Spices

Food

Although the Bible has no specific word for “spices,” the Talmud uses the term tavlin for these appetite-stimulating and food-improving additions, which were also used in the Temple service for the incense offering.

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The Divine Recipe for Sacred Incense

TANAKH

The Torah provides detailed and divine instructions for the composition of the sacred incense, emphasizing the importance of each ingredient. In the book of Exodus, God instructs Moses on the precise ingredients and their equal parts for the incense offering.

And יהוה said to Moses: Take the herbs stacte, onycha, and galbanum—these herbs together with pure frankincense; let there be an equal part of each.

Exodus 30:34

Following the Flavor

TALMUD

The sensory experience of spices, particularly their flavor, plays a crucial role in determining their status in Jewish law. In the Talmudic discussion between Abaye and Ḥizkiyya, the focus is on whether the flavor of spices or their names determine if a dish is forbidden.

Abaye says: From where do I say that we follow the flavor? As it is taught in a baraita: Forbidden spices that are known by two or three different names but are of the same species, or of three different species, are forbidden, and combine together to render a dish forbidden. And Ḥizkiyya says: The reason the three species combine to render the dish forbidden is that here we are dealing with types of sweet spices. Since they are all fit to sweeten the dish, they combine, as they impart the same kind of flavor…

Avodah Zarah 66a:9

The Unifying Power of the Ketoret

HALAKHAH

The blending of the eleven spices in the Ketoret symbolizes the unification of all powers for the sake of holiness, reflecting spiritual upliftment and the repair of the world through complete unity. Rabbi Eliezer Melamed's contemporary work, Peninei Halakhah, explores the spiritual foundations of Jewish laws, including the significance of the Ketoret incense offering in the Temple.

There were eleven spices in the Ketoret, all grounded thoroughly together so that they would be united completely, producing a favorable scent. Similarly, by unifying all powers completely for the sake of holiness, the world is uplifted and repaired.

Peninei Halakhah, Prayer 13:6:4

Cooking and Spices on Yom Tov

COMMENTARY

The Mishnah from the third century distinguishes between cooking food and placing spices on coals during Yom Tov, illustrating the varied customs within Jewish tradition. It documents Rabban Gamaliel's allowance of placing spices on coals for fragrance, though this practice isn't universally accepted, unlike cooking food which is universally permitted.

And put spices [on the coals] on a festival; As we have learned many times already, cooking food is allowed on Yom Tov. Rabban Gamaliel allowed people to put spices on coals, which would make a pleasant scent. Even though this is not cooking food, it is permitted since it is still a bodily pleasure. The sages forbid doing so since not all people are equally accustomed to put spices on coals after a meal. Cooking food is permitted because everyone eats; putting spices on coals is prohibited because this is not a practice in which all classes of people engage.

English Explanation of Mishnah Beitzah 2:7:3

The Sacred Incense Offering

LITURGY

The precise composition of the sacred incense offering is crucial. The Ketores section in the Ashkenazi Machzor for Rosh Hashanah details the exact measurements and additional ingredients required for the sacred incense offering.

Eleven kinds of spices were used for it. They were: 1) balm, 2) onycha, 3) galbanum, 4) frankincense— by weight, seventy maneh of each; 5) myrrh, 6) cassia, 7) spikenard and 8) saffron— in weight sixteen maneh of each; 9) twelve maneh of costus, 10) three of aromatic bark, and 11) nine of cinnamon. [Also used in the incense compound were:] Nine kabin of Carshina lye, Cyprus wine [measuring] three s’in and three kabin— if he had no Cyprus wine, he could use strong white wine— a fourth of a kab of Sodom salt, and a minute quantity of maaleh ashan…

Machzor Rosh Hashanah Ashkenaz, The Morning Prayers, Ketores (Incense Offering) 7

The Opulence of King Solomon's Table

MIDRASH

King Solomon's table was renowned for its opulence, featuring an abundance of spices and delicacies from around the world. Louis Ginzberg's early 20th-century work, Legends of the Jews, vividly describes the grandeur of King Solomon's court, reflecting his legendary wisdom and wealth.

