How the Israelites Gave Us Self Care & Daily Rituals

Welcome to Madlik. My name is Geoffrey Stern, and at Madlik, we light a spark or shed some light on a Jewish text or tradition. Along with Rabbi Adam Mintz, we host Madlik Disruptive Torah on your favorite podcast platform, and now on YouTube. We also publish a source sheet on Sefaria, and a link is included in the show notes. This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Pekudei. The tabernacle and its priests are ready to be dedicated, and we explore the makeup, context, and history of the anointment oil, as well as the generally neglected recognition of the significance of skincare and aromatherapy in the Torah. So join us for the Bible’s secret source. So, Rabbi, are we ready to do the first-ever health and beauty episode?

Adam Mintz [1:34 – 1:39]: I’m not ready for this one. Parashat Pekudei has never seen anything like this before.

Geoffrey Stern [1:39 – 2:09]: Okay, well, here we go. So, first of all, I just had to point out, and we all know it, but we probably don’t focus on it, that anointing oneself in oil—I mean, we know the Greeks do it, we know how important growing olives is in the Middle East—but maybe we should just review a few of the verses in Tehillim (Psalms) and elsewhere where it shows how important anointing oneself with olive oil was. In Psalms 104, it says, Wine that

Geoffrey Stern [2:09 – 2:40]: cheers the hearts of men, oil that makes the face shine, and bread that sustains man’s life. I mean, it’s right up there with wine, oil, and bread. That’s the Middle Eastern diet. That’s what made life. And of course, the famous one, Tov Shem M’Shemen Tov. A good name is better than fragrant oil. So here it’s a little bit of a play on words, Rabbi. I figured shemen is the word for

Geoffrey Stern [2:40 – 3:10]: oil and shem is the word for name. So when you read it in Hebrew, you really get the flow. But clearly a good name is really important. And how do we prove that? By comparing it. Anointing oneself with good oil in Deuteronomy 28, it says, though you have olive trees throughout your territory, you shall have no oil for anointment, for your olives shall drop off. So if you are being cursed, it’s not only the harvest, it’s not only the

Geoffrey Stern [3:10 – 3:41]: wine. Right up there is this important element of living, which was to have the oil from the olives. In Ruth, she is getting ready to meet Boaz. So bathe, anoint yourself, dress up, and go down to the threshing floor. I mean, it clearly was part and parcel of life in those days. In 2 Samuel 12, it says, thereupon David rose from the ground, he bathed and anointed himself.

Geoffrey Stern [3:41 – 4:11]: He changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord, and he prostrated himself. I remember as a kid, I once woke up and my grandfather saw me from Glasgow, Scotland, and he said, did you wash your face? And I always, whenever I wash my face in the morning, I think of my grandfather. But you got to anoint yourself, you got to start a new day. Some general said somewhere, you got to make your bed. Well, you also got to anoint your face. And then, of

Geoffrey Stern [4:11 – 4:42]: course, we have in 2 Samuel where it says, pretend you are in mourning, put on mourning clothes, and don’t anoint yourself with oil. So I would say that probably the only time we think of anointing is on Yom Kippur, where we know the five things that we can’t do is we can’t eat, we can’t do this, and we can’t anoint ourselves. But it’s really not that critical a part of our life. But it clearly was a critical part of the life of the Israelite.

Geoffrey Stern [4:42 – 5:12]: And right up there with not eating was not being able to anoint oneself with oil. So anointing is a big thing in studying this, because we’re not only talking about anointing a person, as we’ll see in a second with the Levites, the priests, we’re also talking about anointing the building, anointing the accoutrements of the tabernacle. We see in Jeremiah, he talks about, I will build me a vast palace with spacious upper chambers provided with

Geoffrey Stern [5:12 – 5:46]: windows paneled in cedar, and painted (anointed) with vermilion. So anointing buildings, anointing things is also something that we should be aware of. If we think back to Genesis and we remember that Jacob was fleeing, he fell asleep, he saw the ladder going up and down. And he says, I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, a Matzevah. So

