Taamei Hamitzvos - Ketores: Incense
by Rabbi Shmuel Kraines
“Study improves the quality of the act and completes it, and a mitzvah is more beautiful when it emerges from someone who understands its significance.” (Meiri, Bava Kama 17a)
Mitzvos #103 and #110; Shemos 30:7 and v. 37
The ketores incense service is especially dear to Hashem (Midrash Tanchuma §15). Just as incense is experienced by the sense of smell, which is the most elevated of the human senses because it benefits the soul, it is similarly elevated among the offerings to Hashem. Since it greatly arouses Hashem’s favor, it brings a blessing of wealth to the kohen who offers it. Its recipe is exclusive to the Beis HaMikdash and we are prohibited from producing it for ourselves.
Although the Torah lists only four of the spices in the ketores, it implies that there are seven more of smaller quantity, which the Sages identified. Together, they produce the choicest of scents (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:14). It is noteworthy that one of the spices, a bitter gum resin called galbanum (chelbena), produces an unpleasant smell. The Sages inferred from this that a public fast of repentance, such as that of Yom Kippur, must similarly include the wicked(Kereisos 6b). This is because the more distant a person is from Hashem, the more Divine favor and compassion are aroused when he repents (Maharsha).
Ketores means something that rises in a pillar of smoke (see Kereisos 6b). The word ketores also means “bond” in Aramaic (Zohar Chadash, Shir HaShirim 13b). One of the reasons for this is that it bonds Hashem with His people. When the Kohen Gadol enters the Holy of Holies during the Yom Kippur service, he places ketores before the Aron, on which are carved two keruvim in a perpetual embrace, in representation of the marriage-like relationship between Hashem and His people. Placing the ketores there serves to recall and strengthen this bond, and thereby gain atonement for our faults during the past year (see Taamei HaMitzvos by Rav Menachem HaBavli).
Since it is an intensely intimate and holy service, it is dangerous when performed inappropriately, as was the case with the sons of Aharon, Nadav and Avihu. Despite their saintliness and good intentions, offering ketores cost them their lives. So too, the 250 men who joined Korach in contesting Aharon’s choice as Kohen Gadol all died when offering ketores inappropriately.
On the other hand, when a plague swept across the Jewish people soon thereafter, it was specifically the ketores that halted the Angel of Death. The ketores “bonded” the hands of the Angel of Death, as it were (Sifsei Kohen). It has the power to nullify forces of impurity and to spare from death, damage, and impure thoughts. The scent of the ketores removes the pollution of the yetzer hara from a person’s body and directs his heart toward his Father in Heaven (Zohar, Vayakhel 218b, cited in HaMitzvos HaMevuaros).
The ketores is not just a service but also an essential part of the Beis HaMikdash. Sefer Chinuch explains that one of the main purposes of the Beis HaMikdash is to attach our hearts to Hashem and it was therefore necessary for it to be grand and awe-inspiring. The ketores was essential to this purpose because its intensely pleasurable scent filled the Beis HaMikdash and wafted far away, thus instilling within the Jewish people love and awe of Hashem.
We may suggest that the pleasant scent of the ketores drowned entirely any unpleasant smells of the burning offerings. Not only that, but it combined with them and they rose together before Hashem as a pleasant aroma.
When we recite the passage of ketores, Hashem regards it as if we offered it in the Beis HaMikdash. We should think about its meaning and accompany its recital with feelings of love so that we will merit its blessing and protection.
