Behind The Scenes Of Kemach Yoshon And The 16th Of Nissan

There is a halachah that one cannot eat the year’s new grains until the 16th of Nisan passes. This day historically marks the first day the Bnei Yisrael ate produce from the Land of Israel, as is stated in Sefer Yehoshua. After traversing the desert for 40 years, the Jewish people began a campaign to reclaim the Land of Israel. For 40 years they were sustained by a miracle of heavenly bread, or manna. On the 16th of Nisan, in the year of their conquest, the Jewish people, as a nation, for the first time partook of the Land of Israel’s harvest and no longer received the manna. The manna actually stopped falling on the 7th of Adar, the day that Moshe Rabbeinu passed away. However, they continued eating of what was left until they entered the land under Yehoshua, on the 16th of Nissan.

The day the Jews stopped eating from the “bread of Heaven” they began eating of the “bread of the earth.” This event marks the day where we are permitted to eat of lechem chadash, the year’s new grains. This idea connects with the verse in Devarim 8:3, which states “…man does not live on bread alone but may live on anything the Lord decrees.” This is referring to the manna, upon which the Jews would pronounce the blessing “Hamotzi lechem min hashamayim” (Blessed is G-d …Who produces bread from the Heavens). The theme of this verse is that man’s life is not reliant on materialism or physical reality, but rather depends on the word of G-d. Similarly, the Omer offering brought in the Temple on the 16th of Nisan was lifted skyward to demonstrate this point.

Our archenemy Haman was likewise hung on the 16th of Nisan. During the year of the Purim story, the Jews fasted on the first three days of Pesach. A few days later, Haman was commanded by the king to parade Mordechai through the streets in great pomp and honor. Our rabbis inform us that as Haman went to notify Mordechai of his royal reward, he found Mordechai teaching young students about the laws of the Omer offering, which commemorate and permit the new grains. When Haman heard the discourse, he remarked to Mordechai that the small Omer offering of barley in the Temple outweighed the 10,000 loaves of silver he used to purchase rights over the Jews from King Achashverosh! The next day, Haman was hung from a tree. It turns out that on the same date in which the manna ceased falling from heaven, Haman’s body was suspended under the sky. The 16th of Nisan thus demonstrates in two different time periods that Hashem is always in full control.

Against all politics and policies, the events of the 16th of Nisan stand out as testimony to the wondrous power of Hashem’s word.

By Adam Suionov