PARSHAS Eikev 5783
A Hidden Test
Leora Estersohn
Director of Youth &
Family Programming
Some say wealth is a challenge. Some say talent is a challenge.
The text in Parshas Eikev states that the “manna fell from Heaven in order to test the Jewish people.” Test? The manna was a miraculous food which was entirely nutritious, allowing the body to absorb every particle of it as nutrition without a person needing to relieve themselves afterward.
The manna was also miraculous in that it could taste like any food a person desired. So this is a miracle food that tastes like your favorite Chinese takeout without compromising on nutrition whatsoever. Where’s the test?
One answer lies in a comment of the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 71b), that tranquility for evildoers is detrimental to them and to the world, while tranquility for righteous people is beneficial to them and beneficial to the world.
With their food for the day delivered to their doorstep, and while passively awaiting Hashem’s prompts to resume their travels, what would each Jewish person in the desert choose to do with all of his or her free time?
Evildoers would use their free time for destruction while the righteous would use that same free time to come closer to Hashem by learning Torah and doing His mitzvos. The test of the manna was in its opportunity for people to determine their priorities and the kind of people they wished to become.
I am extremely proud of this year’s JOIN Wilderness Academy campers for using their free time this summer to build relationships with other Jewish kids their age while learning skills and building strengths that will, G-d willing, serve them well for a lifetime!
-Message based on a teaching of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu Rabinowitz, as quoted in the anthology Mishulchan Govoa’ah.
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