Geoffrey Stern [5:46 – 6:17]: anointing things was part and parcel of the ancient Near East, but clearly also our tradition. And, Rabbi, a few weeks ago, if you recall, we had an episode on the tribes, and there was a part of a midrash that I quoted that had something about anointing in it. And I kind of skimmed over it, and I didn’t know really how it fit in. And so part of what we’re going to discuss today, maybe to kind

Geoffrey Stern [6:17 – 6:48]: of solve that puzzle. If you remember, the Rabbi said, the Holy One, blessed be he, said to Moses, go and appoint a high priest for me. Moses said before him, master of the universe, from which tribe? He said to him, from the tribe of Levi. Moses asked, with what will I anoint him? He said to him, with the anointing oil. At that moment, Moses was joyful. He said, my tribe is so beloved before the Holy One, blessed be he. The Holy One, blessed be he, said to him, your

Geoffrey Stern [6:48 – 7:18]: life, Bechay. It is not your tribe, but it is your brother. That is what is written. And you bring Aaron, your brother. And we focused on the fact that Aaron was a tribe that didn’t have a portion, wasn’t one of the 12 tribes, and he was appointed to serve the other tribes. But then it says, and it is written, his anointing with the anointing oil from where it is derived. It is as stated, you shall take the anointing oil. So it was a little bit of a puzzle

Geoffrey Stern [7:18 – 7:44]: to me, Rabbi, how this anointing oil fit into this kind of dialogue. And maybe we’ll get a better sense of how the anointing oil worked from this. But anyway, before we start our portion, Rabbi, what thinks you about anointing oil, cosmetics, daily routines of health for one’s body and soul?

Adam Mintz [7:45 – 8:03]: Well, I mean, I love it, because this daily routine of anointing oil is also the way that they appointed things and they’re appointing the Messiah. So, you know, you take what you do is you take a daily routine and you elevate it to a status of holiness. That’s a great image, isn’t it?

Geoffrey Stern [8:03 – 10:28]: I like that. I like that. Because clearly we’ve drawn that, we’ve connected the dots. It was something that was part of daily life, right? So here we are in Exodus 40. And by the way, we’re finishing the book of Exodus today. And it says, In 49, you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it to consecrate it and all its furnishings. So it shall be holy. Then anoint the oil of burnt offering and all its utensils to consecrate the altar so that the altar shall be most holy. And anoint the laver and its stand. You shall bring Aaron and his sons forward to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Put the sacral vestments on Aaron and anoint him and consecrate him that he may serve me as a priest. Then bring his sons forward, put tunics on them, anoint them as you have anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests. This their anointing shall serve them for everlasting priesthood throughout the ages. This Moses did just as God had commanded him, so he did.

And it says, so this was something that lasted forever. Whether it means that it lasted forever in terms of this ritual or whether it means that the craft of oil lasted forever, we shall see. But certainly, this was something that was very important. And you mentioned a second ago the connection with the Messiah.

So, if you go, just to put a little bit of context on this, if you go to the translation of Targum Yonatan, he actually fills in the dots of what it was like for a reader in the 12th century to read this. And he says, thou shalt take the consecration oil, anoint the Tabernacle and all that is therein, and shall sanctify it on account of the crown of the kingdom, of the house of Judah, and of the king Mashiach, who is to redeem Israel at the end of the days.

So he fills in the blank pieces. This was the beginning of the traditions of two religions, Judaism and Christianity. In terms of the anointed one, it all begins here.

Adam Mintz [10:28 – 10:37]: That is. That’s a great Targum Yonatan. Right. Because he. He actually puts together all the different pieces that you’ve brought up to now.

Geoffrey Stern [10:37 – 11:27]: Absolutely. And if you want to bring it into the future, I did a little Google search to find out what this same word is used for in modern Hebrew. There’s a beautiful little blog post that I quote. It says the word “mashka” means ointment – cream, which is smeared on the body sometimes to soothe and other times to cleanse.

Hebrew speakers also borrow the word “kerem” cream from English, and she talks about “meesh-KHAH lah-OHR” in modern Hebrew meaning cream for skin, “mishat yadayim” hand cream, “mishat shinayim” is toothpaste. Rabbi, the same word that is used, as I said in the intro, for the anointed one is used for toothpaste. How good is that? In terms of taking that routine.

Adam Mintz [11:27 – 11:28]: So good.

