The expression "manna from heaven" means: unexpected luck, wonderful help. Heavenly, and therefore Divine help - this was the initial meaning of the phrase, and it did not arise by chance.
Heavenly manna is the food that God fed Moses and his fellow tribesmen during 40 years of wanderings after the exodus from Egypt. In the psalms, manna is called "the bread of heaven."
When the Jews had all the bread taken from Egypt, the Lord sent them bread from heaven - manna. It looked like white grains or small hail and tasted like bread and honey. This bread got the name “manna” because when the Jews saw it for the first time, they asked each other: “Man-hu? (what is it?) - Moses answered, - This is the bread that the Lord gave you for food. The Jews also called this bread manna. Manna covered the ground around the Jewish camp in the morning throughout their journey every day except Saturday.
Before the Sabbath, a double portion of manna fell: “On Friday [the Jews in the desert] collected a double portion of [mana] … and told Moses. He said to them: “After all, the Most High said that tomorrow is a day of rest, holy Saturday [dedicated] to the Lord; bake and cook what you need for today, and leave the rest for tomorrow. " And they left the food until the morning, and it did not spoil … And Moses said to them: “Eat it [man] today, for today is Saturday to the Most High; today you will not find him in the field …"
Tamarix / אשל (Eshel) / Tamarisk (tamarix) or Grebenshchik is also known under the names comb, God's tree and beads.
The height of the trees reaches 12 meters.
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The biblical tamarisk is defined as the leafless Tamarisk / Tamarix aphylla. She also.
Tamarisk manniferous / Tamarix mannifera and there are "producers" of manna.
The popular wheat groats are also named semolina in honor of the biblical manna, but here the external similarity played a role: small white grains.
In 1823 the German botanist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg published an article "Symbolae Physiae". in which he pointed out that this manna is nothing more than the secretion secreted by tamarisk trees and bushes when they are attacked by a certain type of aphid.
In 1927, the botanists of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Friedrich Simon Bodenheimer and Oscar Theodor traveled to the Sinai Peninsula to clarify the existence of manna. For several months, they were engaged in the study of dry channels and oases in the entire region of the Sinai Mountains. Their report caused a sensation. They not only brought with them the first photographs of manna, but also established the authenticity of the biblical account. They discovered a species of tamarisk, which in the springtime emits a sweetish resin, reminiscent of honey, with a fragrant smell, which quickly solidifies in the air in the form of white balls, which can be carried by the wind over long distances. In their opinion, without aphids, first mentioned by Ehrenberg, there could be no manna. These small insects live off tamarisk, and secrete a special resinous secretion, which,according to Bodenheimer, it resembles a coriander seed in shape and size. Modern researchers say that these insects pierce the bark of branches, and a sweet, pleasant-tasting juice is released at the puncture site.
For four years I tried to see and taste the resinous liquid. A couple of months ago it turned out - early in the morning, after a light rain - as if it were written. The taste of molasses, and the look too.
Local Bedouins collect white balls from March to July. Prepare for collection from the night by spreading a film or thick cloth on the ground. The Arabs call these white balls "man" or "mana of Essem" - "heavenly manna". The balls are collected in the morning, when exposed to sunlight, they turn yellow.
Cake with the addition of "manna from heaven". Tested at the Bedouin bazaar. There are many different additives in it - it is difficult to "personally" determine the taste. Sweet.
Bedouins and street vendors in Arab cities still sell a sweet tamarisk resin in the form of cakes called "man" for sale. Once I saw manna cakes in an Arab bazaar. More precisely, a large round flatbread that looks like a cottage cheese casserole, cut into triangles. I didn’t dare to try, I just photographed it, but the picture didn’t work.
Bedouins boil "manna" in a pot, then pass it through a canvas to cleanse it from impurities, then pour it into hermetically sealed jars, in which it can be stored for several years, like jam. Arabs and Greek monks eat "manna" with bread.
Tamarisk leaves are small and have the appearance of scales. The very name "tamarisk" (or "tamarix") refers to the whole family, in which there are three genera and 85 or more species of both trees and shrubs, common in Eurasia and Africa, but mainly in the Mediterranean. Small flowers - from white-pink to purple - are collected in long brushes or ears.
Tamarix aphylla / Leafless Tamarisk
Good honey plants, tamarisks attract bees and birds
Loose Tamarisk / Tamarix laxa
Tamarisk quadrangular / Tamarix tetragyna
Tamarisk is promising as an ornamental plant. In nature, some tamarisk species bloom in spring, others in summer or autumn. They remain in bloom for a long time. So, having picked up different types of these marvelous plants, you can admire their exuberant flowering throughout the vegetative period.
Kinneret
Some types of tamarisk are used to protect against erosion and collapse of the banks, to consolidate the sands and forest plantations.
The practical use of tamarisk is associated with its high decorative qualities - a variety of color like flowers, grace of small foliage-scales (from yellowish-green to bluish), duration of flowering, drought resistance, unpretentiousness to soil conditions, resistance to soil salinity. A tamarisk in the desert is a “living air conditioner”, a great escape from the heat of the day.
At the same time, tamarisk is used as fuel and for weaving various products. In Mongolia, tea is brewed from its twigs with leaves and is regularly drunk for preventive purposes. You can sweeten the drink with delicious and also medicinal tamarix honey.
Tamarisk galls contain tannin, polyphenols and other tannins, dyes, which are used in the leather industry as a tanning agent, in medicine - as an astringent in the form of gargles, for sore throats.
Tamarisk is drought tolerant, and grows even on clay and sandy soils that other plants cannot tolerate. So, in the Dead Sea region, two types of tamarisk grow on soils with a chloride content of over 8%. The roots go down to a depth of 30-50 m.
There are glands on the leaves of tamarisk that secrete salts - sometimes the leaves are covered with a bloom of these salts.
Tintoretto, "Gathering Manna from Heaven"
In Judaism, manna from heaven is considered an analogue of mother's milk - the Almighty fed the Jews with manna while this people was in an infant state.
In Christian culture, manna from heaven once served as the personification of the grace of God; This symbol has not lost its meaning, but gradually acquired a somewhat ironic sound. "Are you waiting for manna from heaven?"
Since manna was said to fall to the ground like dew, the Jews are sometimes depicted holding their baskets high, as if they were catching it falling from the sky. Another type of image: they collect it on the ground in different containers.
“The dew has risen, and now, on the surface of the desert, something small, croup-like, small, like frost on the ground. And the children of Israel saw, and said to one another: “What is this? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them: "This is the bread that the Lord gave you for food";
This is what the Lord commanded: “Gather it each one as much as he can eat; Gather up according to the omer per person, according to the number of souls in the tent. And the house of Israel called the name of that bread Manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and tasted like a cake with honey."
