The majority of the Daf discusses the mann.
- בזכרנו את הדגה אשר נאכל במצרים חנם
The Gemara brings a machlokes regarding Bnei Yisroel’s complaint about the mann. Rav and Shmuel argue over the meaning of the following passuk: "זכרנו את הדגה אשר נאכל במצרים חנם" – We remember the fish (dagah) that we ate in Mitzrayim, free of charge. One said dagah refers to actual fish, and bnei Yisroel were complaining that the fish that they ate in abundance in Mitzrayim, was not available to them in the midbar. He derives it from נאכל – that we ate. The other one said that the word dagah refers to arayos, and that they were complaining that certain marital relations they enjoyed in Mitzrayim were now prohibited by the Torah. He derives it from חנם – free of charge. Since fish was not free, it must be referring to relations, which were "free" of any prohibition. The Gemara challenges the first opinion, based on the passuk in that parshah that states, "וישמע משה את העם בכה למשפחתיו" – And Moshe heard the people weeping by their families. על עסקי משפחתיו – which is expounded to mean, on account of their family members, who now had become prohibited to them. The Gemara concludes that they complained about both the loss of fish and prohibited relations.
- The three different ways the mann fell
The Gemara brings three passukim that describe how the mann fell. The first one implies that the mann fell in the camp. The second one implies that it fell outside the camp, and the third implies that the people had to wander far from the camp to collect it. The Gemara explains that the mann fell differently for three groups of people. צדיקים ירד על פתח בתיהם – For the tzadikim, the mann fell inside the camp, at the entrance of their homes. בינונים יצאו ולקטו – For average people, the mann fell outside the camp, requiring them to go and collect it. רשעים שטו ולקטו – For the resha’im, the mann fell at a great distance from the camp, requiring them to wander far away to collect it.
- לחם אבירים אכל איש
It was taught in a Baraisa regarding the mann, the passuk states, "לחם אבירים אכל איש" – Humans ate abirim bread. Rebbe Akiva said that abirim bread is לחם שמלאכי השרת אוכלין אותו – bread that the malachim eat. Rebbe Yishmael said that Rebbe Akiva was mistaken since malachim do not eat or drink. Rather, he interpreted abirim bread as לחם שנבלע במאתים וארבעים ושמנה אברים – bread that is absorbed in the two hundred and forty-eight limbs of the human body. Why then were they required to have a shovel in addition to their weapons, as the passuk states, if there was no need to defecate? דברים שתגרי אומות עולם מוכרין אותן להם – They defecated because they ate food that peddlers of the nations would sell to them. Rebbe Elazar ben Parta said that the mann would also enable these foods they purchased to be absorbed in their bodies. The need for the shovel was for after they complained about the mann. HaKadosh Baruch Hu said to them, אני אמרתי יהיו כמלאכי השרת עכשיו אני מטריח אותם שלש פרסאות – I said that Bnei Yisroel should be like the malachei hashareis, but now that they complained I am burdening them with having to walk three parsaos in order to relieve themselves.
