In this week’s parasha, the Tora mentions the preparation of the Qetoret (קטורת הסמים), or “incense”. That is in the book of Shemot, (Exodus 30:34). It also names four of the eleven elements that were used in the preparation of it. The other seven elements are mentioned by the Talmud in the treatise of Keritut. In his book Shilte haGuibborim the prominent Italian Rabbi devotes 11 chapters to the Qetoret. But why do you need such an extensive explanation for something apparently as simple as Qetoret? The most complicated matter is to identify the elements that were used to prepare the Qetoret. For although the Tora and the Gemara mention them, the identification of these species, after the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash, has been the subject of multiple debates, theories and speculations. Rabbi Portaleone, for example, devotes a long exposition to identify just the first plant or tree of the Qetoret: the Tsorí.
But before delving into these details, I will present a little more basic information about the Mitsva of the Qetoret.
368 PORTIONS
The eleven elements, each in its exact measure, were mixed in a special preparation once a year, at the beginning of the month of Nisan. This preparation was hand-milled and divided into 368 portions (manim) of approximately one pound each. Every morning and every evening, during the 365 days of the solar year, half of the Qetoret was burned, after the daily sacrifices. The daily Qetoret burned on an altar, relatively small which served exclusive for this function, i.e., the Mizbeah haZahab, the golden altar, which was in the Hekhal, the interior enclosure of the Temple.
On Yom Kippur, at the most sacred moment of the day, the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies (קודש הקדשים), where no other human being entered during the rest of the year, and performed the Mitsva of the Qetoret there too. But unlike the other days of the year, on Yom Kippur the Cohen would use three portions instead of using half a portion of Qetoret. And these portions, which would fit in the hand of the Great Priest, had to be ground with much more intensity than the daily portions (דקה מן הדקה).
THE SECRET INGREDIENT OF THE QETORET
While the Qetoret was consumed, its smoke impregnated the Bet haMiqdash with a sweet and incomparable aroma. And the most beautiful thing is that the fragrance of Qetoret could be felt throughout the city of Yerushalayim. How was this possible? First, because the perfume of the Qetoret was very intense. The elements that were used in its preparation, most of them plants, were not of common use: they were very scarce, and incredibly expensive! And there was something else: one family in Yerushalayim, the Abtinas family, was responsible for preparing the Qetoret, and they knew the “best kept secret” of the Qetoret: the identity of a mysterious plant called in Hebrew “ma’ale ‘ashan” (= smoke raiser). A few leaves of that plant made the smoke of the Qetoret rise vertically, which was ritually required, and it also allowed the Qetoret fragrance to descend and be felt throughout what is today the Old City. The Qetoret was the characteristic fragrance of Yerushalayim, and part of what made our capital city in the times of the Bet haMiqdash so beautiful and special … Our forefathers would wake up each morning to the smell of the Qetoret. Travelers arriving to Jerusalem, from Jericho for example, knew that they were close to the city, when they smelled the unparalleled aroma of the Qetoret. The Midrash says that in Yerushalayim, women did not use perfumes, even on their wedding day, because no scent was a match to the delicious fragrance of the Qetoret that permeated the air of the Holy City.
