The Jewish people left Egypt – have faith.
They were chased by the Egyptians – have faith.
They saw they were trapped by the Egyptian army and the raging sea – have faith.
Nachshon ben Aminadav walked into the sea up to his knees – have faith.
Up to his arms – have faith.
Up to his nostrils and the sea split!

Throughout this parasha we see a pattern of such faith!

After so many miraculous miracles which happened in Egypt and so many events which followed we are still constantly exercising our emunah muscles.

Then the Jewish nation came to the dessert, free from slavery, yet hungry and thirsty and Hashem blesses them with the Maan which Bnei Yisrael asks (מן הוא”   (36:15” what is this?

There are specific rules about this new thing called maan. About gathering the maan, each day, per person, per family, per household. We had to personally gather the portion ourselves. Do not take too much otherwise it will rot and stench by the next day. Yet not too little or you won’t be satisfied. And for Shabbat, you shall collect a double portion as it won’t fall on the 7th day. Have faith! And not only will it stay fresh and maggot free the next day, it will blossom and taste even better. Have faith!

The Bnei Yisrael who listened to Hashem and followed the instructions merited to have such glorious, tasty food to eat. As if freshly made, hot as if from the oven, to taste as they dream. Even if the portion was too little, they had enough to satisfy themselves. 

In our day and age, we find ourselves in trials and tests. We sometimes get blinded by the emotions which come with these as well as the difficulties of the tests themselves. The fear of the unknown, the change in our planned direction, we sometimes feel that it’s all me, myself and I or we ask the question why me? 

But we always need to remember we are not alone, Hashem is with us. All we have to do is take the first steps in our faith in Him and start flexing our emunah muscles. Know that if we are going on the correct path of Torah and Emes then Hashem will help carry us along the way.

We can’t just sit back and let life pass us by and we shouldn’t have to slave away to achieve too much. We just have to take the first step. Show Hashem that we really are trying. We have to do is our histadlut, not too much and not too little, because either way Hashem is there with us.

מן הוא, once we rearrange the letters, we get אמונה.

We just have a little faith.

Wishing you all a wonderful and restful shabbat.