food we need to have a Shabbos light.
The fifth (and cutest) take on these words comes from the Panna Raza who states that Esther gleaned the idea to have a three day fast before going to Achasverus from these specific words. The first day of the fast was the Inui and the second was the Ra'av as people were more hungry. Only after these had been completed, did Esther feel that it was time for Haman to be swallowed up.
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