Did you ever have a fun project where you researched a blend and tried to contact blenders?

[Rakovsky]

O Allah, send blessings and peace upon our master Moses, the one who spoke to Allah, the Most High, and upon all of His chosen messengers and prophets, and upon them and their companions, and those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment. First, you must know the recipe: is it aromatic oil or incense? If it is incense, then part of what you mentioned is used in our heritage in Saudi Arabia, an incense called (Maamoul Dosari). Its qualities vary according to the quality of its ingredients. Among its ingredients are oud powder, frankincense resin, and aromatic oils, including sandalwood, infused with the finest types of saffron, rose, and plant amber, whether aromatic oil or amber resin, both of which are of plant origin. There is also a marine product that is cleaned, soaked in aromatic oils, ground, and added to the rest of the ingredients. It is called Onycha. It has a place with us and is made by elderly women. It is a daily incense to perfume the house. Women use it a lot to perfume their clothes and hair. It has a beautiful, velvety scent, but depending on the quality of the basic ingredients, everything I mentioned, the quality was poor and repulsive.

Dear Bandar,
Thank you for writing. In the Biblical story, the Lord tells Moses to build an ark, to build a tabernacle to house the ark, and to burn incense in the tabernacle. Then for centuries Israelites like King Saul preserve the ark. The story of the ark shows up in the Quran, where Saul is called Talut and the ark is called the Tabut.

Here are three translations of al Baqara 248:

And their Prophet [Samuel] said to them [the Children of Israel]: “A Sign of his [Talut's] authority is that there shall come to you the Ark (Tabut), and in it Sakina (a Covenant) with security from your Lord, and the relics left by the family of Moses and the family of Aaron, carried by angels. In this is a symbol for you if you indeed have faith”.
SOURCE: https://islam.fandom.com/wiki/Ark_of_the_Covenant

Quran.com's translation:
Their prophet further told them, “The sign of Saul’s kingship is that the Ark will come to you—containing reassurance(1) from your Lord and relics of the family of Moses and the family of Aaron,(2) which will be carried by the angels. Surely in this is a sign for you, if you ˹truly˺ believe.”
Footnotes:
(1) Reassurance refers to the Torah.
(2) i.e., the staff of Moses and fragments of the Tablets.

Syed Abul A'la Maududi's translation:
And their Prophet said to them: “The Sign of his dominion is that in his reign the Ark, wherein is inner peace for you, will be brought back to you, and the sacred relics left behind by the house of Moses and the house of Aaron borne by angels.[270] Truly in that is a Sign for you, if indeed you are people of faith.”
Footnotes:
...The Qur’anic statement, that in the Ark ‘lies inward peace for you’, can be understood in the light of the Biblical statements that the Israelites regarded the Ark as highly auspicious, and as an emblem of their triumph and victory. When they were deprived of it, they began to feel that they had been deprived of the mercy of God. The return of the Ark, therefore, had a highly salutary effect on them as it strengthened their sagging morale and raised their spirits.

The Qur’anic mention of ‘the sacred relics left behind by the house of Aaron’ seems to allude to the Tablets of Law bequeathed to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Ark is also said to have contained the original copy of the Torah, which Moses himself had had transcribed and which he had himself handed over to the Levites. The Ark is also supposed to have contained a golden urn holding the manna (Hebrews 9: 2 ff – Ed.), in order that the coming generations might recall God’s benevolence to their forefathers during their wandering in the desert. The Ark also probably contained the rod of Moses which was one of the great miracles of God. (Hebrews 9: 5 mentions the rod of Aaron – Ed.)

Surah Al-Baqarah Ayat 248 (2:248 Quran) With Tafsir

Read Surah Al-Baqarah Ayat 248 (2:248) with translation. Included verse by verse commentary with tafsir for those looking to learn about this ayah in detail.

myislam.org

Spoiler: More Islamic writings about the Ark

Ath-Thawri said, "Some said that it contained a pot of manna and the remnants of the Tablets, while some others said that it contained (Moses') staff and two shoes (and refer to 20:12).''
Ibn Jurayj stated that Ibn Abbas said, "The angels came down while carrying the Tabut between the sky and the earth, until they placed it before Talut [i.e. Saul] while the people were watching.''
As-Suddi said, "The Tabut was brought to Talut's house, so the people believed in the prophethood of Shamun (Simeon) and obeyed Talut''
SOURCE: reddit.com/r/islam/comments/mqokx2

