민수기 11:5의 미드라쉬

(Ibid. 3) "And the children of Israel said to them: Would that we had died by the hand of the L rd, etc.": Would that we had died in the three days of darkness in Egypt. (Ibid.) "when we sat over the flesh-pot": Israel lusted to eat. R. Elazar Hamodai says: Israel were servants to kings in Egypt. When they went out to market they could take bread, meat, fish, and all other things, and no one would stop them. They could go out to the field and take grapes, figs, and pomegranates, and no one would stop them. R. Yossi Hamodai says: Know this to be so, for they were given kishuim last (i.e., as a last alternative), wherefore it is written "kishuim" last (viz. Numbers 11:5), in that they were hard ("kashim") on their stomachs. "that you have taken us out to this desert": They said to them: You have taken us out to this desert "in vain" — There is nothing in it. "to kill this entire congregation by famine": R. Yehoshua b. Karcha says: There is no death worse than famine, viz. (Eichah 4:9) "Better the slain by the sword than the slain by famine!" R. Elazar Hamodai says: (lit., "in the famine"): There has come upon us famine after famine, pestilence after pestilence, darkness after darkness.

(Bamidbar 11:5) "We remember the fish that we would eat in Egypt, free": Is it possible that the Egyptians gave them fish free? Is it not written (Shemot 5:18) "And now, go and work, and straw will not be given you": If they did not give them straw free, would they give them fish free? How, then, are we to understand "free"? "Free" of mitzvoth. R. Shimon says: The manna would change for them to any flavor they desired, except for (that of) these five things (Ibid "cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic") An analogy: A king hands his son over to a pedagogue and charges him: See to it that he does not eat or drink anything harmful. And the son grumbles at his father, saying: It is not because he loves me, but because he does not want me to eat! The sages say: The manna changed for Israel to any thing (i.e., any flavor) they desired, but they did not see it (the desired object) with their eyes. And this is the intent of (Ibid. 6) "There is nothing. Only to the manna is our eyes." To our eyes, there is nothing — only manna in the morning, manna in the evening!