BS’D
Today’s daily dose of emuna is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Shimon ben Miriam Hendyl, may he merit a complete recovery amongst all those in Klal Yisrael who are sick and suffering b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen!
It is written in Masechet Beitza (16:1) that all of one’s parnassa is allotted to him from Rosh Hashanah to Yom HaKippurim. It is further taught that any efforts invested on our part to increase our livelihood will not serve to increase this amount.
If so, why is it written in the Torah in Sefer Bereishis (3:19), “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread”? Why do we need to extend any effort if it is already decreed in advance? The RamChal ztk’l expounds in his book Mesillat Yesharim that although one will not lack parnassah from that which was decreed upon him, and he may even lay back and not lift a finger to earn that which was already declared that he would earn that year, however there is a fine that must be paid; the curse of Adam HaRishon, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread.”
Another words, the curse enforced the act that we must exert some effort in order to bring about our livelihood, since this was the decree given to us by the Master of the Universe. It is an inevitable ‘tax’ if you may call it that must be waged in order to ‘earn’ one’s livelihood.
Nevertheless, this effort, the deeds that we invest to earn our livelihood make absolutely no difference in the amount that we earn at the end of the day. We are not to believe in our hishtadlut, invested effort, when interacting with this world to earn a living. It is a part of the ‘natural makeup’ to live in this material world. One must ‘work’ in order to earn his share, however not to the point where there is no end and his mind and body works endlessly thinking that it will have an impact on how much he receives.
With that in mind, there is a well- known segula to recite Parshat HaMann (link below) today, Tuesday of parshat BeShalach, ideally in Aramaic (shnayim mikrah v’echad targum). The idea behind reading it is not to look at it as a ‘good luck omen’ rather to pay close attention to the telling of the giving of the Mann in the desert. Mann was given every day as needed, not more and not less than the day’s needs.
Thus it is with Klal Yisrael today, we should strive to reach the level of trusting in Hashem that if we have what we need today, we should not worry about tomorrow. Thank you Hashem for what I have today, every moment! Just as You have taken care of me today, I trust that You shall do so tomorrow!
The Torah reading of this coming Shabbos — Parashas Beshalach — includes the chapter telling how the Jewish People in the Wilderness received manna. Many people recite the chapter daily, as a special prayer for parnassah. There is also a widespread custom to recite this chapter on the Tuesday of the week of Beshalach, which this year is January 7th.
As a public service from Artscroll, we offer the text and interlinear translation of the chapter, from the Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Siddur. Please feel free to download it.
Click on this link to download: The Chapter of Manna.pdf (PDF: 206K)
This file is in PDF format which requires a PDF viewer such as Adobe® Acrobat® Reader.