In "The Hidden Islamic History of the Ark of the Covenant", Sayyid Ahmed Amiruddin writes:
The Ark stayed in the family of Moses with the Children of Israel from this stage in history on wards and they placed in it the relics of Moses and Aaron as well. Moses and his brother and their family remained the chiefs of the Israelites and eventually placed it back in Bait ul-Maqdis in Palestine, which was originally built by Adam.
...
[Generations llater,] The House of David restored the Bait ul-Maqdis and placed the Ark therein. ... Solomon inherited the Ark of the Covenant from David and thereby became king. He rebuilt the Bait ul Maqdis in Jerusalem, in honor of the Seal of Prophets, Muhammad, who was to come to it on the night of Ma’raj, and lead all Prophets in prayer. https://imamulmulk.org/the-hidden-i...ark-of-the-covenant-by-sayyid-ahmed-amiruddin

 

[Rakovsky]

If it is incense, then part of what you mentioned is used in our heritage in Saudi Arabia, an incense called (Maamoul Dosari). Its qualities vary according to the quality of its ingredients. Among its ingredients are oud powder, frankincense resin, and aromatic oils, including sandalwood, infused with the finest types of saffron, rose, and plant amber, whether aromatic oil or amber resin, both of which are of plant origin. There is also a marine product that is cleaned, soaked in aromatic oils, ground, and added to the rest of the ingredients. It is called Onycha. It has a place with us and is made by elderly women. It is a daily incense to perfume the house. Women use it a lot to perfume their clothes and hair. It has a beautiful, velvety scent, but depending on the quality of the basic ingredients, everything I mentioned, the quality was poor and repulsive.

Dear Bandar,

The use of the marina product onycha in Arabian tradition that you mentioned supports the theory that onycha was the identity of the uncertain ingredient "shekheleth" in Exodus 30:34's incense recipe.

In another theory, "shekheleth" referred to plant material, especially peppergass because some similar-sounding words in other Semitic languages refer to plant material. In Arabic, the similar-sounding word "suḥālat" means ‘barley husks. R. Thambyrajah notes about "suḥālat": "However, the primary meaning of this word appears to be ‘filings, shavings’, applied also to metals and so perhaps it should be considered unrelated." Here is the Arabic entry on peppergrass:

رشاد (جنس) - ويكيبيديا

ar.wikipedia.org

In your list of Maamoul Dosari ingredients, frankincense, onycha, sandalwood, amber, and oud powder stick out to me as ingredients that come up in theories about the tabernacle blend's ingredients, whereas rose does not come up.

Online I found different varieties of Maamoul Dosari whose ingredients differed from each other.
Atairaloud.com lists these ingredients for their blend:
Mastic, sandalwood, amber, habashush, oud oil, saffron oil, "Other Natural Fragrances: A delicrate blend of aromatic ingredients"

A Saudian Arabian product by the Almas company online, "Dossary Almas Maamoul," lists these ingredients: "A mixture of pure oud duqqa mixed with rose perfume, saffron, oud oil, and amber melon."

How common is it for varieties of Maamoul Dosari to include onycha? Perhaps the products above include onycha without mentioning it?

 

[Rakovsky]

Greetings, just now have stmbled upon your post, and I believe i can provide some educated clarifications about your research into the Biblical aromatic materials -
beside being an experienced and widely educated polimath and artisan perfumer with over 30 years in the Aromatic field; in the past I had an international academic career in the field of Holistic Medicine, with one pertinent subject in particular - Aromatherapy, so History of Aromatic Culture is not just a hobby for me but a part of my professional expertise, beside myself being a general History and World Culture buff.
In addition, many years ago I happened to have a peculiar student in my Advanced Aromatherapy course, who incidentally was involved in the studies in the Institute of the Temple Research, so she had made a final paper for my class exactly about the subject of your interest - making a modern transaltion and up-to-date presentation on the Biblical aroma materials - decoding the antique sources and archaic aroma-lore and creating the current-day interpretations of those Biblical recipes with modern and pure essences.
Historical Fragrant work is a complex and nuanced subject, and there are numerous possibilities for what you wish to achieve. I believe I can (and willing) to help you, and the private setting -rather than a public forum - fits the communication on the amtter the best;
so you are welcome to write me a private message, and I'll give you my personal contact channels (email and phone number) so we can discuss this interesting topic in a direct and private conversation.
Meanwhile be well.
Kai Leon - Art Perfumer sui generis.

Sure, Kai Leon.
It's neat you are such a polimath and had a student in the Institute of Temple Research who made a final paper for your class. I sent you a PM and email like you asked today.
I put my research in the letter that I attached in message #17 above in this same forum thread.

 

[Rakovsky]

I tried to narrow down more the Temple blend's ingredients.

The Ben Yehuda Project defines Tsuri as balm from kataf trees:

צְרִי, צֹרִי, ש"ז
the balm that drips from the trees of the kathf (קטף), was formerly found in the wilderness of Gilead, and was used for medicine Balsam;
baume; balsam, balm
And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, and their camels were carrying sackcloth, and tsari, and lat (Genesis 37:25).

