Parshat Bashalach in the Torah not only teaches about how HaShem split the Red Sea, but it also teaches us the secret of an easy income, or making a living effortlessly, with no headaches, without breaking our backs like a pack mule, and without working from sunup until sundown.

“Parshat HaMan”, which you’ll find in Exodus 16:4-36, is the account of the manna falling from heaven, the heavenly sustenance that HaShem fed the Children of Israel during the 40 years that they wandered in the desert. The special attribute of Parshat HaMan is that it unlocks the secret of an easy income. That’s why many people read Parshat HaMan every single day, for our sages teach us that the mere utterance of Parshat HaMan invokes blessings of abundance.

Our sages in the Gemara say that the Torah was intended for the people who eat manna (see Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach, 20 and Mechilta, Vayisa 2). This seems difficult to understand, for only the generation of the Exodus from Egypt received the manna. As soon as the Children of Israel entered Eretz Yisrael, the manna was discontinued. So what does it mean that the Torah was intended specifically for those who eat manna?

Our sages teach us that a person with emuna (active faith) and bitachon (trust), complete belief and trust in HaShem, who has so much faith in HaShem to the extent that he believes that his daily bread will be delivered to his doorstep just like food from heaven, will have such an easily effortless income that he’ll be able to channel almost all his energies into learning Torah rather than chasing after an elusive dollar.

The greatest tzaddikim such as the Baal Shem Tov and the Noam Elimelech couldn’t sleep at night if there was even a penny in their house. They’d give all their extra money to charity, because they believed – even better, they knew that HaShem would give them all their needs every day.

Without trust in Hashem, a person works too hard and doesn’t succeed in learning Torah. To learn Torah, one needs to trust Hashem. Whenever I encourage people to learn more Torah, many ask, "What will be with work, with making a living?" I tell them that they could make a living with half their current effort if they had trust in Hashem, and could channel more hours a day into learning. It works! We should all be praying every day that Hashem should help us acquire the level of emuna and trust where we can learn Torah more and work less.

If a person thinks that he or she is dependent on their own strengths and abilities, then spiritually, they’re on the level of a beast of burden, and their lives will become as hard as a pack mule’s.

We’re given the free choice to decide what we want to be? A prince or a pack mule.

(Ideas translated from Rabbi Shalom Arush).

It is worthwhile noting that the Talmud Yerushalmi states: “One who recites Parshas Hamon every day is assured that his food will not be lacking.”

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