And He afflicted you and let you go hungry, and then fed you with Manna, which you did not know, nor did your forefathers know, so that He would make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but rather by, whatever comes forth from the mouth of Hashem does man live.
There are many difficulties in this Posuk: First, What is the purpose of mentioning our forefathers? Second, What is the meaning of “whatever comes forth from the mouth of Hashem does man live”, What is Hashem reffering to food that comes forth from Hashem. Everything is from Hashem, even the bread that we eat is from Hashem? The Jewish farmer plants, allowing a good seed to rot in the earth, because he believes in Hashem. Not because he believes that when you put seeds in the ground, plants grow. Who says? Just because it has happened daily for thousands of years? Toss a good seed based on speculation? No, but he is a believer. Hashem will help and from this seed will come more food than the kernel can provide. When it grows he praises Hashem, and when it is a finished product, we praise Hashem for this too!
The great Gaon Rav Yitzchak Isaac Chaver z”l (1789-1852; Rabbi of Suvalk, Lithuania, auther of many Seforim) explains: There are two types of food. There is spiritual food, and and physical food. When Hashem created the world, and put Adam Harishon in Gan Eden, he was instructed to only eat spiritual foods, and the intention was that in the future generations, people would live by only eating spiritual foods. Hashem forbade Adam to eat physical foods.
But of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for on the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Here, Hashem taught Adam that by eating physical foods, they would cause him to die. Whereas, if he would only eat spiritual foods, he would live forever.
This was the rebuke of Hashem to Klal Yisrael: They complained about eating the Manna which was spiritual food for forty years, and they wanted to enjoy physical food! Hashem told them: that it is not physical food which truly gives life, but what “emanates from the mouth of Hashem”– that gives life. The proof was that the Yidden survived the forty years in the desert eating only Manna. This lesson is teach us that Hashem is the one who sustains us and satisfies the person and not the physical food. (Sefer Yad Mitzrayim)
With this insight we can answer the difficulties in our Posuk: The forefathers is alluded to Adam, who was commanded to eat only spiritual foods. If Adam would have done so he would have been at the level of an angel. The same idea was the rebuke in the following Posuk: The clothes upon you did not wear out, nor did your feet swell these forty years. How was this possible? The answer is, that the Manna was a spiritual food and you were elevated to the level of angels. The clothing became part of an angel and therefore didn’t wear out. The feed were spiritual and didn’t get sore.
This answers the verse “whatever comes forth from the mouth of Hashem does man live.” This means eating the spiritual foods. This is not to say that regular bread is not from Hashem. On the contrary, everything in this world is from Hashem. The difference is it can be spiritual which elevated the person, and it can be physical food which sustains the person for now. However, when a person eats with the right intention and realizes that he is eating to have strength to serve Hashem in learning and davening. The food becomes spiritual and the person becomes elevated.
(Yehuda Z Klitnick)
