Among the delights that our nation possessed in the days of old (Eicha 1:7), the things that went lost with the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, was the mitzvah of ketores. ̇∆רֹט¿ ̃ רַט¿ ̃ƒמ ַחּ≈ב¿זƒמ ָ ̇יׂƒ ָ̆ﬠ¿ו – And you should make an altar for the burning of incense (Shemos 30:1). A golden altar was set up in front of the kodesh kodoshim,ר∆ ֹּ̃בַּב יםּƒמַס ̇∆רֹט¿ ̃ ןֹרֲהַ‡ יוָלָﬠ ירƒט¿ ̃ƒה¿ו ר∆ ֹּ̃בַּב – and every morning the kohen would burn on it a specified concoction of spices which created a sweet fragrance that spread out through the House of Hashem (ibid. 7).
But not only in the Beis Hamikdash; it was a delight that traveled far and wide. The entire Yerushalayim they smelled the fragrance of the ketores burning in the Mikdash. And not just a little bit. ̇∆רֹט¿ ̃ ַיח≈ר≈מ ט≈ַּׁ̆ ̃¿ ̇ƒה¿ל הָיכƒר¿ˆּהָינ≈‡ םƒיַלָּׁ̆ירוƒּב∆ׁ̆ הָּלַּכ – A girl getting ready for her chasuna didn’t have to bother with perfume because the fragrance from the ketores was enough. Even as far as Yericho they enjoyed the fragrance: ֹ̇יכוƒר¿ˆ ןָינ≈‡ ֹיחוƒירƒּב∆ׁ̆ יםƒָׁ̆נ ̇∆רֹט¿ ̃ ַיח≈ר≈מ ם≈ַּּׂ̆ב¿ ̇ƒה¿ל – The women in Yericho didn’t bother with perfume; the fragrance of the ketores that wafted over from the Beis Hamikdash was enough (Yoma 39b).
Secret of the Savor
Now, I won’t claim to know the secrets of burning incense in the Beis Hamikdash but one thing I can do; I can quote from the Rambam. The Rambam after all is a reliable source – not only the Briskers; everybody accepts the Rambam – and in his Moreh Nevuchim (3:45) he explains the mitzvah of ketores as follows. He says that the mind of a person generally feels elevated in the presence of a good fragrance and it’s the ratzon Hashem that when you approach the place of His service, or even if you think about it, you should feel a special appreciation for that place.
That’s the secret of ketores according to the Rambam – Hashem wants the incense molecules to be wafted through the air into your nostrils and relay the message to your brain: “Ahh! Geshmak! Right here, the place of avodas Hashem, this is the place to be; this is the sweetness of life.” It’s like when you walk into a flower store and the fragrance of the bouquets tingles your sense of smell; it’s delightful! You feel a certain appreciation for that place; you like that florist shop.
Cheap Perfume
Now, it doesn’t mean of course that anything that smells good is good; because anybody can put on perfume. I'll tell you a little story. Once I was sitting in a bus and behind me I smelled a fragrance. Well, finally I had to get up and walk out by my stop. I was walking by and who was sitting behind me? An old janitor in overalls. He had squirted himself with perfume. So you see how much an index of importance perfume is.
The Am Yisroel however, we perfume only according to the will of Hashem. We perfume only what’s important because that’s the purpose – to create in the mind of the one who has a nose, a sense of what’s really important.
Premium Perfume
That, by the way, explains a queer takanah that Ezra made when he came to Eretz Yisroel. The Gemara says that he made a takanah that the peddlers who sell spices and cosmetics for women should be allowed to come into every town to sell their wares. And even though there are already people in the town who have the same kind of business, they shouldn't be able to claim that the peddlers are being masig gevul; that they’re illegally competing by coming into towns where there are already established perfume stores. No. Ezra said that those who sell spices for women could come in every town because it's a mitzvah for married Jewish women to use cosmetics and we want to be absolutely sure that they are readily available.
After all, what's the most important thing in your house? The envelopes of cash under your mattress you’re hiding from the IRS? That’s important but it’s not most important. Maybe the mezuzos? The seforim? No, all that is nothing compared to a wife. Your wife is the most important thing. Even if you have a little shul in your house with a sefer Torah there, it’s nothing compared to a wife.
And therefore the way you treat your wife is more important than anything else in the house. So how is the husband reminded? So his wife puts on a little bit of perfume and therefore a man walks into his house and there’s a sweet fragrance; ooh wah, now he’s impressed. Now he remembers what’s really important in the house.
Advice for Married Women
Ezra understood that – he understood the lesson of the ketores that a person’s mind is affected by things as superficial as smell and so Ezra said that this is the ratzon Hashem. A man should always be reminded of what’s really important in this world, and therefore, in order that the perfumes should always be readily available for the nashim tzidkaniyos, the perfume peddlers were given special leeway that nobody else had.
