Parshas Hamon: The Gemara in Meseches Ta’anis 9a says that Klal Yisroel received the mon in the midbar in the zechus of Moshe Rabbeinu. Parshas Hamon was said on Shabbos Kodesh, and then the mon began to fall on Sunday. This was not happenstance, as the Maharal tells us in numerous places, that all of these details, including the days on which miracles occurred, have reasons and meaning behind them. Similarly, the Gemara in Shabbos 86b tells us that the Torah Hakdoshah was given to Klal Yisroel on Shabbos Kodesh, and all the meforshim explain the great significance of the Torah being given specifically on Shabbos Kodesh.
The eating of the eitz hada’as, the tree of knowledge, brought into the world the nature of good and bad mixed together in all of creation. This also brought about the power of תאוה, desire, as the posuk says, “והאדם ידע”. By the mon, the Torah says, “וידעתם כי אני ד' אלקיכם” – and you shall know that I am Hashem, your G-d. We see from this that the purpose of the mon was to bring forth in nature to those who ate it that they would know Hashem. This was the opposite of the eating of the eitz hada’as. The eitz hada’as mixed good and bad together, so there was no longer clarity, and seeing Hashem was more difficult. In contrast, the eating of the mon made everything crystal clear for all to know Hashem. Just as the eating of the eitz hada’as brought ta’avah, eating the mon brought the lack of ta’avah – it reversed that effect and brought one to more purity of the soul. (שם משמואל)
Chazal tell us that whatever there is in this world, there is also something that mimics it in the year and in the nefesh – “עולם, שנה, נפש.” The mon in the עולם is a creation that had no פסולת, no refuse. Shabbos Kodesh is the שנה, the time in the year, that was created without any refuse, and Moshe Rabbeinu was the נפש that had no refuse. We say on Shabbos, “מזמור שיר ליום השבת טוב להודות לד'” – that Shabbos Kodesh is only “טוב” – good, without being mixed with bad, as it is a time that there is no bad mixed into it – pure goodness.
The mon, Shabbos, and Moshe were the opposite of the eitz hada’as, which brought the mixture of good and bad into all of creation. Shabbos Kodesh was a day that the mon came down, for both of them were pure goodness. The mon came down during the week in the zechus of Moshe Rabbeinu, for since he was pure good. The mon, which was pure good, could come down the other days of the week.
The parshah of the mon was said to Kal Yisroel on Shabbos so that Klal Yisroel could connect the mon to Shabbos Kodesh and could then draw that kedusha to the other days of the week that they, too, could have kedusha. As the Ramban says in Shemos 20:8, the mitzvah of זכור את יום השבת, to remember the day of Shabbos, is to remember on each and every day of the week the day of Shabbos. Thus, on Sunday, we say that it is יום אחד בשבת, the first day of the week, the first day since Shabbos Kodesh. By doing so, one can draw the kedusha of Shabbos Kodesh throughout all the days of the week and thus allow all six days of the week to have much bracha.
