Eternal Gifts For Generations
אמו"ז ז"ל אמר בפסוק לא בצדקתך כו'
My grandfather, my teacher, of blessed memory, spoke on the verse "Not because of your righteousness etc." (Devarim 9:5).
The Sfas Emes opens by citing his grandfather's teaching on the verse that the Land was not given to Bnei Yisrael on account of their own righteousness.
כי משרע"ה בירר זאת כי אלה המתנות שנתן הש"י לבנ"י
For Moshe Rabbeinu clarified this point: that these gifts which Hashem gave to Bnei Yisrael
Moshe Rabbeinu established the principle that the gifts Hashem bestowed on Bnei Yisrael are not earned by any single generation.
אינו בכח מעשי דור פרטי
are not dependent on the deeds of any particular generation,
These gifts do not depend on the merit of the deeds of one particular generation.
רק שהוא מתנה לכללות בנ"י
but rather they are a gift to the entirety of Bnei Yisrael as a whole,
Instead they were given to Klal Yisrael as a single collective whole.
וממילא הוא לדורות
and consequently they endure for all the generations.
Because the gift was to the whole nation, it naturally carries forward to every later generation.
ולכן אפי' דור שפל בכחו לזכות לזה כו'
Therefore even a lowly generation has the capacity to merit this, etc.
Even a generation of low spiritual standing can therefore still merit these gifts, since they belong to the collective.
ויראה כי גם נסי המדבר דכתי' וזכרת כו' כל הדרך כו' ויאכילך כו' המן כו'
And one can see that even the miracles of the wilderness, of which it is written "And you shall remember etc. the entire way etc. and He fed you etc. the manna etc." (Devarim 8:2-3),
The same principle applies to the wilderness miracles, such as the manna, which the Torah commands us to remember.
וודאי הכל מתנה לדורות
are certainly all a gift for the generations.
Those wilderness miracles were likewise a permanent gift meant to endure for all generations.
ולכן תיקנו ברכת הזן יעל הארץ לדורות כי כשהאכילנו המן ניתן לנו ידיעה זאת כי לא על הלחם לבדו יחי' כו'
Therefore the Sages instituted the blessing "Who nourishes" together with "for the Land" for all the generations; for when He fed us the manna, this knowledge was given to us, that "man does not live by bread alone etc." (Devarim 8:3),
The blessing over food was instituted for all time, because the manna taught the enduring lesson that life is sustained by Hashem's word, not by bread alone.
ונשאר זאת לבנ"י
and this remained with Bnei Yisrael.
That lesson and that gift remained the permanent inheritance of Bnei Yisrael.
ואין דומה מאכל איש ישראל לכל בני אדם
The eating of a Jew is not comparable to that of all other people.
Because of this, a Jew's eating carries a spiritual dimension unlike the eating of anyone else.
ומכלל שצוה אותנו לזכור זאת בוודאי נשאר ממנו לדורות
And from the very fact that He commanded us to remember this, certainly something of it remained for the generations.
The very command to remember proves that the substance of these gifts must still be present in later generations.
רק דור הראשון היו כלים לקבל ההארות בפועל ממש
It is only that the first generation were the vessels to receive the illuminations in actual practice,
Only the first generation could receive the illuminations in their full, tangible form.
אבל נשאר הפנימיות לדורות וכ"כ מלא העומר כו' למשמרת כו'
but the inner essence remained for the generations; and this is the meaning of "a full omer etc. as a safekeeping etc." (Shemos 16:32-33).
Yet the inner essence was preserved for all generations, just as a jar of manna was kept as a safekeeping for the future.
כמ"ש זכר עשה לנפלאותיו שמכל הנפלאות שעשה לנו הבורא ית' נשאר זכר לעולם
As it is written, "He has made a remembrance for His wonders" (Tehillim 111:4) — that from all the wonders which the Creator, may He be blessed, performed for us, a remembrance remains forever.
The verse about Hashem making a remembrance for His wonders teaches that an eternal trace of every miracle remains with us.
ומכש"כ מתנת א"י שמברכין על ארץ חמדה כו' על הארץ ועל המזון דרשו חז"ל ארץ דמפיק מזון
And how much more so the gift of Eretz Yisrael, over which we make the blessing "for the desirable Land etc." — "for the Land and for the sustenance" the Sages expounded as the Land which brings forth sustenance.
