What was the manna?

What was the manna?

The theme of manna-- "bread from heaven" -- play part in John's Bread of Life discourse. Manna provide miraculously in the desert for 40 years, was considered the greatest miracle that God worked through Moses, The crowd challenges Jesus to work similar miracle so they can believe in him. Jesus responds that he is the bread that comes down from heaven. It appears that "manna" was a sweet,resinous substance that oozed from some desert trees and shrubs. It was edible, but not normally used as food. The Israelites were only to gather for one day , trusting that God would not fail to provide it for them the following day. On the day before the Sabbath , they were allowed to gather twice as much so they could observe the Sabbath rest and not have to perform the "work" gathering the manna on the Sabbath. The Israelites saw the manna as an expression of God's special care for them Moses told them to put some manna in an urn and place it in the Ark f the Covenant so that they could show it to later generations . Their descendants would then have evidence of how much God loved them.
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The crowd said to Jesus: What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in he desert... Jesus said to them, "It was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes from heaven and gives life to the world. .. "I am the bread of life: whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me will never thrist." (Jn. 6:30-35)

The "passover" from Egypt to the Promised Land was the event for the Jewish people. They were led by the great prophet. Moses. In the desert. They received the unfailing gift of the manna, which kept them alive, -- they called it the "Bread of Life" they received the Torah (The "Law" - the first five books of the bible.) Which they also referred to as the "Bread of Life". Moses, the manna, the Torah - those were the foundations of their faith.
Jesus , with full respect for these traditions, is taking the people to a new level. He is giving them the bread of life that truly "comes from heaven and gives life he world" - his Word and his own Body and Blood.
There is nothing temporary about this food: "Whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes me will never thirst."
Not only does this food last forever, here and now it fulfills y deepest needs.
Really? Are those just words? Or are those my core beliefs.?
There's a lot of riding on this.