Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:03 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Prayer Podcast.

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, good morning everybody. Welcome back to the Prayer Podcast. It is so wonderful to be here today. We are beginning a new part of our morning offerings section. I think this is part number six, and we're dealing with the incense. What is going on with the incense? And we know this is the last part of the morning offerings why, our sages tell us, because it's the most powerful of all the offerings, the most powerful of all the offerings. Previously on the prayer podcast, we talked about the kia, the laver. We talked about the truma sedeshen, the taking of the ashes. We talked about the karban tamid, the daily tamid offering, the regular offering, and now we're talking about the incense. And there's a lot to talk about the incense. I'm going to talk about it more so we can get a general idea. If you look on in the Wasserman edition, it's from page 34, in the middle, to the bottom of, to the middle of page 38 and, with the English, 35 to 39.

01:16
So let's begin with understanding what the ketores is. What is the incense? The incense, our sages tell us, nullifies the negative forces in the world. The Zohar says there are negative forces in the world. Where there are positive forces, there are negative forces. What nullifies the negative forces? The aroma from the incense. The aroma from the incense that removes the power of the negative forces. Our sages tell us that the ikr hatzfilah, the most important part of prayer, is, as we know, shema and the amida and the shmon esrei. However, our sages tell us us, regarding some aspects of prayer, the ketores is even greater, the incense is even greater. Therefore, many recite the ketores with a minion. Not only they recite it in synagogue every morning, many recite it with a minion because, if it's so powerful, we want to lock it in. We want to lock it in with a quorum of 10 men. So we know a very important thing Numbers count in a very important, very serious way in Judaism.

02:40
We talked about the number 40 previously, but now we're going to talk a little bit about the number 10 and the number 11 and the number 9. What's going on? We're talking about a bunch of numbers, right? The number 10 is always the number relating to holiness. We have the Ten Commandments, we have the Ten Firminion, we have the Ten Utterances. Anything establishing something we have the Ten Plagues establishing something of holiness, of elevation, is 10. There are 10 verses of kingship in Malchios in remembrance, in Zichronos and Shofaros. In our Rosh Hashanah prayer there are 10 verses, specifically 10. Why it's a time of great holiness, rosh Hashanah. So in the center, in the main part of our prayer, we have 10 verses relating to each of those the remembrance, the kingship and the shofar.

03:35
But the evil forces, what numbers do they use? They use the number 9 and the number 11. Primarily the number 11, primarily the number 11. And if you look at the different incense spices that were used, the mixture that was used, how many spices were used? 11. 11 spices were used. Why? Because we have the 11 spices to destroy the evil of 11, which are all those evil forces against the Jewish people. It's very interesting.

04:20
Another thing that we say if you look at the, at how it's it's, it's presented. So it's the first four, a measure of 70 money. The next four are there's 16 money. The next four are Mishkol, shisha, asar, there's 16, mane, 16, so it's 70, 16. Hakosht, which is the next ingredient, 12. Kilufa, 3., 3. And then the 11th ingredient, kinamon, cinnamon, tisha, goes back to 9. It's out of sequence, right, it should start from 70, 16, 12, 9, comes back to it at the end, why the 9 is out of order. So we know that 9 and 11 both need to be countered. We need to counter those forces.

05:46
It says that Moshe and Aaron brought the offerings opposite Korach. What type of offering? A ketores, an incense offering. Why an incense offering? Because they had a wicked agenda. They were an evil force. The only way to counter an evil force is with the 11 spices of the incense. So Aaron made the incense and that incense totally was able to obliterate the evil of Korach.

06:17
You know, it's a very interesting thing that we see with Noach and the Ark. It says that the Ark. It says the measurements of the. It says that the ark. It says the measurements of the ark right, and that the ark was in the water. How deep? 11 Amos. Who cares? Who cares how deep in the, how low it descended into the water? The ark of Noach, because when your job as an ark is to remove and uproot all the evil in the world, the number 11 counts a lot. Therefore the Torah says specifically it was 11 Amos, that's how deep it was into the water to eradicate the evil.

