Why the Manna Fell Hard or Soft and Changed Its Taste

"The people roamed about" and so forth. These are the wicked complainers, who did not find the manna inside the camp; the intermediate ones found it around the camp; and the righteous found it at the entrance and gathered it. And concerning them it is said, "and they gathered it and ground it in mills [or pounded it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made it into cakes]." And who needed to grind it in mills, and everything that is pounded in a mortar, and everything that is boiled in a pot, and everything that is made into cakes? Rather, this is to teach you that at every time, according to what they craved, the manna would come down for them: if they wanted it hard, it would come down hard; and if they wanted it soft, it would come down soft. "The richness of the oil" (leshad ha-shamen). This is like dough (layish) that is made in a pan with oil, and they take it down into honey; and concerning this it is said, "and its taste was like a wafer in honey" (Exodus 16:31). Another interpretation: "leshad" — do not read [it as] "leshad" but rather as "shed" (demon): just as the demon transforms into several appearances, so too the manna would transform into several tastes.