Moses hardly thought about what to feed his fellow tribesmen when he persuaded them to go in search of the Promised Land. The food problem arose later when the Jews fleeing the oppression of the Egyptians ate the meager supplies. And then, saving his many children from hunger, the Lord sent them manna from heaven. Every day, with the exception of Saturday, for 40 years, this wonderful food fell from heaven and saved the wanderers from starvation. But what was this mysterious substance? Scientists have tried to find an answer to this question.
And butter, and bread, and honey
They began, of course, by scrupulously studying the Scriptures in search of clues, but they got even more confused.
The Old Testament, the main source of information about manna from heaven, says: “Manna was like a coriander seed, a kind like bdellium (aromatic resin of the bush of the same name, - ed.); the people went and gathered it, and ground it in millstones or pound in a mortar, and boiled it in a cauldron, and made cakes from it; its taste was similar to the taste of cakes with oil. At the same time, on hot days, the manna melted in the sun. In addition, it had to be quickly collected from the ground, otherwise worms could start in it.
Manna fell from the sky every day except Saturday. Moreover, on Friday it turned out to be twice as much as on the other days of the week, so that, obviously, it would be enough for Saturday.
The Hebrew scriptures endowed manna with supernatural properties. According to the oldest Jewish treatise "The Zohar", its use in food allowed people to comprehend the Divine essence. According to Haggadah, a set of Talmudic texts, consisting of aphorisms, parables and legends, manna seemed to “adjust” to the tastes of the person who ate it: children tasted butter, young men tasted bread, and old people tasted honey …
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Lichen and algae
Moses and his followers naturally also wondered: what are they eating? At the first meeting with a product that fell from the sky, the Jews asked each other: "Man hu?" ("What is it?"). Perhaps it was this question that gave the name to heavenly food.
However, it is true, what was it? The most surprising version was proposed in the last quarter of the 20th century by Harold Moldenke, one of the main experts on ancient plants. In his book Plants in the Bible, written after 12 years of research, he expressed the opinion that manna is not a specific food, but several types of food, united by a common name. In particular, he suggested that one of the components of manna was a fast-growing alga from the Nostoc species. In biblical times, it covered half the desert in Sinai, and enough dew on the ground allowed it to grow every day.
But that's not all of the “delicacies”. In addition to algae, Moldenke also included in the diet of desert travelers several lichen species native to the Middle East: Lecanora affinus, L. esculenta, and L. fruticulosa. In the sun, these symbiosis of fungi and algae dry up, become very light and travel like a tumbleweed in the wind. There are cases when they literally fell from the sky. By the way, nomadic pastoralists used these types of lichen for making bread.
According to Moldenke, the perennial lichen diet explains Jewish complaints that lack of adequate food drains their souls.
In addition to the American botanist, the "lichen" version was seriously considered by the Cambridge historian R. A. Donkin. According to the scientist, the species L. esculenta has served humanity more than once. The Arabs used this lichen as a medicine, added it for fermentation in wine, infused with honey. And the soldiers of the army of Alexander the Great used it for food, thanks to which they were able to cross the desert during the Egyptian campaign.
Alas, for all its advantages, the lichen theory is far from flawless. Most often, the lichen L. esculenta was nominated for the role of manna from heaven, but the bitter truth is that it … does not grow in Sinai.
Honey dew
Fortunately, lichen is not the only candidate for the position of manna from heaven. It rivals, and not without reason, a sticky secretion, which can be found on a number of plants (in particular, on tamarisk) growing in the desert. Some insects, and especially one aphid species, leave a sticky substance on certain shrubs, which, when hardened, turns into balls. They have a sweetish taste and, by the way, resemble both pearls and coriander seeds. They are used as food, and sometimes used as medicine: in traditional Iranian medicine, this secretion is used to treat jaundice in newborns. One of the main supporters of the "entomological" origin of manna from heaven was the famous Israeli entomologist Shimon F. Bodenheimer. In the article "Sinai Manna", published back in 1947, he called the secretion of insects honeydew.
A gift from space
The most exciting hypothesis of the origin of manna from heaven in 1978 was put forward by the Englishmen George Sasson and Rodney Dale. If you believe them, the product that the exiles ate for 40 years was produced by a machine: it was this irreplaceable apparatus, not the tablets, that the Jews carried in the Ark of the Covenant.
Sasson, being an engineer and translator, made such bold conclusions after carefully reading the text of the above-mentioned treatise "Zohar". This book, written in the XIII century by the Jewish theologian Moshe de Leon, describes, among other things, a certain deity - "Ancient of days." In Aramaic, his name sounds like Otik Yomin, which, according to Sasson and specialists from the Hebrew University, where it is more correct to translate as "portable vessel". Indeed, the more Sasson read his description, the more he became convinced that Otik Yomin is more a mechanical device than a living creature. He could neither move on his own, nor speak. It had to be worn and placed on a "pedestal" during a stop. Finally, this device could not be approached without special clothing, otherwise there was a risk of severe burns or getting sick. It turns outdid the device contain a source of energy, moreover, radioactive?
Probably yes. But the ancient Jews did not invent it themselves: the gods (aliens?) Gave them a mysterious machine to produce manna from heaven. The raw material for her, according to Sasson and his colleague Dale, were green algae of the genus Chlorella. They turned into relatively complete food thanks to dew and radiation from a nuclear source. In the upper part of the machine there was a moisture distilling apparatus. Air flowed around the cooling surfaces and condensed moisture. In the center of the unit was a vessel with algae and a light source. By circulating through a complex system of tubes, oxygen and carbon dioxide from the air reacted and heat energy was generated. The sediment entered the vessel, in which the starch component was converted into a nutrient that resembled malt. It was that very manna from heaven.
Later, the food-making machine was kept in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. She was still in the ark, which, along with all its contents, was hidden by the prophet Jeremiah on Mount Nebo in 587 BC. - on the eve of the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. Already in the Middle Ages, the device for the production of manna came to Europe, where it received a new name and became known as the Holy Grail.
Lucrative delicacy
In the summer of 2018, the American daily Washington Post wrote about the successful attempt of the famous metropolitan chef Theodd Gray to turn the mythical manna from heaven into a delicacy that brings real profit. Mann Gray is nothing more than a sweet resin that he buys in Iran for $ 35 an ounce. Rather, he bought it before Washington returned sanctions against Iran. The ban forced Todd Gray to switch to substitutes. He now uses a mixture of sumac, sesame seeds and fennel pollen to make manna.
Magazine: All the mysteries of the world №26. Author: Sergey Lavinov