Geoffrey Stern [11:30 – 12:47]: And of course, she says the root of “Mashkah” is “mem shin ches,” the same as that of the word “mashiach” Messiah will, literally the anointed one. It did not evade this Hebrew blog that talks about these words.

It is really wonderful how this goes from the holy to the profane, to the mundane, to the transcendent. Here we are now in Exodus 29. It says, take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. Rashi says the anointing also was in the form of an X. He put a drop of oil on his head and another drop between his eyebrows and joined them with his finger in this shape.

So, this now becomes a little bit of interest, I think, for our Christian brothers and sisters. I would assume most of them think that the sign of the cross comes from the crucifixion, but it seems from here that the rabbis thought that the way that the anointment was made was on the forehead of the Kohen, and it was done in the shape of an X.

Adam Mintz [12:47 – 13:13]: That’s interesting. In Rashi, he says, “ahma shechazu” can mean “chi.” I think “chi” is a Latin, is a Greek letter, which is an X. There’s an English word called “chiastic structure,” which means like a tie, like a chi.

And it means that, what, A goes to D and B goes to C. So that’s what a chi. I didn’t know. I didn’t know that in Rashi, that Rashi has a Greek letter in it. That’s great. I love it.

Geoffrey Stern [13:13 – 14:30]: Okay, so I did a little bit of searching, and I found that “chi,” as you say, is this X. Now, of course, it is a cross, but it’s not configured as a cross. And we shall see that in the Talmud itself, it talks about it is the sound of a “tav,” and T is much more like a cross.

In the Encyclopedia Judaica, it says, and this is from the Jewish Encyclopedia, which is, I actually have a first edition of it. It was written in 1904. But anyway, what it says is that it is not unlikely that owing to their opposition to the Christian cross, the Jewish interpreters adopted the chi form instead of the X, the original tav of Ezekiel.

So the rabbis, of course, in the Talmud, this is after the birth of Christianity, are already sensitive to the fact that this is in the sign of the cross. So I think what they did is they picked this chi, which orients it slightly differently, more like an X than like a T. But clearly, that’s all very interesting.

Adam Mintz [14:30 – 14:42]: Right, then I would love that letter though. Rashi borrows the letter because obviously the Torah didn’t know about a Greek letter. But Rashi borrows it and then it becomes a whole discussion point. That’s a fascinating history.

Geoffrey Stern [14:42 – 15:20]: Well, it comes from Quitote and it is literally in a Christian thing. The point is that there was a discussion of whether the oil was poured around the head like a crown or was it in the shape of this X. They were just picking a sign that could be conveyed to the reader so that the reader would understand what it looked like.

So, I think it’s probably based on an earlier tradition that that’s what was done. The X sign was made on the forehead of the Levite. But again, it’s just by the way.

Adam Mintz [15:20 – 15:30]: You know, there is no X in Hebrew. So it’s not surprising that he doesn’t say like in Hebrew, there is no sign like that. So he had to borrow it from the Greek.

Geoffrey Stern [15:32 – 18:16]: Fascinating and interesting. In Exodus 29:30, it already makes reference. Well, earlier in our parasha, it talks about how they made the frontlet of the holy diadem of pure gold and incised upon it the seal inscription “Kadosh la Hashem.”

And so what I’m trying to say is it’s not only the focus is not only on the oil, and the focus is not only on the sign that was made, but there is also this interest in the forehead.

We already have with this frontlet that is also mentioned in terms of the clothing of the Kohen, this focus on the frontlet. And of course, it reminds us of the tefillin. It reminds us of, if you look at Egyptian hieroglyphics, you see this kind of snake thing coming right over that same spot.

I think in the Talmud it talks about it’s the sort of soft spot where when a baby is born, that’s very soft. There clearly, again, was a general tradition that this was, whether it’s called the third eye, whatever, this was a place on the body, on the face, that enabled kind of some sort of transmission, easier transmission. So we have that as well. Then there is something that I found to be absolutely fascinating.

In the same Sugiya in Kuitot 5B, it says, the master said, one anoints the kings of the house of David with the anointing oil. But one does not anoint the kings of Israel.

