The Manna That Revealed Truth Like a Prophet

Rabbi Hiyya taught: One is flogged for violating Sabbath boundary limits by Torah law. Rabbi Jonathan objected: Is one flogged for a prohibition expressed with "let not"? Rav Acha bar Yaakov objected: "Do not turn to the ghosts" (Leviticus 19:31), is it likewise that one is not flogged? Rabbi Jonathan's difficulty was rather this: a prohibition that is given as a warning attached to a court-imposed death penalty, one is not flogged for it. [Rav Ashi said:] Is it written "let him not bring out"? It is written "let him not go out" [the manna verses follow]. (Exodus 16:31) "And it was like coriander seed." Rav Asi said: round like a tendon and white like a pearl. It was likewise taught: "gad" because it resembles flax seed in its stalks. Others say: "gad" because it draws a person's heart like aggadah, which pulls the heart like a spring. Another teaching: "gad" because it would tell (maggid) Israel whether a child was born of the first husband or the last. "White" because it whitens the sins of Israel. Rabbi Yose said: Just as the prophet tells Israel what is in their holes and crevices, so too the manna would tell, etc. How so? Two come before Moses for judgment. This one says, "You stole my slave," and that one says, "You sold him to me." Moses said to them, "Judge in the morning rightly" (Jeremiah 21:12). The next day, if the man's omer was found in the house of the first master, it was known that this one stole him. And if it was found in the house of the second, it was known that the other sold him to him. So too a man and a woman who came before Moses for judgment. He says, "She betrayed me," and she says, "He betrayed me." Moses said to them, "Judge in the morning rightly." The next day, if her omer was found in her husband's house it was known that he wronged her, and if her omer was found in her father's house it was known that she wronged him. It is written, "And when the dew came down upon the camp" etc., and it is written (verse 4), "And the people shall go out and gather," and it is written (Numbers 11:8), "The people roamed and gathered." How so? For the righteous it came down at the door of their homes; the middling went out and gathered, etc. "And the house of Israel called its name manna." The interpreters of hidden meanings say: the children of Israel called its name manna. "And it was like white coriander seed." I do not know whose [view holds]. Rabbi Joshua said: it resembles flax seed. One might think that just as flax seed is red, so this is red; therefore Scripture says "white." Rabbi Eleazar of Modi'in says: it resembles a matter of aggadah, which draws the heart of people. Others say: it testifies about itself that it is manna, since it does not come down on the Sabbath or on the Day of Atonement. Rabbi Yose says: just as this prophet told Israel things hidden and concealed, so the manna tells, etc. "And its taste was like a wafer" etc. Rabbi Joshua says: like a pancake and like the form of honey-cakes. Rabbi Eliezer says: like fine flour that floats on a sieve and is kneaded with honey and butter.