All parents want the best for their children — that they should be good and upright, that they have everything they need for a fruitful, joyous life.
The classic work, Shelah HaKadosh, contains a prayer that parents should recite for their children at any time of the year — but especially before Rosh Chodesh Sivan, for that is the month when G-d gave us the Torah, and when the Jewish people began to be called His Children.
When our ancestors were in the Wilderness, a month after the Exodus from Egypt, they faced atomorrow 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.
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 Tuesdayof the week of Beshalach, which this year is today, January 27th.
As a public service, we offer the text and interlinear translation of the chapter, from the Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Siddur. Please feel free to download it.
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