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Food, glorious food, what wouldn't we give for that extra bit more, that's all that we live for, why should we be fated, to do nothing but brood, oh food, magical, food, wonderful, food, marvellous, food, fabulous, food, beautiful, food, glorious food!
(Oliver, Glorious Food lyrics)
We Jews are obsessed with food. We experience the Jewish year though food; we break off the week with soft fragrant challah, the year is sweetened with honey, a miracle is in a doughnut, slavery is eaten away, and revelation comes with a side order of cheesecake. We are a gourmet religion.
But this should not come as a surprise when considering that our history begins with a rebellious act - of eating. The Greeks stole fire, the Babylonians murdered and the Egyptians had sex. - We ate the apple.
And we continued to eat or talk about eating even when we left Egypt. What are the paramount complaints during the Exodus? Not that it is too hot, or not enough shade, or that they were tired of walking. No the Israelites complain about food and water. First they complain that there is no food and no water, then they complain that the food is not like the juicy melons or fresh cucumbers that they were used to in Egypt. Even the manna which supposedly adapted in taste to the liking of each Israelite was not enough (BT).
But this manna was not just any old gruel as it says in today’s parasha.
‘It was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers in honey. Moses said: this is what the Lord has commanded: let one omer of it be kept through the ages, in order that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out from the land of Egypt. And Moses said: take a jar, put one omer of manna in it, place it before the Lord, to be kept throughout the ages. As the Lord had commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the Pact to be kept’ (Ex 16.31).
Not only did the mannah appear miraculously after the dew melted away each morning, it was so special that a portion was to be kept for eternity next to the pact. The discerning among you might wonder what pact we are talking about, since we haven’t yet had the revelation at Sinai. Though the pact could be seen as a foreshadowing of what to come, or just an oversight by the editor, it nonetheless shows the important role the mannah is playing in the narrative. A portion of food is kept side by side with the pact, and placed right before God.
But just as the ark and the stone tablets have disappeared into the mist of myth so has the miraculous mannah. But its importance has not. When the Temple was destroyed and sacrifices could no longer be made, the ancient rabbis replaced the altar with the dinner table. From communicating with God through a ritual BBQ - the dinner party, especially on a Friday night, became the place where Jews communed with each other and with the Divine.
Transforming the altar was not the only invention the rabbis made when it came to food. They also instituted blessings before and after eating as a way of giving thanks and recognising where food comes from. Blessing is a way of pausing before doing something and of taking stock. By saying ‘hamotzi lechem min haaretz’ and then eating, we enjoy the challah even more because we have had time to realise what we are doing. Food is no longer just fuel, or a fetish but a wonder and a blessing. Eating becomes our prayer.
If you have not tried it, see what happens to your whole day when you bless your first cup of tea in the morning / when you pause before taking the first sip.
A blessing will not make you late for work, nor miss the bus but it will give you the opportunity to enjoy your morning more. In this way a cup of tea is transformed into a steamy morning prayer.
Blessings can change us. They can change our reality. They can change our everyday lives.
Blessed are you Eternal One, who gives us food and feasts as well as the ability to enjoy and enrich our lives though them.
Amen.
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