לְמַעַן הוֹדִיעֲךָ כִּי לֹא עַל־הַלֶּחֶם לְבַדּוֹ יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם in order to teach you that a human being does not live on bread alone -Devarim 8:3 The quote from this week’s parsha has often come to mean that our spiritual sustenance is more important than physical sustenance. Or perhaps that the spiritual, the connection to the Divine, is just as crucial to our survival. The broader context here is Moshe reminding the people that when they were hungry and lacking, wandering in the wilderness, God gave them manna. It was completely unfamiliar and miraculous, satiating them in a way neither their ancestor nor they had ever experienced before.
The traditional commentators often view the manna as a test. Would they trust in God to nourish them? Would they believe that manna would come the next day, and the one after that? One commentary, the Biur, wrote, “By being placed in a position of absolute reliance on the Almighty for their daily sustenance, they would become habituated to trust in God and their faith in God would become part and parcel of their nature.” Knowing that each day God continued to deliver manna would surely enhance their faith and trust in God.
The manna was unexpected and unknown. It showed them a new dimension of their relationship with God. It pushed them to rely on God. But perhaps, it wasn’t just God they learned about, but also themselves. That their sustenance also comes from their ability to do hard things. To make their way through experiences they never thought they’d endure, when they didn’t have a known end point or light at the end of the tunnel. They learned about their own sense of resolve and perseverance. Perhaps the greatest lesson here, one that probably many of us feel at times, is not only about if they could trust in God, but if they could trust in themselves. They realized they were capable of making their way through the most challenging of circumstances, literally only one day at a time. It was certainly the only way to do it. There was no other way.
So perhaps when we say a person cannot live on bread alone, that they cannot subsist only on physical nourishment, we also mean that we cannot live without believing in ourselves. Without learning that we are capable beyond measure along the way. Indeed, we learned that we were a people that could trust in God, and also, we are a people who can do hard things.
