It seems the Israelites did just that after their exodus from Egypt. In the book of Bamidbar (Numbers), chapter 11, verse 5, we hear them complaining, "We remember the fish that we would eat in Egypt, free..."
Free? Really?
The ancient rabbis of the Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal and ethical teachings on the Book of Numbers, certainly raised an eyebrow at that claim. "Is it possible," they ask, "that the Egyptians gave them fish free?" After all, as it's written in Shemot (Exodus) 5:18, "Go and work, and straw will not be given you." If the Egyptians weren't handing out straw for brickmaking, what makes them think they were giving away fish for free?
So, what did they really mean by "free"? The rabbis propose a clever interpretation: "Free of mitzvot." They weren’t paying with currency, but with something far more precious: their spiritual freedom. In Egypt, weighed down by slavery, they weren’t obligated to follow God's commandments, the mitzvot.
It's a powerful idea, isn't it? Sometimes, what seems like a good deal on the surface comes at a hidden cost.
But the complaining doesn't stop there. They whine about the lack of cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic in the desert. Oy vey! Rabbi Shimon offers a fascinating perspective on this. He says that the manna, that miraculous food from heaven, could transform into any flavor they desired… except for those five things.
Why those specific vegetables?
Rabbi Shimon uses an analogy to illustrate the point. Imagine a king entrusting his son to a teacher, instructing him to ensure the boy avoids anything harmful. If the son then grumbles, "He doesn't love me; he just wants to deprive me!" he's missing the bigger picture. God, in his infinite wisdom, was providing them with sustenance perfectly suited to their needs in the desert. These other foods, while tasty, may not have been the best choice for their delicate system in this new environment.
There's something so human about this grumbling, isn't there? Even when provided with literal miracles, we find something to complain about.
The sages take it even further. The manna could take on any flavor, but they didn't actually see the desired object. As they lament in Numbers 11:6, "There is nothing. Only to the manna is our eyes." What they were really saying was, "All we see is manna in the morning, manna in the evening!"
They were so focused on what they didn't have that they couldn't appreciate the miracle right in front of them. The taste was there, the satisfaction, but the visual reminder of "real food" was missing. It's a powerful reminder to truly appreciate what we have, even when it doesn't come in the package we expect.
So, what can we take away from this ancient debate? Perhaps it’s a reminder to be mindful of the "fish we ate in Egypt" – those things we might be tempted to romanticize from the past. Are we truly remembering them accurately, or are we forgetting the price we paid for them? And are we so focused on what we lack that we’re missing the miracles, the manna, in our own lives?