07:10
It's interesting that after Shabbos we say V'yit Ein Lacha, and there are 11 verses in the entire Torah that begin with the letter Nun and end with the letter Nun. Those 11 verses are recited every Saturday night. Why? Because we're getting to a point now where we are departing from Shabbos, we're now our neshama is in a fragile state. So what do we need? We need the protection of 11 verses of the Torah to knock away the evil forces that can attack us. And then what do we do? We smell the besamen. What's that? That's the same incense. The idea is that we're trying to now remove the forces of evil.

08:04
There were 11 drapes in the tabernacle Different drapes, that there were 11 different drapes. Why you need forces to protect from the negative forces. We know that the Jewish people, when they left Chorayf and they went to Har Seir how long was that travel? 11 days, very good, 11 days. Why? Because they sinned at the golden calf. They needed those 11 days to rectify the sin of the golden calf that was at Chorev. So we see that this 11 is very, very important. These 11 ingredients are very, very powerful to counter the forces of evil.

09:00
The Medrash Tanchuma says that the Keturah is the most desired by the Almighty of all of the offerings. You know there are many offerings. There's the Karbentoda Thanksgiving offering. There's the Karbentamid, which is the morning that was given every single day of the year, 365 days a year. The incense was even more desired than the offering, than any of the offerings, because the aroma is just spiritual. You see the offering food you eat, you taste it, it's physical, it's nourishing. Aroma doesn't nourish, aroma is just spiritual.

09:52
Now, one of these ingredients, the third ingredient, is called the galbanum. The galbanum. The galbanum. Our sages tell us that it has a most putrid smell. It was awful, but why was it included? A most putrid smell. It was awful, but why was it included?

10:18
Our sages tell us it was included to signify that we must always include those who are less righteous than us, those who are wicked. Perhaps include them, because it's imperfect. It's imperfect to have only righteous. You have to have why. Why is this? By the way, in Yom Kippur we do the same thing.

10:40
What do we say in Yom Kippur? Yom Kippur, kol Nidre, the most powerful prayer. Why is it the most powerful prayer? If you look at it, really, what are we saying? You look, in the Yom Kippur prayer we're saying nullify our vows, any oaths, anything that we may have said, but that's not the most important part. Sha'anu matirim lihi spalel ima avaryonim. We're calling all the people together. Some of the people may be righteous, but some of them may not. You know what we do. We bring them all together Because part of the beauty of the Jewish people is not only the righteous ones. It's those who are less fortunate, less knowledgeable, less privileged in their wisdom of Torah or their actions, even if they know Torah, if their actions aren't perfect. We bring them all together.

11:38
Why, our sages tell us, because it's not 100% bad. Even though the Chalbanah had a very foul odor, it wasn't 100% bad. But our sages tell us, when you mix it with other ingredients, the good overcomes the bad. So now it's not bad anymore, it's not a foul odor anymore, it becomes a positive odor. What do we see about this? When you bring someone into a good environment, even if they have bad negativity, they have things that are not exactly virtuous you mix them in a good environment, they'll be influenced in a very positive way the power of, for example, a yeshiva.

12:34
What is a yeshiva? A yeshiva is a place, an institution for Torah study, where you get absorbed by osmosis, by the environment. I say, even if I've had this question asked to me, some student says he says you know I'm not really learning much. I'm sitting in yeshiva. Yeah, I get up, I'm waiting for the next meal. I'm not really staying in yeshiva. You know why? Because the osmosis has an impact. It has an impact when you take the chalban and you mix it in with all of those other things, with all those other ingredients. It gets rid of the foul odor and only the positivity remains, and that's what a yeshiva does for us. Therefore, the little good is brought out to the light and shines over the foul odor.

