Commentaire sur Les Nombres 11:5

אשר נאכל במצרים חנם [WE REMEMBER THE FISH] WHICH WE DID EAT IN EGYPT FOR NOTHING — If you say that they meant that the Egyptians gave them fish for nothing (without payment), then I ask, “But does it not state, (Exodus 5:18): [Go, therefore, now, and work], for there shall no straw be given you”? Now, if they did not give them straw for nothing, would they have given them fish for nothing! — What then is the force of the word חנם? It means: free from (i.e. without us having been burdened with) heavenly commands (Sifrei Bamidbar 87).

WE REMEMBER THE FISH WHICH WE WERE WONT TO EAT IN EGYPT FOR NOUGHT. According to the plain meaning of Scripture [the explanation of the verse is that] the Egyptian fishermen used to put them to work to bring in the fish that they caught in their trawls and nets, and they would give them some fish [to eat], as is the custom of those that spread nets [upon the waters].¹⁶⁰Isaiah 19:8. And cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic¹⁵⁹Verse 5. are very abundant in Egypt, for it is as a garden of herbs,¹⁶¹Deuteronomy 11:10. and when they dug for the Egyptians in gardens and in all manner of service in the field¹⁶²Exodus 1:14. they would eat the vegetables. Or perhaps the Israelites who were the king’s slaves doing his work would be supported by him with sparing bread and scant water,¹⁶³Isaiah 30:20. and they would be dispersed throughout the city and would enter the gardens and fields, and eat of the vegetables without leaving anything over, as the king’s servants do. And [in addition it is possible that] they would give them at the edge of the river [Nile] small fish from the king’s portion which have no market-price in Egypt, as I have explained in Seder V’eileh Shemoth.¹⁶⁴Exodus 1:1. The verse referred to is ibid., 11. This was the complaint of the children of Israel,¹⁵⁵Verse 4. not the complaint of the mixed multitude¹⁵⁵Verse 4. [who were originally not of the stock of Israel and were not enslaved in Egypt, therefore they could not say, We remember the fish, which we were wont to eat in Egypt for nought; but after the mixed multitude fell a lusting¹⁵⁵Verse 4. they all] complained to Moses and demanded of him, Give us flesh, that we may eat,¹⁶⁵Further, Verse 13. as Scripture mentions further on.

זכרנו את הדגה אשר נאכל, “we remember the fish we used to eat, etc.” Nachmanides understands these words literally, pointing out that the Egyptian fishermen would employ the Jews and would let them eat the fish they did not think they could sell at the local fish market. The various vegetables mentioned in our verse were so plentiful in Egypt that even Hebrew slaves could afford them, or that they dug them out of the ground and no one would protest this. We have the Torah on record as comparing the whole of the land of Egypt to a garden full of greens. (Genesis 13,10) [The author paints one or two additional scenarios that would explain the words in our text. They are of speculative character. Ed.] Some commentators do not understand the word דגה as fish at all, but view it as a simile describing abundance, as in Genesis 48,16 וידגו לרוב בקרב הארץ, “may they proliferate abundantly.” Accordingly, the people would have been complaining about the abundant sources of food they had enjoyed in Egypt and the variety, compared to what they condescendingly described as the monotonous diet of manna.