Chukas

The Gemara brings that Moshe said to Yisrael: “You are כפוי טובה, you don’t recognize the good that Hashem did for you. Hashem gave you the mon and you complained about it that it is לחם הקלוקל.” What is the good that Hashem performed with the mon? And what was our ingratitude?

Rashi explains that the mon was absorbed in all their limbs and there were no waste to let out. They claimed that there is no such phenomenon for a human being to eat and not have to relieve himself. Rather, in time, the mon would burst open their stomach. The Sifsei Chachomim explains that the word   הקלוקלmeans destroy or ruin, and by bursting their stomach it would destroy or ruin them. Hashem however caused the mon to be absorbed in their stomach as a great benefit. Had a person need to relieve himself, he would have to travel the entire length of the camp, which was twelve kilometers long, to be outside the holy camp. The reason for this is because the Anan or the Aron might travel forwards, or to the right, or to the left and it is forbidden to have excretions in the areas where they would pass. However Bnei Yisrael never traveled backwards, therefore it was permitted to go there. Since the mon would become absorbed in each person’s body, Hashem took care of the difficulty of having to travel twelve kilometers. What a tremendous help which we did not recognize and appreciate!

The Gevuras Ari is bothered that the complaining of saying לחם הקלוקל took place after Aharon died, which was at the end of the forty years in the Midbar. For forty years the mon did not bust open their stomachs, why would they suspect that now it would destroy them?

The Gevuras Ari explains that Onkelos translates דמיכליה קליל, that its eating was light. The Ibn Ezra adds that the word הקלוקל has a double lashon of קל, light, as we find many in many places, for example אדמדם, ירקרק. The Bnei Yisrael weren’t complaining that the mon  would burst their stomachs, but rather complained that the mon was a light food and didn’t feel the same as when eating and digesting regular food. However, Hashem gave us the mon, which was special and unique that it tasted like anything one wanted to eat, and without having to prepare. We didn’t recognize and appreciate the good which Hashem did for our benefit, but complained about one aspect of the mon being light.

May Hashem help pay attention and recognize the good He constantly does for us and express our appreciation!