민수기 11:6의 주석

אל המן עינינו OUR EYES ARE ON THIS MANNA (i. e. we see nothing but this manna) — “manna in the morning, manna in the evening!” (Sifrei Bamidbar 87)

נפשנו יבשה, “our life is parched;” Nachmanides describes the emotional state of the Israelites as having “died out,” due to the many different cravings they had been experiencing. Alternately, he writes, the meaning of the phrase could be that whereas natural foods provide the body with moisture, lubricating it, they did not experience such feelings when eating manna, but felt parched instead.

BUT NOW OUR SOUL IS DRIED AWAY. This means that because of their many desires their temperaments had become heated and then dried up, as Onkelos translates it [“but now our soul is lusting”]. Or it may be that [they meant that] our soul is dried away because there is nothing with which to moisten it, since food produces [essential] liquids in the body which satisfy the soul. And they said, we have nought save this manna ‘to look to,’ meaning that even the food [i.e., the manna] on which we live is not in our possession so that our soul can be nourished and satisfied with it; but we desire it and look to it [i.e., we are dependent upon it] at all times, in anticipation that it will come to us; thus we have nothing at all save our hope for the manna. They thus gave expression to the known proverb:¹⁶⁶Yoma 74 b. “One cannot compare a person who has bread in his basket with one who does not have bread in his basket.”¹⁶⁷For since the manna only came down in the quantity required for that day. and none was to be left for the following day (Exodus 16:19), and if it was left it rotted (ibid., Verse 20), they were therefore in constant worry for their next day’s food. Therefore Scripture tells how many qualities the manna had, stating that its taste was as the taste of a cake baked with oil,¹⁶⁸Verse 8. thus declaring that the souls of those who ate it did not dry up, for it [the manna] supplied the body with the [essential] liquids and kept it satisfied, and the souls of those who ate it were like a watered garden and like a spring of water.¹⁶⁹Isaiah 58:11.

V. 6. נפשנו יבשה; vergl. יבש כחרש כחי (Ps. 22, 16). Es fehlt uns nicht die Nahrung. — Alle im vorigen Verse genannten Pflanzenarten sind nicht gerade nährende Stoffe. Es fehlt uns das Erquickende und Stärkende der Nahrung. Es fehlt uns die zur Gesundheit so notwendige Abwechselung in den Nahrungsmitteln: בלתי אל המן עינינו, das völlige Einerlei des uns zur Nahrung gewährten Stoffes macht ihn unerträglich.

ועתה נפשנו יבשה, “and now our soul is dried up;” they were afraid that seeing that the manna was absorbed by their bodies entirely, none of it being waste to be excreted, that this would so interfere with their intestinal organs that it would kill them internally. They did not understand how a human being born from the womb of a woman can survive on food such as the manna alone. They challenged Rabbi Shimon by asking: “what is it that keeps you alive?” Is it not the excrement which is described in the Torah inDeuteronomy 23,14: ויתד תהיה לך על אזנך, “and have a paddle with you to cover your excrement!” (Torah addressing the Jewish soldier) The Rabbi answered the questioners that what is excreted are only the contributions to food provided by the gentiles. None of the manna needs to be excreted as it originated in the heavenly spheres where there is no useless or harmful substance. Scriptural proof for this is to be found in when David said in Psalms 78,25: לחם אבירים אכל איש, “each man ate a hero’s meal.” The type of man who can thrive on manna is the one who deserves the title אבירים. A different interpretation: if the people had become spiritually flawed, they would find that some of the manna turned into excrement within them.

בלתי אל המן עינינו, “we have nothing to look forward to but manna.” Even the food that we live on now, i.e. the manna, we must always hopefully and expectantly look for it if it will materialise, and we have no stored surplus enabling us to experience peace of mind; rather we need to crave for it, never knowing if it will materialise. In response to these spurious complaints the Torah gives us details in verse 7-9 of the multifaceted uses the manna could be put to. Even its external appearance was extremely pleasing to the eye.