Intentionally worshiping HaKodesh Barechu through your sense of smell.

Hashem commands Moshe to use a blend of essential oils to make what would be called “Holy Anointing Oil.” This blend of oils was used to anoint almost every holy vessel in the Tabernacle, and it was used to anoint priests. Hashem was very specific that it was not to be used on any person, other than a priest; and, it was not to be used for common purposes. Every time Klal Yisroel gathered to worship. the aroma of Holy Ketoret and the Holy anointing oil would fill the people gathering. Hashem had a very specific purpose in doing this. He was teaching the nation of Israel that this aroma was the aroma or worship. This concept is a difficult one for us to grasp. But, the sense of smell has a very powerful effect on the brain. Of the five senses, the sense of smell is the only one that is processed through the emotional part of the brain before it goes through the logical part of the brain.

This means that the sense of smell has the ability to create a certain response in our brain prior to our logical consideration. Often this response comes in the form of a memory, or a strong emotional response to a certain aroma. Hashem made use of His beautiful design to engage klal Yisroel in Tefilla and worship through the sense of smell. This Holy aroma, as much as sacrifices, laws, and rituals, was a part of Jewish Temple corporate worship. It was the part of our worship that engaged the sense of smell. Because the scent passed through the emotional seat of the brain, the activities of worship were reinforced! The ability to experience the sense of smell is an amazing blessing from G-d. The fact that He can use our sense of smell to draw us nearer to Him is yet another example of His amazing love poured out on us like oil of sweet Myrrh and frankincense. Take some time today to intentionally worship HaKodesh Barechu through your sense of smell.

See 2010 Article below

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sanhedrin 93b – Judging by Smell

The pasuk says in Yeshaiya (11:3), in reference to Moshiach – והריחו ביראת השם ולא למראה עיניו ישפוט ולא למשמע אזניו יוכיח – the judgement whether one has yir’as hashem will be done by smell, not sight or vision. The idea is explained by the Radak that the sense of smell is very sensitive – without much exposure and even from a distance one can detect an odor with their smell. Similarly, with a keen sense of smell the Moshiach will have the ability to distinguish between the tzadik an the rasha. In our gemara Rava explains that he will be מורח ודאין – smell and judge. From the mere scent of a person, Moshiach will have the ability to judge him.

The gemara says that when bar koziva claimed to be the Moshiach, he was tested to see if he has this keen sense to judge by smell and when the Rabbonon saw that he lacked this ability he was killed. Rashi in Yeshaiya attributes this keen sense to the wisdom of Hashem – כי בחכמת הקב”ה בקרבו ידע ויבין מי זכאי ומי חייב.

Rav Nota Greenblatt in his sefer “k’reich sadeh” on the haftorah of mikeitz, points out that rashi considers this ability to be a chochmah of Hashem. With this he explains the Rambam (Teshuva 9:2) – מפני שאותו המלך שיעמוד מזרע דוד בעל חכמה יהיה יותר משלמה. What is the source of the Rambam that the Moshiach will possess wisdom greater than Shlomo HaMelech (king Solomon)? It is from this pasuk that Moshiach will have a sense to be able to judge in ways that we don’t see Shlomo was able to judge.

Rambam and Ra’avad (Hilchos Melachim perek 11) argue whether the melech hamoshiach must perform a miracle to be trusted. Rambam proves that he doesn’t from the fact that R. Akiva himself became a follower of ben koziva and didn’t ask for a miracle. But, the Ra’avad holds that he must do a miracle as we see from our gemara that they tested him whether he can judge by scent.

Perhaps they argue whether this level of perception is considered a miracle to confirm himself as Moshiach, or just an extreme level of wisdom but not miraculous. R’ Nota concludes by writing that in every generation we are blessed with gedolim who have this keen sense on some level of “judging by scent” to distinguish between emes and sheker (truth and false). Sometimes there are issues that come up which the chachamim deem dangerous, but are unable to articulate the exact danger – they are being מורח ודאין – judging with their keen sense of smell.

Please Do Share and Like