Why does the Torah write that the people spoke against Hashem and Moshe?
Rashi: Because they actually placed Moshe on a par with Hashem.
Targum Yonasan: They blamed Hashem in their hearts, before speaking their thoughts out loud against Moshe. 1
Oznayim la'Torah: Yisrael were accustomed to addresssing their complaints to two people Moshe and Aharon. Now that Aharon was no longer alive, they complained to Hashem and Moshe. 2
What is the definition of ?Lechem ha?Kelokel??
Rashi, Targum Onkelos: It means ?insubstantial food?.
Rashbam: As in Yechezkel, 21:6 ?Nechoshes Kalal?.
See Rashbam. It is not clear why the Rashbam adds ?white? and ?dry?.
Why did they refer to the Manna as "insubstantial food"?
Rashi: Because, due to the fact that the Manna became absorbed in their limbs and they did not need to defecate, they claimed that it would cause their stomachs to swell, 1 since no human-being can live without defecating. 2
Da'as Zekenim (citing Yoma 74b): Because, since the Manna tasted like anything they wanted it to taste, they could not actually see what they were eating. Consequently, it did not satisfy them. 3
Da'as Zekenim: They tasted good foods only after hard work, as the Pasuk stated in Beha'aloscha 11:8 "Tachanu ba'Rechayim? ve'Hayah Ta'amo ke'Ta'am, L'shad ha'Shamen". 4
See Ba?al ha?Turim. Do not say that they said that everyone is dying at sixty due to the Manna. Clearly they died due to Hashem's decree, since it did not apply to Sheivet Levi (refer to 1:49:1:2), nor women, and people died only on Tish'ah be'Av (Tosfos Ta'anis 30b, based on Eichah Rabah, Pesichah 33): (PF).
Rashi in Avodah Zarah, 5b: When in reality, it was very much to their advantage ? seeing as it saved them from having to walk as much as three Parsah to outside the camp, in order to relieve themselves.
As the Gemara, based on this Pasuk, explains in Yoma 74b 'A blind person eats and is never satiated'.
Why is this any different than anyone who grows grain? Perhaps they complained that they did not have any fruits to enjoy without toil. Or, they were envious of Tzadikim, who tasted good foods without toil (PF)
Bearing in mind that they had lived with the Manna for almost forty years without any problems, why did they complain only now?
Oznayim la'Torah: Because throughout the forty years in the desert, whoever was afraid that his stomach would swell had the option of purchasing food from the passing merchants who brought food from the neighboring countries. However, once they enamped in Kadeish, on the border of Eretz Cana'an, this option no longer existed since, due to the punishment "Im Yir'eh Ish .. mi'Dor ha'Ra ha'Zeh es ha'Aretz ha'Tovah" 1 - they were forbidden to eat any ?good? that came from there.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes that the Manna became absorbed in their limbs and they did not need to defecate. Why in Devarim 23:13 & 14 does the Torah command an army encampment to cover their excrement?
Moshav Zekenim (on Sh'mos 16:14): Because they also purchased food from passing merchants. 1
It is not clear why the Moshav Zekeinim asked the question, Perhaps the Pasuk there is referring to after they would enter Eretz Yisrael and when the Manna no longer fell (PF). 2
Yoma, 75b: From the time that they complained about the Manna, the miracle that they did not need to defacate ceased to function. 3
He mentioned merchants, because soldiers take spoil from the enemy without paying!
See Oznayim la'Torah, who cites the question and the answer in the name of Chazal, who clearly interpret the Pasuk in Ki Seitzei with reference to the current period in the desert.
See Torah Temimah on Devarim, 23:14 citing Yoma (Ibid.)
