By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com If someone were keeping tabs on these things, it is perhaps the Parnassah Segulah that has gone most viral of all other Segulos. Numerous Torah internet sites link to the parsha of the Mahn and explain that one will become wealthier if we recite this section (Shmos 16:4 until the Omer is one tenth of an Aifah) on Tuesday of Parshas B’Shalach. It must be said twice in the Hebrew and once in the Targum. But where does this Segulah come from? Is there truly anything to it? Is it of recent origin or does it date back for many centuries? What is fascinating is that what is of recent origin is the Tuesday of Parshas b’Shalach aspect of it. The earlier sources recommended reciting it daily, and not just one day out of the year. Rabbeinu Bachya (Shmos 16:16) writes, “it is a tradition in the hand of the sages that whoever recites the parsha of the Mahn each day is assured that he will not lose out in this world of his mezonos.” ORIGINS The Tashbatz (Siman 184) actually cites the daily reading of it and its effect in the name of the Yerushalmi, and add the words, “And I am the guarantor.” The Tur (in OC Siman 1:5) also cites this tradition in the name of the Yerushalmi in Brachos. The Mishna Brurah (1:13) also cites this source. The problem is that it is not to be found in our version or any manuscript of the Yerushalmi. To add to the mystery, the Sefer HaManhig in hilchos Shabbos (44) cites the source as a Yerushalmi in Yuma. Yet it is not in our Yerushalmi Yuma either. The traditional answer that is often given when Rishonim refer to Yerushalmis that have disappeared is that the term is used loosely by the Rishon and that Yerushalmi often included Midrashim that were edited in Eretz Yisroel. This won’t work here, because the Tur specifically refers to the Yerushalmi in Brachos. It must be then that the version of the Yerushalmi that the Tur had is lost. WHY THE MAHN? Why single out the miracle of the Mahn, more so than the other miracles we experienced? Rav Sadya Gaon in the introduction to his Emunos v’Deyos explains that the Mahn was a miracle that was of a daily occurrence. The other miracles were more transient. Although not mentioned by Rav Sadya, even after the forty year sojourn in the desert, the Mahn played an important role. The container of the Mahn (Tzintzenes HaMahn)was placed alongside the Aron in both the Mishkan and the Beis HaMikdash until the days of Yoshiahu the King, one hundred years before the destruction of the First Beis HaMikdash. It served as a reminder then too. NOT FOUND IN SIDDURIM The Aruch haShulchan points out that in his time, the Parshas HaMan was not found in the siddurim, if it ever was. He explains its absence in the siddur as stemming from the fact that the Parsha mentions a number of times the embarrassing detail that Klal Yisroel nagged and complained, and it would be improper to permanently place that in our Siddurim. Nowadays, many of the siddurim have printed it, notwithstanding the Aruch haShulchan’s ethos on the issue. HOW IT WORKS How does it work? […]

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