"The children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath ... Between Me and the children of Israel is a sign forever, that in a six day period Hashem made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."

Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai of Gur, the Imrei Emes, commented that we find that throughout the forty years that the Jews spent in the wilderness, they partook of a special food that descended from heaven, called manna. Each day, the Jews would gather the manna for that day, and they had to consume it on that same day. Anything that was not eaten that day would decay; it would not last overnight.

But the Sabbath was different. Moshe told the people that on the Sabbath, no manna would fall. Instead, on the sixth day they would gather a double portion of manna, and they would leave one portion overnight, to be eaten on the Sabbath. And so it was. "They put it away until morning, as Moshe had commanded; it did not decay, and there was no infestation."

This phenomenon, Imrei Emes commented, is not limited to that forty year period which the Jews spent in the wilderness. Rather, it is part and parcel of the Sabbath itself. In a six day period, Hashem made heaven and earth. These six days are the beginning of a continuum which lasts for the entire duration of our universe. And everything contained within this time-bound universe must eventually decay, and cease to be.

But the Shabbos imposes itself upon that universe as a day of eternal freshness--a day not bound by time limitations. The Sabbath brings to a halt the inexorable process of decay. On the Sabbath, one is reinvigorated and inspired, and lifted above the time-bound universe in which he dwells during the rest of the week.

"In a six day period Hashem made the heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed." This sentence contains within it the essence of the Sabbath. It is a day in which one rests, and is refreshed. So on the Sabbath, each and every one of us can experience for himself the miracle of the manna.

Copyright (c) 1997 by Rabbi Levi Langer

Courtesy of www.JewishAmerica.com