A Book Like No Other by Aleph Beta

February 03, 2026 The Manna, Part 2

In this episode Rabbi Fohrman puts the bitter herbs - maror - under a microscope. Why do we need to hold onto a reminder of our slavery, during a Passover seder that represents freedom? Drawing from a principle of teshuvah - repentance, our hosts carve out an incredible principle in human psychology and what it takes to heal from trauma.

Can't Skip the Bitter (to Get to the Sweet)

(Verse 1) In Egypt the bread held the taste of our tears

Sourdough—you couldn't tell where it stopped

The sourness baked into four hundred years

Until the whole batch was bitter and locked

But God didn't hand us the honey that night

Didn't say: forget it, here's something new

He gave us flat bread with bitter alongside—

Separated. Still there. Still true.

(Chorus) You can't skip the bitter to get to the sweet

You can't leave the sorrow behind

The only way forward is going back through it

One morning at a time

(Verse 2) The manna came later, the honey came slow

Forty years of daily bread

Each day God was asking: do you believe now

that you’re more than the tears that you’ve shed?

And every spring we sit down at the table

Flat bread and bitter, side by side

Not because we're still slaves—because we remember

What it took to come back alive

(Chorus) You can't skip the bitter to get to the sweet

You can't leave the sorrow behind

The only way forward is going back through it

One morning at a time

(Bridge) Each day the same question falling

Like bread upon the ground:

Are you more than what was done to you?

Are you more than what you've done?

(Verse 3) Two families broken, made into one

He said: leave the past where it lies

Build something new now, the future's begun

But nobody asked who we were before the goodbyes

And forty years later I knocked on her door

I said there's something I never did right

I never once asked you to tell me the story

Of who held your hand through the long, long night

(Chorus) Tell me about your mother

What was it like when she was yours?

Tell me about your mother I should have asked you this before

You can't skip the bitter to get to the sweet

You can't leave the sorrow behind

The only way forward is going back through it

And that's what I'm doing this time

You can also listen to this song on Youtube and Spotify.

We love to hear from you! Click here to share your thoughts, insights, questions, and reactions by voice note, or send us an email at [email protected].

A Book Like No Other is a product of Aleph Beta, and made possible through the generous support of Shari and Nathan Lindenbaum. Aleph Beta is a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide.

...more