The Gemara asks, from where do we derive this halacha that you only do the kings of the House of David. It is derived from a verse, as it is written, with regard to the anointing of David, “Arise, anoint him. For this is he,” this king. That is, any king from the house of David requires anointing. But another king from the kingdom of Israel whose kings were not descendants of the house of David does not require anointing.

What the rabbis learned from this, and I never knew this before, is because if you recall the story of David where he was shunned, it wasn’t obvious that he was an heir to the throne. It’s only the descendant that is not quite in line. If you have a king who has a son who is heir to the throne, there’s no anointing. And I never realized that that passes automatically.

Adam Mintz [18:16 – 18:20]: That passes by, right? So there doesn’t need to be an anointing.

Geoffrey Stern [18:21 – 19:36]: So that concept that you only need the anointing oil when there’s a disruption, you don’t need the anointing oil when things follow in their pattern. I read that into that initial midrash that we started with when God said to Moses, it’s not only going to be your brother, but it’s going to have to be using anointing oil.

What I took that to mean, and maybe it’s a stretch, Rabbi, is what God was saying to Moses is, first of all, don’t get all excited. This is a disruption. Your brother is not being chosen.

His tribe is not going to get a portion in the land or whatever. He’s going to serve the other tribes. And there is a disruption here. We’re going to use the shemen that was my read. But I think what I take away from that, from the holy to the mundane, is that this idea of anointing is a way of changing oneself, whether it’s waking up in the morning and putting a smile on your face. This idea of anointing was to trigger, to make a change, a disruption. That was my read this year.

Adam Mintz [19:36 – 19:42]: I think that’s great. Now, the question is, why is anointing? What makes that change?

Geoffrey Stern [19:42 – 19:42]: Right.

Adam Mintz [19:42 – 19:57]: That’s the next question we have to look at. Anointing is a transitional moment, what you call making a change. Now we have to figure out, of all the things you can do, why is anointing the way in which we represent?

Geoffrey Stern [19:57 – 20:54]: Absolutely. And again, part of the question becomes, are we supposed to take notice of this? Is this something extraordinary or routine? The interesting thing is that the Talmud teaches that in that Ark of the Testimony that we’ve talked about in previous episodes, there was a tradition that there was sequestered in there a jar of the original manna, a flask of the anointing oil, and Aaron’s staff with its almonds and blossoms.

Rabbi, somehow our tradition took this anointing to be magical, to have some potency to it. It wasn’t just routine. They didn’t keep a part of the karbonot (sacrifices). This was extraordinary.

Adam Mintz [20:54 – 21:02]: Yeah, right. So that’s interesting. Okay, take it further. I’m not going to say anything. Take it further.

Geoffrey Stern [21:02 – 22:05]: Yes. The question becomes, what is it actually made of? In Exodus 30, it talks about myrrh, cinnamon, aromatic cane, cassia, olive oil. I quoted Estee Lauder before. This was a real formula, Rabbi. There was a secret sauce here. It says, this shall be anointing oil sacred to me throughout the ages. It must not be rubbed on any person’s body, and you must not make anything like it in the same proportions. It is sacred to be held sacred by you. Any party who compounds its like or puts any of it on a layperson shall be cut off from the kin. So it really was considered a secret source.

We’re going to go to our buddy Cassuto. I said earlier that we are finishing a book today of Exodus. Unfortunately, we’re also finishing Cassuto’s commentary on the Bible. That’s it. He only did Bereshit and Shmot.

Adam Mintz [22:05 – 22:08]: He commented on the best two books of the Torah.

Geoffrey Stern [22:08 – 22:39]: He did Bereishit and Shemot. True to form, he says this paragraph dealing with the anointing oil was placed here possibly due to the connection between washing and anointing. He says anointing with oil for consecration was customary among neighboring peoples. Since the practice is in no way contrary to Israel’s faith, it continued among the Israelites. According to this custom, instructions are given to Moses to prepare oil for anointing.

Geoffrey Stern [22:39 – 23:09]: The first thing he says, true to form, if you recall, he talked about different types of mitzvot. When we talk about a code of Jewish law, there’s plenty of things that we accepted from the general ambiance of other cultures. This was one of them. Here is a picture of an Egyptian anointing. You can see on both sides, they are pouring oil onto the head of the king.

