וממדבר מתנה: חותם השואה על חיבור קבלי מסיביר

Rabbi Isaac Messer, a Polish kabbalist, was exiled during the Holocaust to Siberia, where he died after years of wandering and hunger.‪ While at exile he composed a kabbalistic treatise with numerous acronyms and gimatriyas, entitled U'mimidbar Matanah (a gift from the desert)‪.‪ According to Prof.‪ Hallamish, the main innovation of this book is the very ability of the author to conceive and create such an esoteric piece despite his existential distress.‪ However, I show that U'MM indeed has a substantial innovation regarding metaphors of food and Tikkun via eating and blessing.‪ One easily spots the almost obsessive preoccupation of Messer with questions of food.‪ About one-third of the book relates to various aspects of the food (its impact on the human ability to rise and raise his level of spirituality, dealing with shortages and consequential damage to the spiritual world, and more)‪.‪ Moreover, reading the book consistently reveals Messer gradually abandons the model of eating as a tool to raise the Divine sparks, and thus to rectify the sins of mankind.‪ In contrast, he finds comfort in metaphors of food as an expression of the impact God has on the world, and how He reveals himself and his Shekhinah