Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ramban · Torah
Ramban on Numbers 11:6/רמב"ן על במדבר י״א:ו׳
אוְטַעַם נַפְשֵׁנוּ יְבֵשָׁה – שֶׁנִּתְחַמֵּם טִבְעָם מֵרוֹב הַתַּאֲווֹת וְיָבְשָׁה לָהּ, כְּדִבְרֵי אוּנְקְלוֹס (תרגום אונקלוס על במדבר י״א:ו׳). אוֹ נַפְשֵׁנוּ יְבֵשָׁה כִּי אֵין לָהּ כֹּל לְלַחְלֵחַ אוֹתָהּ, כִּי הַמַּאֲכָל מוֹלִיד הַלֵּחוֹת בַּגּוּף וְיָשִׁיב הַנֶּפֶשׁ רָוָה. וְאָמְרוּ בִּלְתִּי אֶל הַמָּן עֵינֵינוּ – שֶׁאֲפִלּוּ הַמָּזוֹן אֲשֶׁר אָנוּ חַיִּים בּוֹ אֵינֶנּוּ בְּיָדֵינוּ שֶׁתִּהְיֶה נַפְשֵׁנוּ דְּשֵׁנָה וּשְׂבֵעָה בּוֹ, אֲבָל נִתְאַוֶּה לוֹ וְנִשָּׂא עֵינֵינוּ אֵלָיו בְּכָל עֵת, כִּי בְּאוּלַי יָבֹא לָנוּ. וְהִנֵּה אֵין כֹּל בִּלְתִּי תּוֹחֶלֶת הַמָּן. אָמְרוּ הַמָּשָׁל הַיָּדוּעַ (יומא עד): אֵינוֹ דּוֹמֶה מִי שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ פַּת בְּסַלּוֹ לְמִי שֶׁאֵין לוֹ פַּת בְּסַלּוֹ. וְסִפֵּר הַכָּתוּב כַּמָּה מַעֲלוֹת בַּמָּן, וְאָמַר שֶׁטַּעְמוֹ כְּטַעַם לְשַׁד הַשֶּׁמֶן, לְהַגִּיד כִּי נֶפֶשׁ אוֹכְלָיו לֹא תִיבַשׁ, כִּי הוּא יְלַחְלֵחַ וְיַרְוֶה, וְתִהְיֶה נֶפֶשׁ אוֹכְלָיו כְּגַן רָוֶה וּכְמוֹצָא מַיִם:
1BUT 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:166 “One cannot compare a person who has bread in his basket with one who does not have bread in his basket.”167, 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,168 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.169