Geoffrey Stern [23:09 – 23:41]: He goes on to say some commentaries found it difficult to understand why the quantity of the oil is so small. I mentioned the other ingredients. The other ingredients are much larger than the oil. What he concludes is there was a whole process these other herbs and spices went through. Ultimately, this wasn’t really an oil; it was more of a paste or a cream, Rabbi.

Geoffrey Stern [23:41 – 24:11]: That’s the first thing he says. He talks about Akkadian documents describing something similar. It wasn’t only oil in terms of texture. It also had a distinct smell. He gets into how it was applied to objects and people. He says it was like a branding mark. It was not poured because it was a paste. You would see on a piece of fabric used in the temple a little dot. You would know, therefore, that not only was this consecrated, but it was unique. I referred to it as branding. This was tagging objects to ensure they lasted. It was a permanent substrate, a way of tagging things to ensure they were understood to be holy. I found that very fascinating.

Geoffrey Stern [24:43 – 25:11]: I think the lessons we need to learn from this are to open up our eyes and minds, number one, as you were saying before, to the daily routines of another generation. As we’re about to do the Passover Seder, where we do things like dipping and washing and leaning, I think it’s a good time to focus a little on this element of anointing. What are your takeaways from our discussion today?

Adam Mintz [25:11 – 26:08]: That’s interesting. You know, anointing, putting oil on the forehead, first involved a ritual. If you just dabbed your forehead with oil, it was straightforward. The fact that they got caught up in how it should be like a cross or an X shows it was a ritual. The idea is that this daily, like your grandfather said, wash your face. This daily practice became a ritual, something prevalent in religion where things you do naturally become rituals, like washing your hands for bread or a meal. You wash your hands for a meal to clean your hands, but it becomes a ritual where you sanctify your hands. Isn’t that the same kind of thing?

Geoffrey Stern [26:09 – 26:47]: You just made me think, do we have a blessing for anointing? As you were talking, I was thinking about Havdalah, where we have a blessing on smelling incense, on Besamim. I was thinking about after Ein Keloheinu; every Shabbat, we talk about the Pitum Haktoret, the incense that was burnt in the Temple. But I’m not sure we have a blessing for anointing one’s hands. You would think there would be a Birkat HaNehenin.

Adam Mintz [26:47 – 27:01]: You would think it would be a mitzvah. That’s a good question. Since it’s not relevant anymore, it’s hard to know where you would look that up. But that’s a fancy yeshiva question. In Torah Vodaas, you could ask the mashgiach or the mashiach that question.

Geoffrey Stern [27:01 – 27:27]: Again, the blessings we make over food and Besamim are because we derive joy and benefit from it. If you think we’re not allowed to anoint ourselves on Yom Kippur or during mourning, you would think when we do anoint ourselves, there would be some blessing. That is an open question we pose here on Madlik.

Adam Mintz [27:27 – 27:29]: We leave it with a fancy question.

Geoffrey Stern [27:29 – 28:29]: But I think that, and I’ve talked about many times, things in our ancient past that may have gone into disuse. But certainly, this concept of anointing, this concept of smell, this concept of putting on a new face and washing oneself is personal care.

I think that if you study the Talmud, there are plenty of places where it talks about makeup on Shabbat. It mentions men going out with perfume might attract the wrong types of people. It’s kind of fascinating how we have five senses; we only have five senses. Here is clearly one sense. It’s not only smell, but it’s also the sense of touch that I think sensitizes us to this.

It also introduces this whole idea of Messiah and Mashiach. And when you compare that to a cream, I think it makes it more tangible.

Adam Mintz [28:30 – 28:32]: This is a great topic.

Geoffrey Stern [28:32 – 28:40]: So anyway, you are off to Scotland. I wish you Tnesiah tova. Bring back this to your ancestors.

Adam Mintz [28:40 – 28:41]: I can’t wait to share it with you.

Geoffrey Stern [28:42 – 28:49]: Bring back the smells and the flavors of that country to us. Shabbat Shalom. Thanks for joining us for another week.

Adam Mintz [28:50 – 28:53]: As we finish the book of Shemot, we’ll see you next week with the book of vayikra.

Geoffrey Stern [28:53 – 28:54]: You got it.

Adam Mintz [28:55 – 28:55]: Bye.