Food From Heaven—And the Food We Call “Natural”
Can we imagine what it would be like to wake up one morning and find our food waiting for us — not in the kitchen, not in the fields, but descending directly from Shamayim (Heaven)? Food that appears effortlessly, covering the ground, infused with Divine nourishment and miraculous properties.
For Klal Yisrael (the Jewish nation) in the midbar (desert), this was not imagination; it was reality.
Surrounded by a vast and desolate desert, the people worried they would not survive. How could hundreds of thousands of people be sustained in such a barren wasteland? They cried out to Moshe and Aharon, fearful that there simply was not enough food. Hashem (God) reassured them that their sustenance would come straight from the Heavens.
And so it was. When they awoke the next morning, they beheld a thin layer of manna covering the ground like a radiant white blanket. This extraordinary food contained everything they needed for survival. No planting, no harvesting, no labor — only trust. What an open and astonishing miracle.
The First Berachah—and Why We Still Say It
Chazal teach that upon witnessing this Divine kindness, Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) instituted the first berachah (blessing) of Birkat Hamazon (Blessing after Meals), the blessing of Hazan et Hakol, as an expression of gratitude to Hashem (Berachot 48b).
Yet this raises a powerful question. If this berachah was established in response to the miracle of the manna, why do we still recite the very same words today? After all, only Klal Yisrael in the desert experienced food falling directly from heaven.
Rabbi Shamshon Raphael Hirsch offers a profound answer. He explains that every piece of food we eat is no less a gift from Hashem than the manna itself (Devarim 8:10). Though our food appears natural — grown, harvested, and prepared — its existence and nourishment are just as miraculous.
The Hidden Miracle in Every Bite
The manna descended from heaven containing exactly what the Jews needed. In every generation since, Hashem continues to sustain the world in the very same way. Food is essential to life, and in His great mercy, Hashem ensures that every creature receives sustenance. As we declare in Birkat Hamazon, He is the One who sustains the entire world with goodness, with grace, with kindness, and with mercy.
Hashem could have created a single pill containing all the nutrients necessary for survival. Yet, in His infinite love, He gave us so much more. He filled the world with thousands of varieties of food, each with its own texture, flavor, and beauty, designed to delight and nourish us.
Consider fruit alone — not even a primary source of sustenance — and yet there are over two thousand species. Each one is crafted with astonishing wisdom. Take an orange, for example. It is protected by a thick, watertight peel, safeguarding the tender fruit inside. Its vibrant color draws us in, and it contains a high concentration of vitamin C, perfectly suited for the winter season when our bodies need it most. Nothing is random. Everything is precise.
Ma’aseh Elokeinu: Rav Yerucham and the Orange
Rav Yerucham Levovitz once stood before a large group of talmidim (students) and asked one of them to bring him the Ma’aseh Elokeinu (lit. The Work of Our God) that was resting on the table. The talmid searched but returned empty-handed.
“I couldn’t find it,” he said.
“It is there,” Rav Yerucham replied. “Please go and bring it.”
The talmid returned holding an orange. “I couldn’t find a sefer (book) called Ma’aseh Elokeinu,” he explained. “All I found was this orange.”
“This is exactly what I meant,” Rav Yerucham said.
He slowly peeled the orange, speaking about how much there was to learn from this Ma’aseh Elokainu — this act of Hashem. He opened it, marveling at its intricate design. With deep feeling, he smelled it and recited the berachah, Hanoten rei’ach tov bapeirot (Who gives good scent to fruit). He then joyfully recited Shehecheyanu and Borei pri ha’etz, tasted the orange, and savored every bite.
“Wow,” he exclaimed, “this truly is Ma’aseh Elokainu.”
Tu B’Shvat: Practicing Gratitude Through Fruit
Appreciating the wonders of the food we eat is always important. But Tu Bishvat is a particularly powerful time to focus on this awareness. The widespread custom of eating many kinds of fruit on Tu B’Shvat is not merely symbolic. Rav Leibele Eiger explains that it is meant to awaken our appreciation for the delicious fruits Hashem created for us.
Tu B’Shvat marks the time when the sap begins to rise anew within the trees, making it an especially fitting moment to reflect on their vitality and purpose. Hashem wants us to enjoy His creations. When we pause on this day to admire the intricacy, beauty, and taste of fruit, it brings Him great nachat ruach. In response, great shefa (abundance) is drawn down into the world, bringing blessing and abundance (Torat Emet, Beshalach).
A Beautiful Hint in the Day Itself
Remarkably, this idea is even hinted to in the gematria of the day itself. The gematria (numerical value) of Chamishah Asar B’Shvat (the fifteenth of Shvat – חמישה עשר בשבט) is 1234, the same as the phrase:
“Zeh yom lehodot al kol minei pri ha’etz (זה יום להודות על כל מיני פרי העץ)” —
“This is the day to give thanks for all the fruits of the tree.” May Tu B’Shvat inspire us to recognize that every bite we take is nothing less than a miracle — a taste of the manna from Shamayim.
By Rabbi Daniel Shasha, author of “Living Appreciation”
