Not just any breakfast, mind you, but manna, that heavenly food that sustained the Israelites in the desert for forty years.
According to Ginzberg’s retelling in Legends of the Jews, life with manna was… well, pretty easy. You could roll out of bed, say your morning prayers, maybe recite the Shema (that central Jewish prayer affirming God's oneness), and then just… walk outside. There it was. Manna for you, manna for the kids, manna for everyone. No grocery shopping, no cooking, no arguments about who's doing the dishes.
Now, you might think this would lead to a nation of couch potatoes. And you wouldn't be entirely wrong. Apparently, some people were so lazy that they wouldn't even bend over to pick it up! So, what happened? The manna, bless its miraculous heart, simply fell right into their hands. Talk about divine delivery!
But what about leftovers? What happened to all the manna after breakfast? Ginzberg tells us that the manna lasted until about the fourth hour of the day, and then it would melt. But even in its melted form, it was still part of the miracle. It flowed into rivers… rivers that the pious will drink from in the world to come. Imagine: rivers of sweet, heavenly manna.
Did everyone get to enjoy this miraculous treat? Well, not exactly. The non-Jews, the "heathen" as the text calls them, were certainly aware of the manna. In fact, it descended from such great heights that kings from the East and West could witness Israel receiving its daily miracle. But if they tried to taste it themselves, that delicious, sweet flavor turned bitter in their mouths.
They could only partake indirectly. They would catch the animals that drank from the manna-fed streams. And even second-hand, the taste was so amazing that they exclaimed, "Happy is the people that is in such a case!" It's quite a picture, isn't it? A whole nation sustained by a daily miracle, a taste of paradise, and even those outside the community recognizing the blessing.
What does this story tell us? Perhaps it's about gratitude, about recognizing the blessings we receive, even the ones that seem to fall right into our laps. Or maybe it's about the unique connection between the Jewish people and the Divine. Either way, it leaves you wondering: if manna fell today, would we appreciate it? Would we even notice?