HATSIPOREN: The Perfume of the Sea

בּוֹרִית כַּרְשִׁינָא לְמָה הִיא בָאָה כְּדֵי לְשַׁפּוֹת בָּהּ אֶת הַצִּפּוֹרֶן כְּדֵי שֶׁתְּהֵא נָאָה. יֵין קַפְרִיסִין לְמָה הוּא בָא כְּדֵי לִשְׁרוֹת בּוֹ אֶת הַצִּפּוֹרֶן כְּדֵי שֶׁתְּהֵא עַזָּה.

The second element that was used in the preparation of the incense known as qetoret was the tsiporen (צפורן), called in Hebrew biblical shehelet (שחלת). There are several opinions regarding the nature of this element. One opinion says that it is a plant (Rabbi Yosef Kafih, among others) and another opinion says that it is a mollusk. We will present the second opinion, which is what Rabbi Portaleone suggests in his book on the Bet-haMiqdash, Shilte haGuibborim. The tsiporen is the shell of a mollusk, a sea-snail. Tsiporen in Hebrew means “nail”. Rabbi Portaleone says that this sea-snail, in its appearance, looks like a “lion’s nail” (shahal).

ALL THE PROPERTIES OF THE HILAZON

After an extensive analysis, the Rabbi identifies this mollusk with the famous hilazon, a sea-snail found in the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. From the glands of the hilazon, which bears the scientific name murex brandaris or hexaplex trunculus, a dye was extracted which was used to dye the tsitsit (the fringes of the talit). It is worth clarifying that “tekhelet” was always translated by Sephardic Jews as “purple” or “violet” (I remember that פתיל תכלת was translated into Ladino “hilo cárdeno.” In modern Hebrew, however, tekhelet means “light blue”). Rabbi Portaleone calls this mollusk with the name that is known to this day Tyrian Purple. As Wikipedia explains here “the ancient Phoenicians extracted the purple dye from the glands of this mollusk to dye the garments of the upper classes (emperors, kings and priests), being much appreciated in antiquity and worth more than gold. Many Rabbis nowadays also identify the hilazon with the murex (see video below) and indicate that in our days one of the threads of the tsitsit should be dyed of this color. According to the different methods applied in the elaboration of this dye, the final product can be violet, purple or dark blue.

Returning to the tsiporen, there is a topic that Wikipedia or other articles and publications that I have read DO NOT mention: the aromatic properties of the shell of this mollusk. Rabbi Portaleone discusses the subject extensively and concludes that the aroma of this shell, perhaps referring to the shell once it is ground and burned (מוגמר), is similar to the aroma of “castoreum” a natural substance secreted by beavers to mark their territories. It is used in the fragrances industry as connotations to leather (Chanel Antaeus, Lancôme Caractère, Givenchy III and other brands)

KARSHINA SOAP

Before being mixed into the qetoret the shell of this snail, without its flesh, had to be cleaned with a special soap called borit karshina. The seed of the karshina plant or Vicia Ervilia, was used in the Middle East as cattle feed. It was so common that the Hakhamim used this the shape of this seed as one halakhic measure of volume. See more details of the karshina in this article. What is not commonly known is that the husk that covers the seeds of karshina contain a high concentration of potassium, and in antiquity this husk was mixed with water to produce a “soapy” foam with which fabrics or wool were cleaned. This preparation is the “karshina soap” (בורית כרשינה) that was used to clean the tsiporen, rubbing it (שיפוי) and thus purifying the shell of any remaining mollusk-flesh that could have been inside it, and of any other sand, seaweed or other marine residue that could have been left on the outside.

KAFRISIN WINE

Once the tsiporen was totally clean it was submerged in a special preparation known as “Kafrisin wine”. According to Rabbi Portaleone, it is not the wine of Cyprus (= Kafrisin, in Hebrew) and it is not the extract of the fruit of the plant known in Hebrew as kafras (capparis, see here), an herb native of Erets Israel. The Rab explains that the kafrisin wine was a special preparation made in the following way: 250 liters of grape juice were prepared and mixed with 25 kilos of kafras. This preparation was left to rest for “several years”, until obtaining the necessary acidity. The clean shell (נאה) of the hilazon was then submerged in this “wine”, which intensified its aromatic properties, causing it to produce a strong (עזה) aroma, as explained by the berayta of the qetoret (• see two notes below).

