Parshas Emor - shelf life

One aspect of the priestly service highlighted in this week’s Torah reading is the showbread, the 12 loaves of bread baked and put on display in the sanctuary each week. Miraculously the showbread stayed fresh for the entire week, until the next week’s showbread was in place. The Talmud tells us (Haggigah, 26) that when Jewish citizens would visit Jerusalem during the Festivals, the priests would bring out the showbread for the visitors to see and tell them: “Behold the love in which you are held by the Omnipresent; this bread is taken away as fresh as it was set down.”

The book Wellsprings of Torah, by Alexander Zusia Friedman, cites the author the Imrei Tzvi who asks: Why, of all things, were the seasonal visitors to Jerusalem shown this miracle and not any other?

The Imrei Tzvi answers that the miracle of the showbread offered valuable contrast to the miracle of the manna in the desert, which was ‘delivered’ daily to the Jewish people. We can see from the example of the showbread that it was entirely possible for God to deliver the manna once a week, or once a year, and for it to remain fresh. So why did God chose instead to rain down the manna every day? The Imrei Tzvi suggests that God did so in order that the Jews would have a vivid reminder, every day, of God’s concern for them and to have cause to reflect on that Divine love every day.

I have learned that if I approach daily prayers with a similar awareness, the effect can be profound. As I pray each morning I try to not only thank God for the ‘old’ gifts he has given me – of life, of family background, of education, etc. – but also to focus on His abundant daily gifts to me – such as waking up that day, enjoying good health for me and my immediate family, having sufficient means, finding opportunities to do good and to live well, and other blessings. If I can identify the manna that comes down every day, then I am much richer for it.