What’s your favorite snack? Cheesy pasta? A spoonful of peanut butter? Chocolate-chip cookies?
After leaving Egypt, in the desert, we were on a 40-year soul trek with our brothers and sisters. Every day, we would receive manna, a miraculous food. It was gourmet, spa-level cuisine with a mystical dimension.
It was tailor-made to each person, exactly the amount to be satiated. It also had a Willy Wonka quality to it; it could taste like anything you like, even your favorite snack. But there was one catch: You couldn’t leave it overnight, or it would go rancid.
Now, wait a second. If G‑d is giving me gourmet, spa-level cuisine portioned exactly for my needs with a mystical-flavor infusion, why would I try saving leftovers in the fridge for the next day?
Because we were in a slave mentality. We had undergone a collective trauma. We had been slaves for 210 years in a mindset of lack and fear. The thought was, “What if I don’t have tomorrow?”
G‑d loves us too much to let us stay in this headspace. He led us in daily trust exercises where we would free-fall into His arms. Going to sleep at night with nothing in the cupboard, no security blanket, and each morning, lo and behold, what we needed was provided!
It was a 40-year bitachon boot camp. A 40-year rewiring of our nervous system. This was forming the Jewish abundance mindset: one of trust. We learned that our security is not what we have stored, but that G‑d is our security blanket.
But, we wonder, don’t I have to think about tomorrow? Isn’t that the responsible thing to do?
The author of Chovot Halevavot teaches us not to be a person who has bread on the table today and yet worries about tomorrow. The most practical thing we can do to plan for tomorrow is to enjoy the blessing of today.
G‑d wants to give us infinite good. He can give me everything, but I need to be open to receiving it. He can put the sweetest fruit in my mouth, but I need to be open to taste its sweetness.
Our blessings aren’t blessings until we enjoy them and realize from Whom they are coming.
When I breathe in knowing that there is an infinite G‑d who wants to take care of me, then I can regulate, then I can relax, then I can process the good, and take it all in. And then, and only then, am I in a worthwhile mindset to plan for tomorrow. A mindset of “G‑d is my security, I will not fear.” From there, I can make regulated, clear choices for the future.
Can we recognize the “manna” we are given today? Can we see the blessings that have been tailor-made for us—to satiate us and nourish every dimension of our being? When we can, we are building our vessel to enjoy tomorrow.
You see, G‑d can give us a family, a car, a house and a job, and I may not enjoy any of it. Why? Because no matter how good it is now, the shakiness of what about tomorrow steals the show and scares me.
That’s why in the desert, G‑d took away our false security blanket. He took away our comfort zone, he didn’t let the manna last over night. There was no comfort of a stocked pantry to ease my nerves. He said, today I will give you what you need. Now, My child go to sleep, go to a state of letting go and trust. We repeated this for 40 years. As a result, an abundance mindset in the wake of trauma is part of our spiritual DNA.
And so, today, as I place the challah on my Shabbat table, I am reminded of the manna we ate in the desert. I am reminded of who I am. I am an unbreakable soul. I am someone who can hold my fears and say to their incessant planning, “I am a person who chooses my faith over my fear. My trust is more a lived experience than my fears.”
Take a moment and notice how the blessings you need for today are here.
What about tomorrow? My survival mind questions. Breathe deep, I tell it back. Feel how I have everything that I need for what I am needed for today. Relax into knowing that my true security is my relationship with G‑d, and that is something I can always rely on.
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