Commiphora opobalsamum, also called C. Gileadensis, Balm of Mecca, and Mecca Myrrh, and is a major candidate for tsuri.

Deborah Green in "The Aroma of Righteousness" treats "balsam" as C. Opolbasamum, but includes a footnote associating qetaf/kataf and Commiphora ḳataf:

One such term, bosem בשם‬, can mean spice, balsam, or perfume. Sometimes the plural is used, as in the phrase “the chief of spices” (ra’shei besamim, ‫ראשי‬ ‫בשמים ‬). This expression no doubt refers to balsam specifically, for that spice, also known as opalbalsam (Commiphora opobalsamum), was one of the most coveted in the empire.
Until the Great Revolt (67 or 68 to 73 c.e.) and perhaps even afterward, Judea seems to be the sole producer of balsam within the empire, making the spice both rare and costly. While Theophrastus (371–287 b.c.e.) mentions that balsam “grows in the valley of Syria,”(48) Pliny (23–79 c.e.) is more forthcoming:
Every other scent ranks below balsam. The only country to which this plant has been vouchsafed is Judaea, where formerly it grew in only two gardens, both belonging to the king; one of them was of not more than twenty iugera in extent and the other less. This variety of shrub was exhibited to the capital by the emperors Vespasian and Titus; ... (49)
Pliny goes on to describe how the Jews attempted to destroy the balsam gardens, presumably during the Great Revolt, but were stopped by Roman authorities. Josephus too refers to balsam production in Palestine. He imparts the tradition that the queen of Sheba brought balsam to King Solomon as a gift and mentions two orchards, one in or near Jericho and the other near the Dead Sea at Ein Gedi. (51)
While Josephus does not describe the attempted destruction of the balsam trees, he does tell of a raid by the Zealots on Ein Gedi during which they supposedly killed upward of seven hundred women and children. (52)
...
Two additional terms that may or may not be related to balsam are qetaf קטף‬ and tsori ‫צרי‬. Both spices are commonly associated with resin that is used as an aromatic. (59 ) ... Talmud Bavli ... contains ... reference ... to the balsam groves of R. Judah and to those of Caesar.(103)

Footnotes:
48. Theophrastus, Historia plantarum, trans. A. F. Hort (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926), 9.6.2. “Balsam of Mecca” is another common name for opalbalsam, since Mecca was its region of origin.
49. Pliny, Naturalis historia, 12.111–12. It should be noted that balsam is a shrub; Pliny describes it as being the size of a myrtle tree (12.111–23).
51. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, trans. H. St. J. Thackeray et al., 10 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926–65), book 8:174, book 9:7; Josephus, Jewish War, book 1:136–41, book 1:358–62, book 4:467–72.
52. Josephus, Jewish War, book 4:402–5.
59. For an in-depth discussion of these two resins and their relationship to other spices, such as nataph, see Kjeld Nielsen, Incense in Ancient Israel (Leiden: Brill, 1986), 61–62, 65–66; Miller, Spice Trade of the Roman Empire, 101–2; and Feliks, Trees, 38–43. Feliks notes a baraita (y. Yoma 4:5, 41d) in which Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel states that “tsori is none other than the resin that seeps נטף‬ from the trees of qetaf,” demonstrating how enmeshed the terms are in rabbinic literature. Although Miller draws an association of qetaf with balsam because of its botanical relationship (Commiphora ḳataf), Feliks seems to argue that qetaf was a particular shrub, grown in the land of Israel, that produced resin. He notes that the resin Cas produced near the Dead Sea. As we have seen, this is one of the places where balsam was thought to have grown.

Theophrastus said in his Enquiry Into Plants, IX. vi., "Τὸ δὲ βάλσαμον γίνεται μὲν ἐν τῷ αὐλῶνι τῷ περὶ Συρίαν. (Balsam grows in the valley around Syria.) ... They say that there are only two parks in which it grows, one of about four acres, the other much smaller." Loeb's edition translates "Balsam" in this chapter as "Balsam as Mecca". Theophrastus says that the Balsam's fruit is like that of the terebinth (τερμίνθῳ) (Pistacia terebinthus), which in turn implies that the Balsam tree is not the terebinth.

