Page:Philip Birnbaum - ha-Siddur ha-Shalem (The Daily Prayer Book,1949).pdf/57

32 of the Day of Atonement so as to make the incense extremely thin.

The incense was composed of the following eleven kinds of spices: balm, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense, seventy minas’ weight of each; myrrh, cassia, spikenard, and saffron, sixteen minas’ weight of each; twelve minas of costus; three minas of an aromatic bark; and nine minas of cinnamon. [Added to the spices were] nine kabs of Karsina lye, three seahs and three kabs of Cyprus wine—if Cyprus wine could not be obtained, strong white wine might be substituted for it—a fourth of a kab of Sodom salt, and a minute quantity of ma‘aleh ashan [a smoke-producing ingredient]. Rabbi Nathan says: A minute quantity of Jordan amber was also required. If one added honey to the mixture, he rendered the incense unfit for sacred use; and if he left out any of its ingredients, he was subject to the penalty of death.

Rabbi Simeon ben Gamaliel says: The balm required for the incense is a resin exuding from the balsam trees. Why was Karsina lye used? To refine the onycha: Why was Cyprus wine employed? To steep the onycha in it so as to make it more pungent. Though mei raglayim might have been good for that purpose, it was not decent to bring it into the Temple.

It has been taught: Rabbi Nathan says: While the priest was grinding the incense, his superintendent would say: “Grind it very thin, grind it very thin,” because the [rhythmic] sound is good for the compounding of the spices. If the incense was compounded in two instalments, it is fit for use; but we have not heard that it is permissible to prepare it in portions of one-third or one-fourth [of the total required annually]. Rabbi Judah says: The general rule is that if it was well-proportioned, the incense was fit for use even though it was prepared in two instalments; if, however, one left out any of its ingredients he would be subject to the penalty of death.

It has been taught: Bar Kappara says: Once in sixty or seventy years a total of half the required amount came from the accumulated surpluses [the extra three minas of which the high priest took two handfuls on the Day of Atonement]. Bar Kappara moreover has taught: Had one mixed with the incense the smallest amount of honey, nobody could have resisted the scent. Then