Daf Yomi - Yoma 75 - Digestion of the Manna

Daf Yomi - Yoma 75 - Digestion of the Manna

The Gemora states that when Klal Yisroel ate the manna in the desert, it absorbed into their limbs. The Chazon Ish explains this to mean that it entered straight into their limbs without being digested at all. Based on this, he asks a question on the Magen Avraham.

The Magen Avraham rules that one does not make a brocha acharona after smelling besamim because the benefit is not in existence anymore and it is similar to food being digested already, that one doesn't make a brocha acharona on. The Chazon Ish asks from a Gemora Brochos which states that Moshe instituted the first brocho of bentching at the time that the manna fell in the desert. The manna was absorbed into a person's limbs immediately without being digested and nevertheless there was an obligation to bentch afterwards, so too by smelling incense, there could be a brocha acharona afterwards. He offers a different reason why there's no brocha acharona on besamim based on Rashi who states that it is not enough of a prominent benefit that should mandate a brocha.

The mefarshim learn different than the Chazon Ish regarding digesting the manna. It was digested like regular food and it was not immediate, however it lacked any extraneous element. There was no waste product involved. A proof to this is from our Gemora which relates that when Klal Yisroel ate food which was purchased from the peddlers in the desert, the manna inside of them transformed that food to be similar to the manna. Evidently, the manna did not absorb immediately.