Radical Torah

Posted by Elyssa Joy Auster

“Man does not live on bread alone.” This is a familiar quote to most of us, keenly reminding us that we are not only physical bodies craving sustenance, nor should we be seeing other human beings this way. Oftentimes, the second half of this verse, coming from Parshat Ekev, is missing. Is this omission a mistake for us as Jews, or do we get the most important essence of the verse from remembering simply, “man does not live on bread alone”?

In the parsha, the hunger of the Israelites, or lack of bread, is explained as a test. God needed to find out what was in the hearts of the Israelites. And later in the text, their flourishing and provisions of manna are taken as reward. This is difficult if we take it at face value, trying to apply this system to our current world hunger situation. We cannot take the approach of being hands-off, believing that starvation in third world countries, and in our own inner-cities, farmlands, and with our elderly are a result of some sort of test administered by God to those in need. But we can understand it as a test for those of us who remain prosperous. For the parsha reminds us that when we have prosperity, we must be careful not to say to ourselves: “it was my own strength and personal power that brought me all this prosperity;” Rather, “You must remember that it is God who gives you the power to become prosperous.”

If we take this perspective, being grateful for what we have, both as ours and God’s, but as part of the world system, we might be more apt to give back. So instead of finding joy in what we have, we find joy in what we may give.

“Man does not live on bread alone,” the verse continues, “rather by everything that emanates from the mouth of God does man live.” In other words, our actions, even those of eating or providing food for others, must be thoughtful. According to this verse, this thoughtfulness entails the struggle of understanding the Will and Desire of God. This statement is speaking to a whole way of life. The Hebrew itself emphasizes this as the verb used for emanate is motzah, just as we say the prayer over bread: “hamotzi lechem min haaretz.” God’s word comes forth, and it is a process.

This verse, “man does not live on bread alone” is not only significant to Judaism. In fact it has probably been popularized by our Christian brothers and sisters, who quote it from Jesus’ repetition of the verse. We can work together regardless of religion to combat hunger, and we can collectively relate it back to this verse.

Humanity does need bread in order to live. But in our intellectual circles we often skip to the second half of the verse. We choose to wade through our existential conflicts and manage our time and money based upon the media’s agenda. In the United States with our vast resources, we often forget that humans need bread first. Only then may they concentrate on improvement, contribution and knowledge.

We must boil this verse back down to its basics. Humanity cannot live on bread alone, but humanity cannot live at all without bread. In the plentiful world that God has created for us we must share its resources so that through the blessing of having bread, we may all move on to the second half of the verse, deciphering God’s will. This ability to move beyond the simple necessity for bread, for physical sustenance, can only happen when we support each other past our basic needs and towards a unification of souls, hearts and minds. Just as we recite the prayer before eating bread, acknowledging that God brings forth the bread from the earth, and we thank God for this bread as our bellies are full, so too must we recite a prayer for the ability to help others, and afterwards thank God for granting us the resources to do so.