Lechem. Bread. Food. Sustenance. Life.
There’s virtually nothing more fundamental or more necessary.
Adam is told that he will have to work the land as a result of his transgression, and that he will eat bread only if he works for it.
Humans have always had to work for this most basic life-sustaining element (except for the years of travel in the desert when the mann came from heaven). Bread isn’t free, and therefore life isn’t free.
Everything we do in life requires sustenance, and it’s no coincidence that the Torah uses the word lechem to describe not only bread, but all food in general (see commentaries on Bereishis 39:6).
Yet, with Pesach not too far behind us, we find an even more basic form of lechem – the poor man’s bread, lechem oni.
Lechem oni, as we know, is made of two simple ingredients: flour and water. Interestingly, both of these ingredients have been compared to Torah – Im ein kemach ein Torah and Ein mayim ella Torah.
I think the message of lechem is therefore quite obvious – our ability to survive requires effort, and through that effort we’ll be granted life through sustenance.
We must, however, remember that Torah and lechem must go hand in hand. Our effort and focus must constantly keep both in our purview so that we can live with true sustenance – both physical and spiritual.
