Ketoret - the Temple Incense Dear Catriel, My chavrusa and I have been learning Kerisos 6a,b where Petum Haketores is. Could you tell us some details about what the samanim (spice ingredients CS) of the Ketores really were? Kol tuv, Shlomo from Baltimore The Torah (Sh'mot 30; 34,35) specifically mentions four ingredients that comprised the Ketoret; Nataf, Shecheilet, Chelbona, and Levona. Scholars usually translate Nataf as stacte (pronounced stack-tea): Nielson identifies Nataf as storax. Storax is the balsam of the Asiatic liquidambar tree and is used in medicine and perfumery. (Incense in Ancient Israel by K. Neilsen, Leidin, E.J. Brill, 1986, Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, Vol. XXXVIII, p.65). However, the Sages postulated that Nataf was balm. The term used in the famous "recipe" Pitum Haketoret (Keritot 6a) is Tzori, which seems to be a synonym for Nataf. Shecheilet - onycha- is the fragrant operculum of a species of shell found in the Red Sea. However, various "dictionaries identify "Shecheilet" with the closing flaps of certain mollusks and are said to give off a characteristic fragrance when burnt. Certain non-Biblical texts, however, point towards a substance derived from the vegetable kingdom" (Nielson, p.66). "Chelbona" denotes a 'milky' or white substance (Chalav=milk). The authorities agree that Chelbona is the resin of various species of Ferula, which are herbs distantly related to parsley. The English term galbanum is a loan word from Semitic via Greek and Latin (K. Nielsen p.66). The "Hebrew Levona is based on a root LVN 'to be white'. Botanical research in South Arabia has established that the substance is to be identified with the gum-resin from various species of the genus Boswellia." (K. Nielson, p.60). Chelbona was actually evil smelling. So why was it included with the rest of the aromatic sweet Temple spices? "R. Hana ben Bizna in the name of R. Hisda the Righteous said, 'A fast in which none of the sinners of Israel participate is no fast. Chelbona has an unpleasant odor and nevertheless, it is included in the spices for the incense offered in the Temple". Rashi comments that the evil smelling Chelbona is included "to teach us that it should not be unimportant in our eyes to include among us - in our assemblies, our fasts, and our prayers - the sinners of Israel. They should be numbered with us." Chelbona (galbanum) and Levona (frankincense) are varieties of gum resins. However, there were 7 other ingredients contained in the incense; Mor (myrrh), Ketzia (cassia), Shibolet Nerd (spikenard), Karkom (saffron), Kosht (costus), Kelufa (an unknown aromatic bark) and Kinamon (cinnamon). There were other ingredients as well; a mysterious substance called Ma'alei Ashan ("smoke raiser") which caused the incense fumes to rise miraculously straight up "like a palm tree" instead of scattering as smoke usually does. Ketoret also included "Cyprus wine" and the "salt of Sodom". Nielson (p.61) writes, "There is no information in the Bible as to the place of origin of Myrrh. Theophrastus tells us that it belongs to the Arabian Peninsula. Modern botanical research has identified Myrrh as the gum-resin of various species of the genus Commiphora which grow in South Arabia as well as in Somaliland." Professor Yehuda Feliks z"l posits that they differentiated between Ketzia and Kinamon by their color and position on the tree. Nevertheless, the exact definition seems to be unclear (The Plant World of the Bible [Hebrew], 1968, p.252). Nielson (p.64) identifies Nerd with species of Indian Nardostachys. The whole plant as such is odoriferous." Karkom (Saffron) filaments, or threads, are actually the dried stigmas of the saffron flower. These threads must be picked from each flower by hand, and more than 40,000 of these flowers are needed to produce just one kilo. of Saffron filaments. Today, it is the world's most costly spice. In Mikdash days, Saffron was imported from Persia and India. Famed for what Pliny called its "exquisite scent", Kosht (costus) comes from the plant Saussurea Costus, a perennial that grows two meters in height. Native to northern India, Costus is the root of a tall herb, which grows only in the Kashmir highlands. The identity of Kelufa, a bark, is not at all clear. Kinamon "seems to be derived from the bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum Breyne which grows in Sri Lanka. Cassiagrows in China. According to both Loew and Feliks, the cinnamon from Ceylon was not exported until the Middle Ages, so Biblical (and Bayit Sheini) cinnamon was Chinese. (!)" No wonder it was so expensive. "R. Natan Habavli says, 'Also a minute amount of Jordan amber (was added to the Ketoret). If he added honey, he invalidated it. And if one omitted any of its ingredients, he is deserving of death." Nielsen concludes, "Not everyone will agree with all the botanical identifications suggested above. The problems are manifold, and often no conclusive answers are possible." The identity of Ma'alei Ashan was one of the secrets of the Kohanim of BeitAvtinas, the master perfumer family that prepared the Ketoret, and they were under oath not to reveal it. That the smoke rose "straight as a date palm tree" was considered one of the ten miracles that took place in the Beit HaMikdash recorded in the Mishna (Avot 5:7). According to Avot D'Rabbi Natan 31b, the "column of the smoke from the burning incense issued forth from the golden altar and ascended in a direct line to the Kodesh HaKodashim." Lining the studio-workshop walls of the master perfumers were shelves stacked with sacks and chests containing the most exotic spices in the world - some literally worth their weight in gold. Frankincense had to be imported from Sheba in southern Arabia. "The caravan of camels shall cover thee... all coming from Sheba, they shall bring gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the Lord (Yeshiyahu 60:6)". In fact, frankincense and gold are often paired. The Kohanim of Beit Avtinas prepared 368 minas of incense once a year, one for each day of the solar year and three extra for Yom Kippur. Each ingredient had to be pounded into a very fine powder by itself and only then mixed with the other components. As they readied the ingredients, they chanted, "Pound well, well pound" (Keritot 6b). The extra three minas required for the Yom Kippur rites were returned to the mortar and pounded yet again to ensure the highest quality. On hot days, the incense was spread to dry. During the winter, it was heaped up in piles so that its aroma would not dissipate. Some of the ingredients, such as the onycha, had to be specially prepared. It first had to be first steeped in Cyprus wine to intensify its fragrance. ("If he had no Cyrus wine, he brings old white wine.") …then lye obtained from leek was rubbed over the onycha in order to render it beautiful" (Keritot 6a). Josephus noted that the ingredients of the Ketoret came from the cultivated land, the wilderness and the sea, and he thought that that symbolized that all elements in creation joined together in G-d's service. The fragrance must have been very strong indeed. R. Eleazar ben Diglai facetiously used to say, "My father's house kept goats in the mountain of Machwar - east of the Dead Sea - and they used to sneeze from the smell of the compounding of the incense!" (Yoma 39b). Catriel's book in progress: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrim’s Perspective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service [The
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