13:32
The spices needed to be mixed together. They needed to be mixed together. We see that there are 10 great smelling spices and one which isn't. It's overpowering it. It's overpowering it. It's mixed together to become a single unit. That's the way we need to be as a people Not to segregate, not to separate, not to become elitists, but rather to ensure that every person has a place, that every person you know it says on Pesach, what do we do?

14:13
We have the Chacham, the wise child. What do we have then? We have the Rasha he also has a seat at the table. The wicked one he also has a seat at the table. The one who doesn't know what to ask you also sit him at the table, the one who's the simpleton. He also has a seat at the table and we mix them all together because the virtues rise up to the surface. So what does it say at the end of that paragraph? If any of the spices are left out, he is liable to the death penalty. What's so serious about this? It's very serious.

14:58
You miss one of the ingredients. Our sages therefore say the Ramos says therefore, a person should say this prayer inside a sitter and according to another opinion I don't remember who it was brought down from that, when you count the 11 spices of the incense, you should count them out with your fingers. Count them out so you don't miss even one. It's not really relevant today. We're not bringing the incense offering today. We're at 2025. Unfortunately and sadly, we don't have our third temple yet rebuilt. So what's the big deal? What happens if I miss one?

15:50
Sages tell us that when we recite it, when we learn it, it's as if we brought it and therefore we want to make sure that it's done in its perfection. We also see that there's salt that's mixed in with it. Salt is a preservative. Our sages tell us that before you even sit down to eat. You should have salt on your table, why? Salt chases away the evil spirits. We take challah.

16:21
What is challah? Challah is like an offering that we bring on a table. That's why you're not supposed to sit on a table, because it represents the shulchan. It represents the table that was in the temple that they would bring offerings on. So we don't sit on a table, we put salt on it, just like we did on the temple. Salt is a preservative. It preserves our relationship between us and the Almighty Salt is very, very powerful.

16:50
In fact, again, we dip our challah in the salt. You're supposed to dip it three times. It doesn't mean that you're supposed to eat the salt. It's fine. You can eat the salt, and it's not supposed to be. You're not supposed to. Some people sprinkle salt on the challah. No, the halacha says you're supposed to dip the challah into the salt three times. Specifically, do the act of dipping it, so you pass it around to those around your table. Dip each of the chalas three times.

17:16
Then, further here we say She'ein vehalo meir aglayim yofin lo elo. She'ein machnisin meir aglayim b'migdosh mipnei ha'kavod. It says meir aglayim. The literal translation is urine, even though urine is more suitable for this mixture. Nevertheless, they don't bring urine into the temple out of respect, but I found in one of the commentaries he says that it's not urine. He says there was a special spring that was called Raglaim. May Raglaim the water from this spring called Raglaim. Which Raglaim, the water from this spring called Raglaim, which was right next to the temple. It wasn't befitting for the water from this spring to be brought to the temple and therefore that is what is being referred to here. May Raglaim eni yofala, even though it should be, it's not worthy of coming into the temple.

18:21
Also a very interesting thing it says that when they're mixing the ingredients, it says Tanya Rabbi Nassim Omer, it was taught. Rabbi Nassim says, as one would grind the incense, another would say grind thoroughly. Grind thoroughly because the sound is beneficial for the spices. The sound is beneficial for the spices. The sound is beneficial for the spices. There are people who sing to their flowers. Sound has a tremendous influence on us. Just by the way, if you want to know, it's important for a person to make sure that the music they listen to is holy music, to make sure it's not negative words, it's not negative messages, because it has an influence on us. Sheh hakol, yofel ha-bissamim the sound, the voice. When you speak to someone, make sure you're saying things that are good because they have an influence.

19:42
Okay, now we see over here, you don't mix honey with the offering. Why? Because the Torah says, verse states for any leaven or any fruit, honey, you are not to burn from them a fire offering to Hashem. Not supposed to be honey as part of the offering. So why not? Because the Torah says so. That's the reason. Because the Torah says but the honey is delicious, the honey is sweet, we want to add it. No, torah says not to you don't, even though it smells fine.

