What Does Incense Have to Do with Am Yisrael?

This week I listened to a podcast by the mashgiach ruchani of the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, Rabbi Meir Schweiger.  Meir coordinates the Executive Learning Seminar in which I have participated for the past 6 years.  He has influenced my love for Jewish learning and my appreciation that there can be unity among Jews even where diversity exists.  I’d like to share with you his message as it pertains to Parashat Tetzaveh. This is my interpretation of his podcast.

In this week’s parasha, there is a discussion in chapter 30 about incense.  The question might be asked why it appears in this chapter rather than in last week’s parasha.  The answer is because this week’s parasha speaks about the institution of the priesthood and the incense is the crown, so to speak, that identifies the priesthood.

Ketoret, or incense, is described as consisting of 11 spices.  All but one, Chelbanah, give off a pleasant odor.  Chelbanah, unlike the others, gives of an unpleasant odor similar to turpentine.  If that’s the case, why should it be there at all?  Incense is seen as a metaphor for Am Yisrael.  By and large, we are a righteous people, like the 10 spices with a pleasant fragrance.  Yet there are those among us who are not righteous, yet they are still part of us.  It is only when we recognize the need for unity and not division, that we accomplish our role in the world.  Like the incense, we need to emphasize unity and not divisions.

There are other stories in the Torah that relate to incense.  One such story is related to the sons of Aaron, Nadav and Abihu, who offer a strange fire to burn the incense that they were not commanded to give.  Am Yisrael had already had a close I/Thou encounter with G-d when they watched the fire from G-d consume the incense offering that Aaron had been commanded to offer.  After that commanded offering was accepted, the Torah describes how Am Yisrael bowed down and sang in unity.  The reason Nadav and Abihu were struck down for their offering was that they attempted to separate themselves from the community and to offer the incense offering in their own way.  Once again, the message is that we need to be united.

Each Yom Kippur we read about the service of the Kohen Gadol, who enters the Holy of Holies on behalf of the people to ask for atonement for the entire nation of Israel.  His entrance card, so to speak, is the offering of the incense.  The Kohen Gadol is supposed to be a model for unity.  He takes the fire and puts it to the spices and the end result is that the fire becomes a cloud.  Perhaps you remember that the presence of G-d was noted during the wanderings in the wilderness by two opposing symbols…fire at night and a cloud by day.  The fire represents G-d’s demands on us, the fact that we have responsibilities, and G-d’s demand for justice.  The cloud represents G-d’s compassion, protection of His people, and His sheltering presence.  When the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, used the Ketoret, the incense, in the proper way, the fire became a cloud and at-one-ment between the people and G-d took place on the holiest day of the year. 

If we can show G-d that we are indeed united as a people on that one day of the year….then we can also live our lives in a way that will show G-d that we are united as a people on all days of the year.  That’s the purpose of giving so much emphasis to the ketoret, the incense.  It embodies the goal of Jewish unity.

Thank you, Rabbi Meir Schweiger, for not only sharing your message in such a way that makes sense, but for living these words through the work you do at Pardes.