In a discussion about which blessings to say and when, the Talmud considers various kinds of fragrances.
ברכות מג, א
אָמַר רַבִּי חִיָּיא בְּרֵיהּ דְּאַבָּא בַּר נַחְמָנִי אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא אָמַר רַב, וְאָמְרִי לַהּ אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא אָמַר זְעֵירִי: כל הַמּוּגְמָרוֹת מְבָרְכִין עֲלֵיהֶן ״בּוֹרֵא עֲצֵי בְּשָׂמִים״ חוּץ מִמּוּשְׁק, שֶׁמִּין חַיָּה הוּא, שֶׁמְּבָרְכִין עָלָיו ״בּוֹרֵא מִינֵי בְּשָׂמִים״
Rabbi Chiyya, son of Abba bar Nachmani, said that Rav Chisda said that Rav said, and some say that Rav Chisda said that Ze’iri said: Over all the incense one recites: Who creates fragrant trees, except for musk, which is extracted from a living creature, and over which one recites: Who creates various spices.
The male musk deer Moschus moschiferus. Yes, the fangs are real. Image from here.
Musk, at least the musk that was one used in the perfume industry, is a secretion from a gland of the male musk deer Moschus moschiferus. However the term “musk”now includes a number of different chemicals which all share a common, distinct, and typical aroma. Today, the perfume industry almost exclusively uses synthesized compounds, which is certainly good news for the cute deer. In fact since 1979 trade in musk from several countries has been banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
In her exhaustive monograph on the subject, Cornelia Sommer notes that musk gland is found near the rear end of the musk deer which lives in the upper regions of Eastern Asia, though presumably once had a far wider natural habitat. Discovery and use of musk date back to ancient China and pre-historic India, and as we learn today, it is mentioned in the Talmud. In order to get access to the natural musk, the animal must be killed to remove the gland, also called musk pod. The pods which weigh about 70g, contain about 40% musk. They are dried, and the reddish-brown paste inside them turns into a black, granular material called musk grain. The aroma of the tincture, which is described for example as animal-like, earthy, and woody, becomes more intensive during storage, and only after considerable dilution does the obtained extract exhibit a pleasant odor.
Because natural musk is rare and expensive, chemists started to synthesize an alternative centuries ago. In 1890 the German chemist Albert Baur succeeded in synthesizing the first chemically defined substance with musk odor, which he patented and commercialized as “Musc Baur.” (Apparently, the discovery was happenstance. Bauer was actually tiring to find a better explosive when he chanced upon the synthetic compound.) Other members of this class of compounds, called nitro musks, were later synthesized and gained considerable commercial importance. Thousands of tonnes of synthetic musks are now produced each year.
Perfume in the urine of the deer, and the excrement of the whale
In his commentary on the Talmud, the great medieval exegete Rashi suggests that the musk can be found in the excrement of an animal (מן הרעי של חיה). And he was not wrong, since the musk deer excretes it in his urine to mark his territory and attract a female. Another animal whose excreta was prized in the production of perfume was the whale, or specifically the sperm whale. For centuries it produced a fantastically expensive substance called ambergris (from the old French meaning grey amber), which is produced in the intestines of the whale and excreted into the ocean. There is spends years bobbing about minding its own business, undergoing oxidation and photodegradation until it washes up on land. It has “a peculiar odour that is at once sweet, earthy, marine, and animalic.” Like musk it is used to produce perfume. In is classic novel Moby Dick, Herman Melville has an entire chapter on the mysterious ambergris.
“Now this ambergris is a very curious substance, and so important as an article of commerce, that in 1791 a certain Nantucket-born Captain Coffin was examined at the bar of the English House of Commons on that subject. For at that time, and indeed until a comparatively late day, the precise origin of ambergris remained, like amber itself, a problem to the learned. Though the word ambergris is but the French compound for grey amber, yet the two substances are quite distinct. For amber, though at times found on the sea-coast, is also dug up in some far inland soils, whereas ambergris is never found except upon the sea. Besides, amber is a hard, transparent, brittle, odorless substance, used for mouth-pieces to pipes, for beads and ornaments; but ambergris is soft, waxy, and so highly fragrant and spicy, that it is largely used in perfumery, in pastiles, precious candles, hair-powders, and pomatum. The Turks use it in cooking, and also carry it to Mecca, for the same purpose that frankincense is carried to St. Peter’s in Rome. Some wine merchants drop a few grains into claret, to flavor it.
Who would think, then, that such fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale! Yet so it is.”
The Elusive nature of Smell
In today’s page of Talmud, the rabbis consider the nature of smell.
״כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָהּ״ אֵיזֶהוּ דָּבָר שֶׁהַנְּשָׁמָה נֶהֱנֵית מִמֶּנּוּ וְאֵין הַגּוּף נֶהֱנֶה מִמֶּנּוּ? — הֱוֵי אוֹמֵר: זֶה הָרֵיחַ
“Let every soul praise the Lord” (Psalms 150:6). What is it from which the soul derives benefit and the body does not derive benefit from it? You must say: That is scent. Even over items from which only the soul derives benefit, one must recite a blessing and praise God.
According to the rabbis, this intangible sense leaves its mark not on the body, but on the soul. How remarkable it is that some fragrances are composed of substances found hidden deep inside animals that are rarely seen by us. And how much more pleasurable is it that now, no animals need be harmed in the making of this blessing.
