Our Gemara on Amud Beis discusses ta’am lifgam — when a non-kosher substance mixes in but imparts a foul taste, which may permit it.
The Boruch She’amar Haggadah applies this to the Dayyenu liturgy. For Dayyenu to make sense, each kindness from God in the poem must be valuable on its own. “If God gave us french fries, it would be enough; but He also gave us ketchup” makes sense. The reverse doesn’t, “If God gave us ketchup, we would be happy even if we didn’t get french fries.”because ketchup alone is no gift.
So how can Dayyenu say: “Had He provided for our needs in the desert for forty years, without feeding us manna, it would have been enough”? If we had no food, how were our needs met?
The Boruch She’amar explains: the manna’s extra quality was that it could taste like anything (Yoma 75b). Even if God had given us plain, unexciting food — enough to survive — that would have sufficed. The manna was a luxurious bonus.
He adds: if manna could taste like anything, why did the people crave meat (Bamidbar 11:4)? Because its default flavor was “like wafers in honey” (Shemos 16:31), and honey mixed with meat can produce a foul taste (Shulchan Aruch YD 103:4, Avodah Zara 39b). That is why, honey boiled in a gentile pot might be still considered permitted, because even if the meat flavor from the wolves and the honey, it would not add a pleasant flavor. Thus, manna could not mimic meat flavor satisfactorily.
This also resolves the seeming contradiction: If the Torah states that the manna tasted like honey dipped and wafer, how does that align with the tradition that the Manna could taste like anything? Based on the Boruch Sheamar’s conceptualization, we can say that the substance of the Manna tasted like honeyed wafers, while other flavors were overlaid as aroma or nuance. This is just like the pot of honey that absorbed the meat flavor from the walls of the pot, which had a foul taste. So too, the flavor that people wished onto the Manna we’re not the substance, but rather an aroma or additional flavor. And that is exactly why a flavor of meat, would clash with the Manna’s inherent “honey” base.
Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation
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Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, LMFT, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com