As the public spectacles were executed with pomp and splendor, so the king's table was royally sumptuous. Regardless of season and climate, it was always laden with the delicacies of all parts of the globe. Game and poultry, even of such varieties as were unknown in Palestine, were not lacking, and daily there came a gorgeous bird from Barbary and settled down before the king's seat at the table. The Scriptures tell us of great quantities of food required by Solomon's household, and yet it was not all that was needed…

Legends of the Jews 4:5:113

The Spiritual Significance of Spices in Havdalah

KABBALAH

The use of spices, particularly myrtle, in the Havdalah ceremony is deeply rooted in Jewish mysticism, symbolizing the soul's transition from the holiness of Shabbat to the regular week. The Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, explains the spiritual significance of myrtle as a foundation for the soul, sustaining it from bareness.

Hence, at the conclusion of the Sabbath we have to inhale the odour of sweet spices in order to restore our soul and counteract the effect of the loss of the superior spirit that has left it. The best odour for this purpose is that of the myrtle, as it is myrtle which sustains the holy place from which souls issue, and so in this world it is potent to uphold man’s soul at the moment when it is deprived of its higher soul-companion.

Zohar, Vayakhel 21:276

The Essence of Spices

TALMUD

The interpretation of 'spices' in the context of the incense offering reveals a sophisticated method of biblical exegesis. The Gemara employs the hermeneutical principle of generalization and detail to deduce that the verse refers to items whose smoke rises and scent diffuses.

The Gemara raises a difficulty: But why not say the first mention of “spices” is a generalization; “stacte, and onycha, and galbanum,” is a detail; and when the verse repeats “spices” it is then generalized again. This is the hermeneutical principle of: a generalization, and a detail, and a generalization, and therefore you may deduce that the verse is referring only to items similar to the detail: Just as the detail is explicit in that it is referring to an item whose smoke rises and its scent diffuses, so too…

Keritot 6b:8

Pounding Spices on a Festival

TALMUD

The debate between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel on the permissibility and method of pounding spices and salt on a Festival reveals the nuanced differences in their approaches to Jewish law. Tractate Beitzah, part of the Talmud, discusses the laws of Yom Tov, including the preparation of food, which is generally prohibited on Shabbat.

MISHNA: Beit Shammai say: Spices may be pounded on a Festival in a slightly unusual manner, with a wooden pestle, and salt may be pounded only with an earthenware flask or with a wooden pot ladle, in a manner very different from that of a weekday. And Beit Hillel say: Spices may be pounded in their usual manner, even with a stone pestle, and as for salt, although it must be pounded in an irregular manner, a slight modification such as pounding it with a wooden pestle is enough to render the act permitted.

Beitzah 14a:3

The Dual Status of Spices

TALMUD

Spices have a unique dual status in Jewish law, considered food for some purposes but not for others. The Mishnah in Niddah 51b:3 discusses how items like koshet, chaimon, heads of spices, thia, chaltit, peppers, and caraway can be purchased with second-tithe money but do not become ritually impure as food does, according to Rabbi Akiva.

And the Gemara raises a contradiction to this conclusion from a mishna (Okatzin 3:5), which deals with the ritual impurity of food: With regard to spices such as costus, amomum, chief spices, root of crowfoot, asafoetida, peppers, and a cake of safflower, although their function is merely to add taste to food, they are considered food for the purposes of the following halakha: They may be bought with second-tithe money, which must be taken to Jerusalem and used to purchase food…

Niddah 51b:3

The Dual Nature of Cumin

TALMUD

Cumin, a common spice, has both medicinal and potentially harmful properties depending on its preparation. The minor tractate Kallah, compiled in the eighth century, includes ancient Jewish medicinal beliefs and practices, such as the effects of cumin on the heart.

He who is in the habit of taking black cumin will not suffer with pain of the heart. Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel said: Cumin is one of the sixty deadly poisons, and as for him who sleeps to the east of his store [of cumin], his blood is on his head. [There is no contradiction] because the former refers to when it is baked and the latter when it is not baked. If one eats cumin of the weight of a dinar his heart will be affected; so too if he eats forty eggs, forty nuts or a quarter of a log of honey.

Tractate Kallah 3:2

Spice Container for Havdalah, Poland or Russia, first half 19th century

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