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Rashi on Exodus 16:1:1:

בחמשה עשר יום. נתפרש היום של חניה זו, לפי שבו ביום כלתה החררה שהוציאו ממצרים והצרכו למן, למדנו שאכלו משירי הבצק [משירי המצה] ששים ואחת סעודות, :

Summary: The Torah mentioned the date because until the 1st day of the 2nd month, they ate from the leftover matzot taken out of Egypt. Then, they ran out and needed the mahn

Numbers 9:1-3:

וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר יְהוָ֣ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה בְמִדְבַּר־סִ֠ינַי בַּשָּׁנָ֨ה הַשֵּׁנִ֜ית לְצֵאתָ֨ם מֵאֶ֧רֶץ מִצְרַ֛יִם בַּחֹ֥דֶשׁ הָרִאשׁ֖וֹן לֵאמֹֽר׃

And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying

Numbers 9:3:

בְּאַרְבָּעָ֣ה עָשָֽׂר־י֠וֹם בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֜ה בֵּ֧ין הָֽעֲרְבַּ֛יִם תַּעֲשׂ֥וּ אֹת֖וֹ בְּמוֹעֲד֑וֹ כְּכָל־חֻקֹּתָ֥יו וּכְכָל־מִשְׁפָּטָ֖יו תַּעֲשׂ֥וּ אֹתֽוֹ׃

In the fourteenth day of this month, at dusk, ye shall keep it in its appointed season; according to all the statutes of it, and according to all the ordinances thereof, shall ye keep it.’

I assume that by stating that in the 2nd year they ate the Pesach lamb and performed all the commandments that should go with it, it includes the commandment of eating the lamb with matzah and maror, as well, as stated in:

Exodus 12:8:

וְאָכְל֥וּ אֶת־הַבָּשָׂ֖ר בַּלַּ֣יְלָה הַזֶּ֑ה צְלִי־אֵ֣שׁ וּמַצּ֔וֹת עַל־מְרֹרִ֖ים יֹאכְלֻֽהוּ׃

And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

If they did everything completely, and they needed matzot, but, we see that they ran out of dough, how did they bake new matzot?

Or, is there a different way of understanding what occurred?

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    Why couldn't they make it from the mon itself? It's explicit that they turned it into ugos - a language used to refer to lafa type bread...
    – Isaac Kotlicky
    Commented Jun 29, 2015 at 17:56
  • @IsaacKotlicky interesting angle. Requires more research. One thing, perhaps, that would rule out using mahn. It says that it tasted like something fried in oil, which may nullify the idea that matzot must be "lechem oni" - also a term that Torah uses regarding Matzot.
    – DanF
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 2:10
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    Conversely, they refer to mahn as lechem k'lokel, degenerate bread. The laws of matzos have to do with the contents, not the taste. If you happen to have really sweet or fatty wheat, it would taste like it was kneaded with oil or honey while still being lechem oni.
    – Isaac Kotlicky
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 2:26
  • @IsaacKotlicky You keep me thinking ;-) "fatty" wheat is not something I'm familiar with, but, I can't argue with your point re taste being irrelevant, here. As for "degenrate" bread comment, we don't know if that's what it really was or their spur-of-the-moment perception of it as they were "fed up" with eating the same thing.
    – DanF
    Commented Jun 30, 2015 at 2:30

1 Answer 1

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They had money and there were various merchants travelling through the desert with whom they traded. Obviously these merchants who have particularly made an effort to travel towards them to sell as they knew they were willing buyers.

Although the people ate Manna as their daily staple, there were also meal offerings offered in the Mishkan and so they needed flour for those.

So, to put it simply, they bought it from travelling merchants.

Given that they had to ensure it wasn't chametz, at minimum they would have purchased unground wheat, and had access to mill-stones. The offerings in the Mishkan also used unleavened dough so it would probably have been a regular order but a much bigger one for Pesach.

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    Although this is a common answer for other item found in the hands of Bnei Yisroel in the desert, can we really say this for the flour/wheat needed for Shmura Matza? What about shmira from time of ketzira?
    – user6591
    Commented Mar 31, 2015 at 14:51
  • They probably bought unground wheat and then ground it themselves. However probably wasn't shmira from ketzira which is a chumra. I suppose they could have sent some people along to watch the harvesting for such a large order.
    – CashCow
    Commented Mar 31, 2015 at 14:52
  • This is a very good answer, but providing a source for this information would strengthen it. The Torah doesn't mention trade or business dealings with anyone until near the end of their wandering, i.e. - buying food from Amon and Mo'av as mentioned in Devarim. In those cases, they went there. There is no mention of merchants coming to them in the desert. The spies brought some produce samples which MAYBE included wheat if you assume that wheat is called "pri ha'aretz" (it is one of the 7).
    – DanF
    Commented Mar 31, 2015 at 15:24
  • The spies didn't go to the land until after the 2nd Pesach. They left on their journey around 28th Sivan in the 2nd year and returned on 8th Av. (And Shelach L'cha is often read on 28th Sivan, and Devarim which also recalls the story on 8th Av).
    – CashCow
    Commented Mar 31, 2015 at 15:29
  • @user6591 You are making an a priori assumption about massoth shemuroth. Most sources in the Rishonim and Geonim understand shemurah to be a reference to watching them carefully once the flour has been mixed with water and not from the time of qessirah at all. As far as the man being used for massoth, it could not be done because massoth can only be made from something that can become hamess - the man was not a species of wheat or barley and when it sat too long it rotted (sirahon), it did not undergo himuss. Kol tuv.
    – user3342
    Commented Mar 27, 2016 at 15:08

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