SAY PARSHAS HAMAN TODAY

When our ancestors were in the Wilderness, a month after the Exodus from Egypt, they faced a tomorrow with no food. Justifiably, they asked Moshe if he had taken them into the desert to starve to death. Hashem responded that in the morning they would see that He had not forsaken them. In the morning – and every morning for the next 40 years – there was manna waiting for them. By evening there was nothing left, and the next morning, it was there again. Can you imagine how we would feel if we went to sleep every night with empty refrigerators? There in the Wilderness, Hashem showed our ancestors that ultimately, parnassah is in His hands. We pray for it every day – to provide for our families, to assist worthy causes, to build sturdy foundations for the future. This year, more than any in living memory, we pray for parnassah. The recession has hit everywhere. Relatives and neighbors, institutions and hopes for the future have been battered. So we pray for parnassah perhaps more fervently than in the past – but some days are more propitious than others. The Torah reading of this coming Shabbos -- Parashas Beshalach -- includes the chapter telling how the Jewish People in the Wilderness received manna. Many people recite the chapter daily, as a special prayer for parnassah. There is also a widespread custom to recite this chapter on the Tuesday of the week of Beshalach,