20:33
But there's some other value to honey. Just by the way, it's very interesting that honey comes from a non-kosher species. You can't eat the bee, you can't eat the fly, you can't eat the insect, but yet we can eat the food that comes from it. So if you look into this, not only from halacha, but if you ask your Google, you ask your chat GPT, they'll tell you that the honey does not come from part of the bee. It's transported from the nectar. It has a honey stomach, so to speak, that transports it and then leaves it in the hive. But the honey itself is not from the bee. It's separate from the bee.

21:22
But what is the power of honey? Honey has a tremendous power. Our sages tell us that if someone were to put something which is not kosher into honey for an extended period of time extended is not a couple of hours, not a honey glazed something, right it's, you're talking about that. It sits in honey for many months. You're allowed to take it out and eat it. Why? Because the honey is so powerful. It extracts whatever is in it and makes it honey. So if, if God forbid, someone puts pork into their honey and they let it sit for many months, you've got to look in the I'm not going to give you the source for it, find it yourself and you take that piece out. After that extended period of time, you can eat it. Why? Because it's now honey. It's become completely honey.

22:25
It says that the Torah is. The Torah is sweet like honey and like the comb of the honey, the honeycomb, that something that's put into it completely transformed. The negativity goes out. You know, does someone go to law school jealous and come out an unjealous lawyer? No, they're the same thing. They go in with, they go out with, they have more knowledge. Someone who's an angry doctor. An angry student goes into medical school. He leaves an angry doctor. And same thing with every profession, not so with the Torah. You go in an angry person. You come out a gentle soul, completely transformed. Because when you go in to study Torah, it's like going into that honey. It extracts all the negativity, it takes all the imperfections out and what's left, misuki midvash, it becomes sweet like honey. That's the power of Torah. We say At the end here.

23:40
It says that it's a tremendous scent and aroma for Hashem. The scent, the smoke, they ascend to the heavens. This offering, they ascend to the heavens. It says man can connect to this in a very, very powerful way. This aroma, this scent, this smoke is going all the way up to the heavens. Imagine the power when we connect to that. We are able to connect to the heavens. We are able to ascend our thoughts, our intentions, our connection with Hashem to the heavens as well. We're taking the physical, these ingredients, we're mixing them around and we're elev the physical, these ingredients, we're mixing them around and we're elevating them spiritually. The physical transforming into spiritual. That's the power of what we can do with an offering. Yeah, hashem, I got caught up in my physical. I got caught up in my materialism, but now you know what I'm doing Transforming everything into spiritual, which is why it's different and it's more. It's more elevated over the physical offerings Because we have a way of connection in a whole different regard, in a whole different way.

25:18
Our sages tell us it's more important to feel the Teshuvah of the offerings than to understand the words. You have to connect to it. You may not understand what each word means, but if you're able to put your heart in the right place, it's the most powerful thing. The Shulah HaKadosh says that the offerings are really a self-work. The entire process of putting together these different ingredients, these different spices, is really putting together our different traits. It's our self work, and the whole part of making them into one Incense is really taking the different parts of ourselves and improving them. And then it says that the offerings, the offerings are really instead of me. I should have been brought as an offering for the mistakes I made, but instead there's an animal that's being brought in my stead. I should have been minced into this little mixture of incense, but instead Hashem gave us spices that we can take and place instead of us.

26:54
This is for us to remember every single morning. If we have the privilege to recite the Keturas, if we have the privilege to recite the incense, what we're doing is we're taking the full dimension of our character. Recite the Keturas. If we have the privilege to recite the incense, what we're doing is we're taking the full dimension of our character, mixing it up, saying Hashem, the bad with the good. It should be overwhelmed with the good, because we have so much good within us. We should see that good, we should bring that good to the fore and then we can elevate it as an incense offering to Hashem.

