Then they fell on their faces and placed the right side of the brow and right cheek against the ground and looked up with the left eye at the mountain that hung above them, and said, "We will accept the law." This is the manner in which the Jews to this day perform their worship, says Tabari; they place the brow and right cheek and eye upon the ground, and turn the left cheek and eye to heaven, and in this position they pray.[1]
7. THE MANNA. (Exod. xvi.)
All the time that Israel wandered in the wilderness they were given manna, or angels' food. This food is ground by the angels in heaven, as Moses saw when he was there. For when Moses was in heaven, he knew not when it was night and when it was day, till he listened to the song of the angels; and when they sang "Holy God," then he knew it was morning below on earth; and when they sang "Blessed be thou," he knew it was evening below. Also he observed the angels grinding the manna and casting it down; and then he knew it was night, and they were strewing it for the Israelites to gather in the morning.[2] It is in the third firmament, called Schechakim (clouds), that the mills are in which manna is ground.[3] Along with the manna fell pearls and diamonds, and on the mountains it was heaped so high that it could be seen from afar.[4]
And the manna, this bread from heaven, contained in itself all sweetness; and whatsoever any man desired to eat, the manna tasted to him as if it were that food.[5] Thus, if any one said, "I wish I had a fat bird," the manna tasted like a fat bird. But usually it had the taste of cakes made of oil, honey, and fine flour, according to the words of the Lord, "My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey wherewith I fed thee" (Ezek. xvi. 10).[6] The Targum of Palestine thus describes the fall of the manna:—In the morning there
- ↑ Tabari, i. p. 371; also Midrash, fol. 30.
- ↑ Parascha R. Bechai, fol. 116.
- ↑ Talmud, Tract. Hajada, fol. 12, col. 2.
- ↑ Talmud, Tract. Joma, fol. 75, col. 1.
- ↑ This is sanctioned by Scripture: "Thou feddest Thine own people with angels food, and didst send them from heaven bread prepared without their labour, able to content every man's delight, and agreeing to every taste." (Wisdom, xvi. 20.)
- ↑ Talmud, Tract. Joma, fol. 75, col. 1; Schemoth Rabba, fol. 115, col. 4.