Finally, the tsiporen was ground, and its powder was added to the qetoretincense , במהרה בימינו יחודש.

Identifying the Hilazon (Hebrew)

• It is also possible to maintain the version of the Yerushalmi that says מפני שהיא עזה , which would indicate that in some way the wine made the shell more fragile. In other words, after soaking in in the kafrisin wine, the “hard” shell of the hilazon was easier to crush and grind.

•It also seems to me that the opinion that the tsiporen was a shell, and not a plant, makes more sense, since the process of cleaning and softening that the tsiporen was subjected to, seems appropriate for something solid, not for a vegetable.

If you have other hiddushim on the qetoret, please share them: rabbibitton@yahoo.com

HATSORI: The Perfume of the Messiah

רַבָּן שִׁמְעון בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל אומֵר: הַצֳּרִי אֵינו אֶלָּא שְׁרָף הַנּוטֵף מֵעֲצֵי הַקְּטָף

A few days ago we talked about the Qetoret, the incense that used to be offered daily in the Bet-haMiqdash, the Temple of Jerusalem (see here). We also said that although the Tora and the Sages mentioned the eleven elements used in the Qetoret, most of them plants, it is difficult to identify them today, either because some of these plants disappeared, or because we are not sure of their identity. This problem is better understood when we remember that in the production of the Qetoret there was “professional secrecy” (as happens, for example, in the contemporary industrial world with many products).

We will see today the first element of the Qetoret. In the Tora it is called “nataf”, which means drop or dripping (we will soon understand why), and in Rabbinic Hebrew it is known by the name of the final product: the TSORI.

Rabbi Portaleone in his book Shilte haGuibborim describes extensively the details of the identification of the TSORI: the tree; where it was grown; the imitations of this tree, and what part of the tree was used to produce the Tsori.
I will mention now the opinion of most Rabbis and prestigious researchers, such as the Israeli scientist Yehuda Feliks (1922-2005) from Bar Ilan University, an expert in the subject of biblical and talmudic flora and fauna.

THE TREE
The Tsori was obtained from the Afarsemon tree, which is NOT the Persimmon tree or fruit cultivated nowadays in Israel. This tree, about a meter high, grew exclusively in the land of Israel, in the valley of Jericho and south of the Dead Sea (‘En Gedi). The Afarsemon tree was found also in Egypt, and according to Rabbi Portaleone it was brought there by the sons of Ya’aqob (קחו מזימרת הארץ), as an exotic gift to please the mysterious Egyptian monarch (who ended up being Yosef).

At the time of the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash (68 of the common era) the Romans, who heard of this wonderful tree and its importance to the Jews, tried to make the tree disappear from Israel and cultivate it in Rome. The Roman historian Pilinio the Old testifies that the Jews defended this tree with their lives, because without this tree the Qetoret could not be elaborated. The Romans valued this famous tree so much that it was exhibited at Tito’s triumphal march in the Colosseum, along with other precious spoils of war (it was the first and last time in the history of Rome that a tree appeared in a March of Triumph ).

MANUFACTURING THE TSORI
Rabbi Portaleone analyzes all the theories as to which part of the tree was used to produce the Tsori, even an opinion that according to Maimonides the Tsori was elaborated out of the wood of the tree, not its sap. But in the end he concludes with the opinion of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel (which we Sephardic Jews know by heart because we read it three times a day): the Tsori, which is also a combustible substance ( in Hebrew: שרף) was obtained from the resin (sap) of the tree, which the Rabbis called ‘atse haquetaf. Trees produce resin when they are “injured”, to heal or regenerate their wood. For the tree to drip its resin (נטף) an incision has the be made. And in this particular tree the incision could not be made with metal, because it killed the tree, but with a sharp glass. Other professional secrets included the following points: at what period of the year was the incision made? How many incisions, and in which parts were those incisions made? The trunk, or the branches? How was the resin collected and how was it preserved, so that it does not get ruined? Etc.

SHEMEN AFARSEMON
It seems to me then that with the resin of this tree an exotic perfume called Shemen Afarsemon was also made (my doubt persists: are the “Tsori” and “Shemen Afarsemon” two different products obtained from the same sap, or one product with two different names?).

