We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge, But now, our bodies are dried out, for there is nothing at all; we have nothing but manna to look at. (11:5-6) Here we find that these were the mixed multitude, which had attached themselves to Klal Yisrael when they left Egypt, were always looking for ways to stir up problems, and were looking to complain. The Torah calls them ohbbut ,n which denotes a pretext. They were seeking a pretext to soften the hearts of the Yidden towards Hashem.
As Klal Yisrael were going through the desert, Hashem sent the food from heaven called the Manna. It arrived in the morning, and again in the evening. This was spiritual food and most of the Yidden were satisfied with the Manna. But the mixed multitude among them began to have strong cravings, and gathered a minority of Yidden to complain, and this caused Hashem to punish them, as we see in the Pesukim.
This leads us to a difficulty to understand why the Yidden had any claims on food, when they had enough food that they say But now, our bodies are dried out, for there is nothing at all, when had the Manna? Another difficulty is, in what way was the food better for them in Egypt, that they yearned for it? Also, one needs to understand what the Posuk uses the terminology "Epi«¥pi¥r" we have nothing but manna to look at. What does the in have to do with their eyes. If they were complaining about their cravings for food, it should have stated simply But now, our bodies are dried out, for there is nothing at all but manna? Therefore, we must understand the basis of their complaints?
To better understand this, it can be explained according to what the Gemarra Yoma 74b explains the verse “And Hashem afflicted you and caused you to hunger, and fed you with manna” (Devorim 8:16), The Gemara expounds related verses. The Torah states: Who fed you with manna in the desert, which your forefathers did not know, in order to afflict you and in order to test you, to benefit you in your end. The Gemarra asks: What affliction was there in eating the manna? Answers the Gemarra: There is no comparison between one who sees the food and eats it and one who does not see the food and eats it. Though the manna could taste like anything, it always looked the same and did not look as it tasted. Being unable to see the food that they tasted was an affliction. Rav Yosef said: From here there is an allusion to the idea that blind people eat but are not fully satisfied when they eat because they cannot see their food. Seeing the food contributes to the enjoyment of eating. Abaye said: Therefore, from what we have just learned, one who has a meal should eat it only during daytime, when there is light to see the food that is being eaten.
Based on this, we now can shed light on what the complaint was about the manna. Of course, the food in Egypt was gained through hard labor and pain, but at least they were able to see the food they were eating, and were satisfied. yet, with the manna, Rashi explains: mipind lk mrh mreh ond zlik`: on `l` d`ex epi`e The manna had a taste of all kinds and does not see anything but manna. But since they did not see the physical food, they felt hungry, even though they had enough food. This is what they said: "m® ̈P ¦g" m¦i−©x §v ¦n §A' the word "m® ̈P ¦g" also relates to the word o ¥g meaning grace. It was a beauty to see the food and we became satisfied, but now our bodies are dried out, because "Epi«¥pi¥r" o¬ ̈n ©d l ¤` i−¦z §l ¦a we have nothing but manna to look at. We can only see the manna with our eyes and not what we want to eat. However, this was a test of Hashem. However, the vast majority of Klal Yisrael appreciated the manna, and understood that it was spiritual food in order to cleanse their souls.
