RAV KOOK ON Ki Tissa PART 3: The Recipe for Ketoret

"God said to Moses: Take fragrances such as balsam, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense, all of the same weight, as well as other fragrances. Make the mixture into incense, as compounded by a master perfumer, well-blended, pure and holy." (Ex. 30:34-5) The Torah does not provide the exact recipe for the ketoret, the incense that was burned daily in the Temple. Only in the oral tradition do we find a detailed list of eleven ingredients: 70 portions of the four fragrances mentioned in the verse. 16 portions of myrrh, cassia, spikanard, and saffron. 12 portions of costus. 9 portions of cinnamon. 3 portions of cinnamon bark. Each portion ("maneh") weighed five pounds. The total weight was 368 maneh — one measure for each day, plus three extra measures for Yom Kippur. That's 1,840 pounds (835 kilos) of incense.