While we’re on the subject I’ll take the liberty of repeating one of my aphorisms, one of my pieces of advice to married women: “Smell good and keep quiet.”
Once a man took me in his car somewhere and he said to me, “My wife was once a talmidah of yours many years ago and she heard your advice, what you said smelling good and keeping quiet, and she fulfills it fifty percent.”
Well, fifty percent, that’s also something.
A Lesson for Us
Now, this secret of the ketores is an important lesson: What's good, that's what we have to make ketores for. You can’t rely on kedusha to make an impression by itself; you can’t rely on holiness to announce its holiness. You have to do things to make people know what’s important.
Not only by means of perfume. It’s a lesson in general – our minds require encouragement for good attitudes. That’s why Gemara tells us that לָּכ ̇∆ס∆נ¿ּכַה ̇י≈ּבƒמ יןƒהֹבו¿ּ‚ ָיה∆ ֹ̇וּ‚ַּ‚∆ׁ̆ ירƒע – any city where the roofs of the houses are higher than the synagogue roof, הָב≈ר≈ח ףֹסו¿ל – the end will be, that city will be destroyed (Shabbos 11a). It’s a halacha; every Jewish community is responsible for that.
Now, it doesn't apply when you live among gentiles because they won't listen to you anyhow; and therefore it's permissible for Jews also to build houses taller than the synagogue. But in a Jewish community, where only Jews live, that's the din, the shul must be the tallest building. I remember in the olden days, in the small towns of Europe, the big building in every small town was the shul; that din was observed.
And where do we learn this from, that the synagogue roof must be the tallest? In the Sefer Ezra (9:9) – Ezra, you see, understood this subject – he says,ּינו≈ ֹ̃ל¡‡ ̇י≈ּב ̇∆‡ ם≈מֹרו¿ל, that we must uplift the House of our G-d. Which means, we have to demonstrate to the world that the synagogue, the place where we daven and study Torah, the place where we serve Hashem, that's the highest thing in the world.
The Truth Unmasked
Rav Ashi once said, הָבַרֲח ‡ָל¿ּ„ ‡ָי≈ס¿חַמ ‡ָ ָ̇מ¿ל יƒ„ַבֲﬠ ‡ָנֲ‡ – “I saved Masa Mechasya from becoming destroyed” (ibid.). What did he do? He saw that one man had built a tall house, taller than the shul, so he sent messengers and told them to smash the top story in. He said, “Crush the top floor, so it shouldn't be taller than the beis knesses.” And Rav Ashi took credit for that; he said, “That's how I saved Masa Mechasya from being destroyed.”
Now, why should a city be destroyed just because one Jew sinned? Let him be destroyed! The answer is because it’s everybody’s obligation. The whole town by keeping quiet agreed unanimously that the shul isn’t most important. And even if they’ll say it’s not so, it has an effect; it masks the truth.
Because the truth is that the place of avodas Hashem, that’s the place that has to be admired most by us. And the regular homes, therefore, have to be lower than the shul. It’s gashmiyus, after all, a house. The house is gashmiyus. Now, you can be sure that in the ancient days every home was a little mishkan, a place of Shechinah – not in the last hundred years; I’m talking way back, every home was a place where the Shechina dwelt. But after all, it’s a place where you sleep and you eat. Other things you do and so it’s gashmiyus. And therefore, it was a mitzvah to uplift the House of Hakadosh Baruch Hu; it should stand way above the roofs of the people's homes as a monument to the importance of avodas Hashem in our lives.
Raising the Mind
It’s a question however. Why do we have to raise it up? Don’t we know what’s important in this world? Am I so small-minded that I need to see it? And if the wealthy man will be insistent and he’ll make his house taller than the shul, will anyone think that his home is more important?
And the answer is yes. Because as much as we try to live with our seichel, our intellect, it needs support. The service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu has to stand out in our lives above all of our regular pursuits. The most important of all things in our lives is l’romeim to uplift the beis Elokeinu; to make a big fuss about being a Jew, a big fuss about Torah and mitzvos, a big fuss about learning, a big fuss about Gemara, a big fuss about a lamdan, about this gadol baTorah, or this sefer of Torah and that yeshiva.
But not only to make a fuss. You have to make it nice. You have to make it beautiful. It should smell good too. Everything associated with avodas Hashem should be made sweet-smelling. That’s what the ketores is saying; Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn’t rely merely on your intellect, that you should understand on your own that the avodas Beis Hamikdash is the sweetest of all things. No; He encouraged that feeling by means of making the Mikdash smell good! And that’s expected to be an important lesson for us. We are expected to take the cue from Hashem and utilize the lesson of being maktir ketores in front of everything connected to the Torah.