All the more so with Eretz Yisrael, whose blessing speaks of the desirable Land that brings forth sustenance.
שמזון בנ"י הוא באמצעיות א"י
For the sustenance of Bnei Yisrael comes through the medium of Eretz Yisrael.
The sustenance of Bnei Yisrael is channeled specifically through Eretz Yisrael.
הגם שאנחנו בחו"ל
Even though we are in chutz la'aretz,
This holds true even while we find ourselves in the lands of exile.
בוודאי יש להתאונן אוי לבנים שגלו מעל שלחן אביהם כדאיתא בזוה"ק שיש להתעצב על חורבן בהמ"ק בתוך המזון שהקב"ה הבדילנו מן התועים כמ"ש תכין בטובתך לעני אלקים דרשו ז"ל העוסק בתורה הקב"ה בעצמו מכין לו סעודה
we certainly have cause to lament, "Woe to the children who have been exiled from their Father's table," as is brought in the holy Zohar, that one must be grieved over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash even in the midst of eating — for the Holy One, Blessed is He, has set us apart from those who err, as it is written, "In Your goodness, O Elokim, You prepared for the poor" (Tehillim 68:11); the Sages expounded that for one who occupies himself with Torah, the Holy One, Blessed is He, Himself prepares his meal.
Even so, we should feel genuine grief at being exiled from Hashem's table, recalling the Beis HaMikdash even while eating; yet Hashem has set the Torah Jew apart so that He Himself prepares his meal.
ובמדבר הי' ממש לחם מן השמים
And in the wilderness it was literally bread from Heaven.
In the wilderness the food was literally bread descending from Heaven.
ואח"כ בא"י כתי' ה"א דורש אותה ודרשו חז"ל הנותן מטר בעצמו
And afterward in Eretz Yisrael it is written, "Hashem your God seeks it out" (Devarim 11:12), and the Sages expounded: He Himself gives the rain.
In Eretz Yisrael, the verse teaches that Hashem Himself directly provides the rain that sustains the Land.
ושולח מים ע"פ חוצות בחו"ל ע"י שליח
Whereas "He sends water upon the surface of the streets" (Iyov 5:10) — in chutz la'aretz, through an agent.
By contrast, sustenance in chutz la'aretz is delivered through an intermediary rather than directly.
ומ"מ נשאר לנו הארה שיכולין למצוא טעם מן וא"י באכילה בכוונה ובכח ברהמ"ז
Nevertheless there remains for us an illumination, that we are able to find the taste of the manna and of Eretz Yisrael in our eating, through intent and through the power of bircas hamazon,
Even so, an illumination remains by which we can taste the manna and Eretz Yisrael in our own eating, through proper intent and the power of bircas hamazon.
ובפרט בשבת שיש בו ממקום הגנוז כמ"ש בדברי מו"ז ז"ל:
and especially on Shabbos, which contains something of the hidden place, as is explained in the words of my grandfather, my teacher, of blessed memory.
This is especially so on Shabbos, which draws from the hidden, concealed place, as his grandfather explained.
Summary: The Sfas Emes, citing his grandfather, teaches that the gifts Hashem gave Bnei Yisrael — the manna, the wilderness miracles, and Eretz Yisrael — were given to the entirety of the nation as a collective, and therefore endure for every generation, even a lowly one, rather than depending on the merit of any single generation's deeds. The manna implanted the permanent lesson that man lives by Hashem's word and not by bread alone, so that a Jew's very eating carries a spiritual dimension unlike anyone else's, and an eternal remembrance of every miracle remains with us. This is all the more true of Eretz Yisrael, through which the sustenance of Bnei Yisrael is channeled, where Hashem Himself provides the rain directly, in contrast to chutz la'aretz, where sustenance comes through an intermediary. Even in galus, we should grieve our exile from Hashem's table while recognizing that He Himself prepares the meal of one who toils in Torah. Through proper intent and the power of bircas hamazon — and especially on Shabbos, which draws from the hidden place — we can still taste the manna and Eretz Yisrael in our own eating.