Lessons of the mann?

Question

I think it is understood that the מן ("mann", manna) has a lot to teach us about Hashem's hashgacha (providence) over us and how he sustains us with parnassah. The Torah even prescribes (Exodus 16:32-34) keeping a jar of the mann in the Holy of Holies, "that through the ages, they see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness".
Kind of like a moshul (parable), where parnassah is the nimshal (lesson). Perhaps, the mann is parnassah in a world where Hashem's providence is out in the open, and we live in a world where parnassah comes from Hashem's providence in a more hidden way.
Now in any moshul and nimshal, there are parts of the story intended to teach, and parts that are incidental and don't apply to the lesson. In Aesop's [The Fox and the Grapes][2], l'havdil, we don't care about the color of the fox. Here, I'd say, we don't care so much that the mann looked like white crackers and shouldn't learn from there to eat crackers all the time, etc.
Question: What are the lessons that we should learn from the mann? What not?

Answer 1

There are a few things that the story of the manna teaches me personally:

The Gemara teaches not to worry about what will happen tomorrow (Yevamot 63b):

Do not suffer from tomorrow’s trouble, that is, do not worry about problems that might arise in the future, as you do not know what a day will bring.

Therefore, R. Eliezer Hamodai says (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 16:4:2):

Whoever has what to eat today and says "What will I eat tomorrow?" is lacking in faith.

So, what does the manna teaches me? It teaches me to believe that G-d provides me with everything that I need, even something that I won't recognise by myself as necessary, as the Gemara teaches on "what is a man with faith?" (Sotah 48b)

These are people who believe in the Holy One, Blessed be He, and place their trust in Him in all their ways.

The Chovos Halevavos explains:

Divine wisdom required the testing of man in the service of G-d or rebellion against Him. Therefore, G-d tests man with what demonstrates his choice in this - needs and lacking for external things such as food

Also, for me, there is a connection between the manna in time of Moshe Rabbeinu and Mashiach, since the Midrash (Kohelet Rabbah 1:9) tells us that just as the first redeemer (Moshe Rabbeinu) brought down manna from heaven, so too will the last redeemer, e.g. Mashiach do.

Just as the first redeemer brought down the manna, as it says “Behold! I am going to rain down for you bread from heaven…” (Shemot 16:4) so too the last redeemer will bring down manna, as it says “May there be an abundance of grain in the land…” (Tehillim 72:16).

Similary, the Mekhilta (Beshalach) explains that the Torah was given to be expounded only by "the eaters of manna" (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:17). So, according to this, how can we be "eaters of manna"?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains this as follows (Beyond the Letter of the Law, Avot 6:4 "Manna Eaters"):

The challenge for us is that we, too, should be "eaters of the manna." That even as we eat ordinary bread, earned by the sweat of our brow, we recognize that it is G‑d who creates the bread and imbues it with the ability to sustain life. That we recognize that it is the "utterance of G -d's mouth" within the bread—that is to say, the divine speech by which G‑d created, and continues to create, all of existence—that nourishes us (1)(Y. Tauber, 2012)

Reference list:

1. Tauber, Y. (2012). Beyond the Letter of the Law: A Chassidic Companion to the Ethics of the Fathers. Meaningful Life Center.

Answer 2

I'll suggest some myself, based on various parts of the story:

• Parnassah comes from Hashem.
• Even if you work harder, you won't make more than Hashem allots to you. [Not, say, Everyone gets exactly the same amount.]
• It doesn't help to work on Shabbos.
• We are supposed to be satisfied with what we need.
• Enjoyment doesn't come from the taste, but from our attitude toward it: you give the mann its taste.

Some are interesting but questionable, though I think there's still a point there:

• It doesn't help to save for tomorrow. [See Gittin 47a, Reish Lakish's bequest.] Or, at least, don't rely on your savings.
• It is supposed to be easy to make a living: it took only a small fraction of the morning. [See perhaps Rambam Hilchos Talmud Torah.] And the more merits you have, the easier it gets; so to speak, the closer it falls to your house.
• Our sages and our Torah saw having to go to the bathroom as a disgrace, something associated with our imperfection, something not intrinsic. It means that we aren't really in touch with nature, and we're eating things that don't really fit our bodies. With the mann, that wasn't necessary.
• You only need to prepare for Shabbos on Friday. (In the gemara Beitzah 16a this is an argument between Shammai and Hillel.)