Are you interested in taking a chance on a miracle that could increase the material, spiritual and emotional bounty in your life? Miracles do happen. For example, I view the survival of the State of Israel in 1948 as an open miracle. Are you aware that in 1948 the vast majority of political and military pundits worldwide reasoned that the new state would not survive one week?
According to Jewish tradition, this coming Tuesday, Jan. 31, will be a miraculous, opportune time to receive blessings for plenty in our lives. I first learned of this concept four years ago, on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2008.
A colleague told me that there is a kaballah (orally transmitted tradition) reaching back to the Chassidic Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Rymanov that one can receive a blessing for livelihood on the Tuesday of the week of parshat Beshalach. This year, Tuesday, Jan. 31, is such a Tuesday. We will read Beshalach on Saturday, Feb. 4. How do you “apply” for this miracle? Parshat Beshalach includes a description of the mannah, that fell from the heavens and sustained the Israelites during their 40 years in the desert. All you need to do is to read verses in Exodus 16:4-36, referred to as Parshah ha-Mon, which includes a discussion of the mannah. I thought that the story was a nice sweet Jewish tale, but decided to not take it seriously.
But only three minutes after I heard the story, I received a phone call from a client, a man in his 50s who had been out of work for many months. I had been concerned about the strain he was under. He announced that this week he had gotten an excellent position and felt that he had to call me today to share the good news. Whoa! That got my attention. Coincidence? I felt drawn, for reasons that were unclear to me, to pursue more information about Parshas ha-Mon. From my colleague I next learned that this custom had been popularized by “a revered rabbi in Brooklyn,” who said that it came down as an oral tradition from Reb Menachem Mendel of Rymanov (1755-1815) via the Shinever Rov, Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam (1813-1898).
“Whoa #2”! The Shinever Rov served for 7 years as the Rabbi of the town from which my ancestors came, Stropkov, Slovakia. I am a psychologist. Later that day, I met with a Chassidic client of mine and mentioned to him the issue of Parshas ha-Mon. He told me that his grandfather had arrived in the U.S. as a penniless, Holocaust survivor and ultimately became a very wealthy man. His grandfather attributed his financial success to the fact that he began every day by reading a small portion of a book about the mannah by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rymanov. Many people read Parshat ha-Mon on a daily basis, so you can draw on its benefits for livelihood any day of the year. However, its powers to bring down blessings are particularly strong on the Tuesday of parshat Beshalach each year.
The Rymanover explains that spiritual, and not merely material, blessings come from reading about the mannah. It represents HaShem’s helping us to connect with Him through our limited intellectual powers of thought and speech; just as the mannah is a gift from HaShem that we did not earn, so too is HaShem's helping to understand him through our intellect. My client told to me that the “revered rabbi in Brooklyn” who popularized the custom in the U.S. was the Paya Rov, Rabbi Moshe Dov Weinberger.
“Whoa” #3! I am a Weinberger; both of my grandmothers were Weinbergers.
“Whoa” #4! I believe that I am a distant cousin to the Paya Rov.
At 6 p.m., I called the Paya Rov’s household, who confirmed that he had heard of the tradition from his father who had heard it from Rabbi Avraham Sholom Halberstam (the son of the Shinever Rov), who said that his father had related the tradition in the name of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Rymanov. I next spoke with the current Stropkover Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Sholom Yissachar Dov Halberstam of Jerusalem, who confirmed that there is a kaballah in his family, which the Shinever passed down in the name of the Rymanover, that saying Parshat ha-Mon on the Tuesday of Parshat Beshalach is an auspicious act for receiving blessings of livelihood.
At this point, I decided to write up the story and emailed it to my list of friends. One rabbi replied that the Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote that reading Parshat ha-Mon strengthens two qualities: one’s faith (emunah) that all that we have comes from Hashem; and one’s confidence (bitachon) in difficult times that Hashem will provide our needs. The act of experiencing that faith and confidence is a vessel that brings down blessings. I have learned about three aspects of bounty. One, materially, is that Pashas ha-Mon offers a blessing for livelihood, especially, but not only, on the Tuesday of Parshat Beshalach. Second, spiritually, saying Parshat ha-Mon can strengthen our faith and confidence. Third, emotionally, there is benefit in following what stirs you emotionally.
When this story began, I did not know that this story would lead me to connections in my family’s personal history. I just felt a passionate stirring that I chose to value. So, go for it. Read Parshat ha-Mon. There is no guarantee that everyone who reads it will see a miracle. But, “you gotta play to win.” May it be that our spiritual and emotional connections to Torah and its precious words create a vessel for the ultimate bounty, with God’s ushering in the Messianic era.
Dr. Yisroel Susskind is a clinical psychologist who practices in Monsey, New York, and internationally over the telephone. Email him at eysusskind@aol.com.