The Afarsemon perfume (or balsam, oil, or extract) was so typical of the land of Israel that our sages formulated a specific special blessing for it: “Blessed are You HaShem … Creator of the perfume of our Land” (בורא שמן ארצנו)

This precious fragrance was sold to the royalty and aristocracy of the Middle East, and it was one of the most important commercial products for export that sustained the Israeli economy during the times of the Bet haMiqdash. There are testimonies that the Phoenicians of Tire and Sidon paid for this perfume, literally, its weight in gold. This beautiful balsam was also used to anoint the Kings of Israel in the official act of coronation. And this oil, “Shemen Afarsemon” will be used to officially crown the Messiah. The Hebrew word “mashiah” literally means “anointed” (many people wrongly believe that “mashiah” means “savior”!), indicating precisely to this official anointing / coronation ceremony of the melekh hamashiah, the anointed King, descendant of David haMelekh. May we see him coming במבי“א .

שבת שלום

The Discovery of the Century?

See this fascinating article from the NYT , 1989, claiming that a jug with Afarsemon balsam was discovered in one of Israel’s cave, near the Dead Sea.

5. Tisha beAb and the Great Rebellion of 66 (CE)

Yesterday we explained that by the middle of the first century of the common era, the Jews lived under the Roman Empire. The Romans tried incessantly to eliminate Judaism and transform Judea into a “normal” province of the Roman Empire. The aggression of the Romans against the Jews reached its peak in the days of procurator Florus, who ruled Judea from 64 to 66 of the common era. Florus had been appointed by the extravagant and tyrannical Roman emperor Nero, who reigned from 54 to 68.

The master plan of Florus was to plunder the Bet-haMiqdash (Great Temple of Jerusalem) and to steal all its treasures: that is, the sacred objects of the Temple which were made of pure gold. Florus wanted to weaken the Jews and thus breaking their resistance. And he had no scruples to achieve his goals.

In the year 66 Florus arrived at Yerushalayim and stole twelve talents of silver from the Bet haMiqdash, with the excuse that he was acting on behalf of the Roman Emperor. He also demanded that all the Jews of the city should come to bless him and praise him. Many did so out of fear of Florus’s unpredictable reaction. But the next day, Florus demanded that all Jewish leaders who were not there last night should be executed for disrespected him. Florus ordered his soldiers to attack any Jews they encountered in the streets of Jerusalem. In one day Florus murdered 3,600 Jews: man, women and children. And he ordered his soldiers to crucify the Jewish leaders alive.

As if this were not enough, Florus summoned the Rabbinic leaders and the Cohanim to come from the Bet haMiqdash and bless him and his army. The Jewish leaders naively agreed to Florus demands hoping this will stop the massacre. But when they approached, Florus army attacked them and killed many of them, crushing them with their horses. This is when the Great Rebellion of the Jews began. Some historians believe that Florus deliberately provoked the Jews of Jerusalem, knowing that they will eventually rebel. And he planned to use this rebellion as an excuse to destroy and plunder the Bet-haMiqdash

Flavius Josephus writes that the Jewish leader Agrippa II tried to calm down the Jews claiming that the problem was Florus, not the Romans. And that the Jews should ask the Emperor to replace Florus, and they should not rebel against the Roman Empire. That with be a suicidal act, without any possibility of success. But for many Jews it was now a matter of “life or death”: if they did not rebel, they thought, they would be destined to disappear. They had reached a point of no return and the Great Rebellion of the Jews against the Romans was set in motion.

The Romans brought reinforcements from Syria. Rome sent the powerful 12th Legion called “Fulminata.” But before it could reach Jerusalem, this legion was ambushed and destroyed by the Jewish militias led by El’azar ben Shimon at Bet Horon. The Roman leaders wee stunned because they did not think that the Jews could fight with such courage.

In spite of these sporadic victories the Jews did not agree on having a unified leadership, and the different groups were not only divided, they were actually fighting against and killing each other (sinat hinam). This happened, for example, between the Yehudim and the Tsaduquim. This situation was explicitly reported by Ribbi Yohanan in the Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin, chapter 10), saying that the destruction of Yerushalayim and the exile of the Yehudim did not occur until the Jews were divided into 24 different groups. א”ר יוחנן לא גלו ישראל עד שנעשו עשרים וארבע כיתות של מינים.

With so many internal divisions, defeat was inevitable.

(To be continued….)