A Curious Torture

"And He caused you hardship, and He sent you starvation, and He fed you the manna that neither you nor your forefathers had known ..." [Devarim 8:3]

We find all throughout the Torah that the manna was praised as being a heavenly food - what's more, whenever Bnei Yisrael complained about it they were smitten mightily - so how can Moshe Rabbeinu describe it as a torture device !?!?

It must be noted, that when the people complained - they were complaining to Hashem - they were being ingrates ! Lack of proper gratitude is one thing that Hashem doesn't 'let slide'. Here, however, Moshe Rabbeinu is simply sympathizing with the people.

Moshe Rabbeinu was, first and foremost, a Shepherd. His entire relationship to the people was based on compassion. Recognizing that change is stressful - Moshe is even willing to call it torturous - in order to make his point. That point is found in the second half of the passuk - "... in order to instruct you that man shall not live by bread alone, rather, upon all that the Lord says shall man find sustenance"

So G-d is essentially, killing us with kindness here. He gave us the most marvelous food ever imaginable - however, in that, it was so foreign that the Jews were skeptical of it and having to rely on it - was seen as torture. So while we may not prove ungrateful for Hashem's goodness we do need some extra effort to recognize the blessing in it. In our case that we may see directly that our livelihood is provided by G-d.

By extrapolation - it's ok to acknowledge the difficulties we encounter in our service of Hashem. What's not ok is to fail to grasp the reasons behind the 'torture' and why Hashem wants us to receive this treatment.

Hatzlacha Rabba !