27:27
We don't do the same incense, but it's important for us to know and to understand that we're capable of improving even without the Temple. We have this special prayer every single day, we are able to say it Of improving even without the temple. We have this special prayer Every single day, we are able to say it. Our sages tell us that one who says this is protecting their family from all harm, is protecting their community from all harm. They're protecting themselves, of course, but the entire Jewish nation from all harm. Imagine how powerful to recite this prayer Next week, god willing, we're going to go and talk about the next part of this, which is we have anabikoach, a very, very powerful prayer. We're going to talk about anabikoach next week and we'll see why we say anabikoach specifically towards the end of the Karbonot offerings.

28:28
My dear friends, thank you so much for joining us online. We're deeply grateful for those of you who are here in the Torch Center, those of you on Zoom, those of you listening on the podcast. It is such a privilege. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll be happy to address your questions now. Thank you, have a great week. Everybody. You hear this question. Everybody hear the question.

28:52
If honey is a greater preservative than salt, then why do we use salt? We should use honey. One second Now. You know why. We dip the apple and the honey on Rosh Hashanah. We save that level of preservative for Rosh Hashanah and, by the way, we dip the challah into honey all the way through the holidays, till the end of Sukkot. We dip the challah in honey Because, yes, it's a higher level for the time that people are concentrated on their connection with Hashem. That's when we have the honey, not the salt, through the regular year. We'll maintain it simple. It also could be because salt is much cheaper than honey, and it's something which is. Our sages were very weary about instituting laws or customs. That would be costly for people and therefore salt is much cheaper and more affordable for people. And salt is the preservative of choice, not honey. Honey is typically much more expensive.

29:55
Yes, follow up. That's why it's the last of the offerings, it's the most spiritual, which is the last. We work our way up to it, but it's not overlooked that we should benefit from it as well. Okay, definitely, it's for Hashem, and this would ascend to the heavens. 43b let's bring that, gemara. 43b. Ah, here we go.

30:19
Here's the Talmud. Okay, the Gemara adduces a scriptural source for reciting blessings over fragrances Amar Rav Zutra, bar Tovia. Amar Rav Rav Zutra, the son of Tovia, said, in the name of Rav Minayin, sh'mivarchin Alareyach. From where is it derived that we recite a blessing over a fragrance? Sh'memar, as the verse states in Psalms 140, 150. Koel Hanishamot, as the verse states in Psalms 150. Let every soul praise God. So now the Talmud says what is something from which the soul derives pleasure, but the body does not derive pleasure? Harei hevi omer zeh harei ach. You must say from here that this is a fragrant smell and therefore, kol ha-nishamah tehalel yo, that whatever the nishamah enjoys, praise Hashem. From here we learn that fragrance is only for the nishamah and therefore we recite a blessing for a delicious fragrance. Thank you, david.

31:30
Bring the shofar. Let's blow it. One second, one second Before everyone goes. Let's blow the shofar. Pass the shofar. Is that yours? It looks like a beautiful shofar. Everyone, please rise.

31:41
As we do each of the days, as we do each of the days of the, we do each of the days of the month of Elul, in synagogue, we blow the shofar and the study hall is like a place of prayer. So we're going to have it. But I want you to just concentrate for a moment in prayer, close your eyes and think for a second. We've gone through a long journey 11 months since last Rosh Hashanah, 11 and a half months. We're about to go back to Rosh Hashanah. Hashem gave us life, he gave us blessing, he gave us so much good and we want to have more of that good.

32:14
But it's possible maybe that me and not you. You're all righteous, but me, maybe I've done something that is standing in the way. I want to blow past it. I want to ascend to the heavens in prayer that Hashem should clear up the accounts. So with that, we're going to do that with the blowing of the shofar, okay, so close your eyes, take it all in, put your prayer ready. We're going to have a moment of silence before we pray and then it's like you're writing the email to God and then, when you click send, that's the blowing of the shofar. The sound of the shofar is the send button. So take five seconds, 10 seconds, think of your prayer, thank you, thank you everybody. Have a magnificent week. Thank you, thank you. This was incredible.

33:13 - Intro (Announcement)
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.