Josephus used both the Greek terms "opobalsam" and "balsam":

"She [the Queen of Sheba] gave him twenty talents of gold and a large amount of spices and precious stones. They say also that we possess the root of that balsam (ὀποβαλσάμου ῥίζαν, opobalsamou rizan) which our region still bears through the gift of this woman." (Antiquities, Book 8.174)
Engedi [is] a city that is situate at the lake Asphaltiris [the Dead Sea], and distant three hundred furlongs from Jerusalem. In that place grows the best kind of palm trees, and the opobalsamum (ὀποβάλσαμον). (Antiquities, Bk. 9.7)
Jericho... is the most fruitful part of Judea, which grows many palm trees besides the balsam (βάλσαμον) tree, whose sprouts they cut with sharp stones and from the incisions they gather the juice, dropping down like tears. (Wars 1.136)
Antony... annexed to her... even the plantation of palm trees at Jericho, where the balsam [βάλσαμον] grows, and all the cities on this side of the river Eleutherus, except Tyre and Sidon. (Wars, Book 1.361)
The area [of Jericho] also produces honey from bees, and juicy balsam [ὀποβάλσαμον], the most precious of all the local fruits. It has cypress too and myrobalanum, so that it would not be wrong to call this place divine, for its riches of rare and choice plants. (Wars, Book 4.469)

In Greek, "Opos" refers to the sap, and "balsam" refers to the tree.

Shabbat 23a in the Talmud treats balm as sap from kataf trees: "Rav Huna said: All saps are good for strengthening the ink compound, and balsam (ktf, קְטָף) sap is the best of all. (Steinsalt'z translation)" Steinsaltz translates "וּשְׂרַף קְטָף" as balsam sap.

The Hebrew Wikipedia article on "Afarsemon" or "Persimmon" theorizes that Persimmon אפרסמון is the same as balsam and C. Gileadensis.

https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A1%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%9F_(%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9D

 

[Rakovsky]

Genesis 37:25 describes a caravan bringing "tsuri" from Gilead. The Greek Septuagint translates "tsuri" as "ritinis" in Greek, meaning "resin." Targum Onkelos interprets the "tsuri" of Genesis 37:25 as Qataf:

"And they reclined to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a band of Arabaee were coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices, and resin,(190) and myrrh,(191) to go down to Mizraim.
Footnote: 190. Quetaph, "gum." Hebrew, tsere, probably opobalsamum.
https://juchre.org/targums/comp/gen37.htm#gen25

Jastrow's Dictionary seems to associate qataf with a plum-tree and with the balsam tree in these two entries:

כְּשָׁף m. (supposed to mean) wild plum-tree. Sabb. 23ᵃ שרף כ׳ וכ׳ Ms. M. a. Ar.; copyist’s correction in Ms. M. כטף; ed. קטף) resin of the plum-tree is the best for making ink.

בַּלְסְמוֹ , בַּלְסָם ... Gen. R. s. 91 (interpr. צרי) בלסם קטף the gum of the balsam tree.
SOURCE: https://www.sefaria.org/Jastrow,_בַּלְסָם.1?lang=bi

Shabbat 23a says: "Rav Huna said: All saps are good for [strengthening the] ink compound, and qataf sap (shrf qataf) is the best of all." (Jastrow translates qataf shrf here as "resin of the plum tree," whereas Koren-Steinsaltz translates this as balsam sap.)

Bereshit Rabbah 91 quotes from Genesis: and gives a commentary:

“Their father, Israel, said to them: If so then, do this: Take of the choice produce of the land in your vessels, and take a gift down to the man, a little balm, and a little honey, spices and ladanum, pistachio nuts and almonds” (Genesis 43:11).
Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: Items that bring song [mizmarin] to the world: Snail [ḥilazon], wine with balsam (Hmr Qataf, חֲמַר קְטָף , Footnote 65), myrrh with the oil accumulated within it.
“A little balm” (Umat tsuri balsam qataf, וּמְעַט צֳרִי בַּלְסָם קְטָף) – balsam oil, “a little honey” – Rabbi Yehuda bar Rabbi said: Honey that is hard as a rock;
Footnote 65. Wine enhanced with the scent of balsam (Midrash HaMevoar; see Matnot Kehuna, Etz Yosef).

 

[DubOudh]

Genesis 37:25 describes a caravan bringing "tsuri" from Gilead. The Greek Septuagint translates "tsuri" as "ritinis" in Greek, meaning "resin." Targum Onkelos interprets the "tsuri" of Genesis 37:25 as Qataf:

Jastrow's Dictionary seems to associate qataf with a plum-tree and with the balsam tree in these two entries:


Shabbat 23a says: "Rav Huna said: All saps are good for [strengthening the] ink compound, and qataf sap (shrf qataf) is the best of all." (Jastrow translates qataf shrf here as "resin of the plum tree," whereas Koren-Steinsaltz translates this as balsam sap.)

Bereshit Rabbah 91 quotes from Genesis: and gives a commentary:

Is this project finished yet?

 

[Rakovsky]

Is this project finished yet?

It's ongoing and a lot of fun!
🌳 🪔