Question: The children of Israel, while in the wilderness, ask God for meat. Why did they do that when they had the animals they had brought with them from Egypt?

Answer: Thank you for your excellent question.

The preeminent commentator on the Torah, both Bible and Talmud, is the medieval, saintly Jewish scholar from France, Rabbi Shlomo Isaaci (1040-1105), affectionately known by the initials “Rashi”.

In his commentary to Numbers 11:4, Rashi asks the same question. He deflects the possibility that they did not bring any meat from Egypt, as it says in Exodus 12:38 that they did bring “flocks and cattle”. He also shows that they had not yet run out of meat, because in Numbers 32:1 it says that the tribe of Reuben “had much cattle”. In the end, based on a tradition recorded in the Midrash (see Sifrei Behaalosecha 1:42:4), he answers that they really did not lack meat, but the base elements among the people were merely seeking a false pretense to complain against Moses.

All the best.

Rabbi Joe Kolakowski