"Parshat HaMan", which you'll find in Exodus 16:4-36 as part of the Torah portion "B'Shalach", is the account of the manna falling from heaven, the heavenly sustenance that Hashem fed the Children of Israel during the 40 years that they wandered in the desert. The special attribute of Parshat HaMan is that it unlocks the secret of an easy income.

Hashem gives us a free choice as to how we'll receive our income: If we choose to incorporate emuna – the pure and steadfast belief in Hashem – in our efforts to earn our daily bread, then we are assured an easy income. If we seek our income without emuna, and opt for a life of wage slavery, then Hashem allows us to seek our money in natural means. This way, especially with the economic situation what it is today puts a person in big trouble. Without Hashem, heaven forbid, a person is at the mercy of numerous cruel factors in a cold and cutthroat world, such as inflation, tight job market, competition, dishonest employers, clients that don't pay their bills, breakdowns – you name it.

Parshat HaMan begins with Hashem telling Moses, "I shall rain upon you food from heaven; let the people go out and gather each day's portion daily, so that I can test them whether they shall follow my Torah or not."

Hashem gives the Children of Israel a lesson in emuna, a lesson in trust – bitachon. Rashi explains that if the people will trust Hashem, and live according to His commandments, then they'll have their daily bread effortlessly, like princes in the royal palace.

Our sages teach us that a person with emuna and bitachon, complete belief and trust in Hashem, who has so much faith in Hashem to the extent that he believes that his daily bread will be delivered to his doorstep just like food from heaven, will have such an effortless income.

Most people can't believe in anything other than the might of their hand or the sweat of their brow. Yet, when a human depends on himself, he has nothing other than a wobbly reed to lean on, because even the slightest one-celled virus can totally incapacitate him, as the lesson of the COVID pandemic so painfully teaches. If we look at the world with even slightly spiritual eyes, we see that we're totally dependent on Hashem. If a person thinks that he or she is dependent on their own strengths and abilities, then spiritually, they're on the level of an ox pulling a plow. Physically and emotionally, their lives will become just as difficult.

Our sages teach that Hashem provides an easy livelihood for those who trust in Him. Trusting in Hashem means that we also do what He wants us to do, such as observing the Sabbath and dealing fairly with others. Many people think they can't make a living without doing shtick and try to generate income with dishonest dealings and going against Hashem's will. Ultimately, they end up losing what they have with breakdowns, sicknesses, and even lawsuits and jail sentences.

We should all be praying every day that Hashem should strengthen emuna and attain the level of bitachon where we can learn Torah more and work less, so that we too can experience the wonderful feeling of an income just as pleasurable as gathering heaven-sent bread, amen!

Today, Tuesday of the B'Shalach week, is an opportune day for saying Parshat HaMan, twice in Mikra and once is Targum, which you'll find here in Hebrew and here in Artscroll's English translation.

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Hashem is so fantastic! Just yesterday, I posted a full-length shiur about the importance of fulfilling the mitzvoth of the Land of Israel, especially with Tu B'Shvat a week from Thursday. After the shiur, I had this gnawing feeling at my heart. As a lover of the Land of Israel and a tree-fruit farmer who has planted hundreds, maybe thousands of trees all over Israel, I can't begin to explain the importance of planting fruit trees in settling our holy homeland. You see, a high-tech professional can work from his desktop or labtop anywhere, but a tree farmer has his hands, heart and entire life here in the Land of Israel. In fact, when you partner with a Torah-observant tree-fruit farmer in Israel, you also partner in the mitzoth of orlah, neta reva'i, trumah, maaser, shemittah and yishuv ha'aretz, settling the Land of Israel.

With amazing Divine Providence, my good friends at IsraelTrees.org, a branch of Zo Artzeinu, contacted me this morning and asked if I'd like to offer people the opportunity to plant fruit trees in the Land of Israel. They had to be kidding! Of course! Right now, farmers in Israel begin planting now for the upcoming Shmitta; you can share in this fantastic mitzva and in the blessing that goes along with it. But I made a deal with them - if anyone comes to them from my recommendation, they have to double the plantings. I don't care how they do it, but they agreed - a deal's a deal, and everyone's a winner. Here's your chance for a really meaningful Tu B'Shvat. When you order the trees, fill in the Promo Code box, "Lazer", and you'll get double the trees to your credit. Hashem says, "I will ordain My Blessing for you" (Leviticus 25:21); double the planting, double the Blessing!

Emuna Beams is delighted to host one of the world's foremost experts on the mitzvoth of the Land of Israel, Rabbi Moshe Bunim Mintz shlit'a, head of the Halichot Ha'aretz rabbinical seminary in Israel. In the course of the lesson, which we hope will be the first of a series, we also learn the importance of living in the Land of Israel. The lesson is in Hebrew, with English translation by Rabbi Lazer Brody. 38 minutes.

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