Many People get Ketoret dry incense from Exodus 30: 34-37 that was burned in the Beis Mikdash (Holy Temple) and the Exodus Priestly Anointing Oil blend Exodus 30:22-33 confused as one and the same. here is the facts these two are very different. The Ketoret which is dry material that is incense cannot be duplicated as a dry compounded incense to burn. However we do know that it can be made into a essential oil for healing and Shabbos ritual such as havdallah the ending of Shabbos.
Master Aroma-therapist Rabbi Avraham Sand a Cohen was given the permission to create a Ketoret essential oil for the purpose of healing for use during havdallah ceremony (ending Shabbat ceremony). This permission was given by Rabbi Menachem Burstein, an authority on Temple-period botany and chemistry who runs the Shlomo College of Temple studies (and a Jerusalem infertility clinic), agreed with Reuven Prager a Cohen and founder of Beged Ivri that there was a loophole where the fragrance could be made for Jewish people to enjoy: He said “The ban need not apply, if the ingredients are steamed to extract their Essential Oils, rather than ground into a powder as a prohibited spice.”(THE JERUSALEM REPORT July 2, 2001)
However the only orbidden formula is the Holy Annointing oil from Exodus 30:22-33 is as follows and should not be duplicated in quanities listed below. And because it is a oil blend it is to be treated as Shomer Sod (a guarded secret). Here is the measurement of some of the ingredients listed as the Annointing oil blend:
1cup olive oil
30 drop myrrh oil
15 drop cinnamon oil
30 drop cassia oil
1 ¼ oz costus oil or sweet calamus oil
Cinnamon Kinman in Hebrew (Rashi; Septuagint; Abarbanel, Canela in Spanish; Ibn Janach; Rambam on Kerithoth 1:1, but see Ramban on Exodus 30:34). This is the dried bark of the cinnamon tree, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, a species of laurel cultivated mainly in Ceylon (cf. Yad, Kley HaMikdash 1:3; cf. Theophrastus, Plants 9:7; Herodatus 3:111). According to others, however, the kinman of the Bible is aloeswood or lignum aloes (Radak, Sherashim; cf. Saadia; see Ramban on Exodus 30:34).
This is the resinous hartwood, Aquilaria agallocha of the family Thymalaeaceae, which grows in the East Indies and tropical Southeast Asia, and is still used for incense and perfumes. FYI according to other ancient sources, the ‘cinnamon’ of antiquity was not the Ceylonese product, but an herb coming from Arabia (Theophrastus, History of Plants 9:4; Strabo 16:778; Diodorus Sicculus 2:49, 3:46) or Ethiopia (Pliny 12:42). Some identify it with ‘Mecca Straw’ (paja de Mecca in old Spanish; Ramban; Abarbanel), which was used as fodder for camels (Shir HaShirim Rabbah on Exodus 4:4).
There are also indications that the ‘cinnamon’ of antiquity grew in the Holy Land (Yerushalmi, Peah 7:4; Bereshith Rabbah 65:17; see Kaftor Va Pherach 10, 31a). Calamus Keneh bosem in Hebrew. Ancient sources identify this with the sweet calmus (Septuagint; Rambam on Kerithoth 1:1; Saadia; Ibn Janach). This is the sweetflag or flag-root, Acoras calamus which grows in Europe. It appears that a similar species grew in the Holy Land, in the Hula region in ancient times (Theophrastus, History of Plants 9:7). Other sources apparently indicate that it was the Indian plant, Cympopogan martini, which has the form of red straw (Yad, Kley HaMikdash 1:3). On the basis of cognate pronunciation and Septuagint readings, some identify Keneh bosem with the English and Greek cannabis, the hemp plant.
There are, however, some authorities who identify the ‘sweet cane’ with cinnamon bark (Radak, Sherashim). Some say that kinman is the wood, and keneh bosem is the bark (Abarbanel). Cassia (Radak, Sherashim; Peshita; Vulgate). Kidah in Hebrew; ketzia in Aramaic (Targum; Rambam on Kelayim 1:8). Cassia is the common name for the bark of the tree Cinnamomum cassia or Cassia lignea belonging to the laurel family, which also grows in China. (Pachad Yitzchak, s.v. Ketoreth; cf. Pliny 12:43; Theophrastus, History of Plants 9:7; Diodorus Siculus 3:46; Herodatus 3:110). There are some, however, who identify the ‘cassia’ of the ancients, and hence kidah here, with costus, known as kosh’t in the Talmud (Yad, Kley HaMikdash 1:3; Saadia; Ibn Janach; cf. Rashi).
Costus is the root of the annual herb, Sausurea lappa, which grows on the mountain slopes of Kashmir, and is used for incense and perfume. The Septuagint translates kidah here as iris, possibly Castus speciosus. Others suggest that it is kitto or mosylon, a plant very much like cassia, coming from Meuzel on the African coast (cf. Dioscorides, De Materia Medica 1:13).
Exodus-Shemot The Anointing Oil 30:22 G-d spoke to Moses, saying: 30:23 You must take the finest fragrances, 500 [shekels] of distilled myrrh, [two] half portions, each consisting of 250 [shekels] of fragrant cinnamon and 250 [shekels] of fragrant cane, 30:24 and 500 shekels of cassia, all measured by the sanctuary standard, along with a gallon of olive oil. 30:25
Make it into sacred anointing oil. It shall be a blended compound, as made by a skilled perfumer, [made especially for] the sacred anointing oil. 30:26 Then use it to anoint the Assembly Tent, the Ark of the Testimony, 30:27 the table and all its utensils, the menorah and its utensils, the incense altar, 30:28 the sacrificial altar and all its utensils, the washstand and its base. 30:29 You will thus sanctify them, making them holy of holies, so that anything touching them becomes sanctified. 30:30 You must also anoint Aaron and his sons, sanctifying them as priests to Me. 30:31 Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘This shall be the sacred anointing oil to Me for all generations. 30:32 Do not pour it on the skin of any [unauthorized] person, and do not duplicate it with a similar formula. It is holy, and it must remain sacred to you. 30:33 If a person blends a same formula, or places it on an unauthorized person, he shall be cut off [spiritually] from his people.
The anointing oil was made by soaking the aromatic substances in water until the essential essences are extracted. The oil is then placed over the water, and the water slowly cooked away, allowing the essences to mix with the oil (Yad, Kley HaMikdash 1:2; from Kerithoth 5a).
According to another opinion, the oil was cooked with the aromatic herbs, and then filtered out (Ibid.). some Rabbis debate that it could possibly made into essential oil but with varying measures and different combinations of ingredients. And because essential oils are usually steam distilled was considered too close to the ancient process which was another reason it should not be duplicated according to some of the arguments.
But this argument has since been understood that as long as you are not using exact measurements and the oil is used only for healing purposes the same ingredients may be used in measurements and any ingredient may be added. Since there is so many interpitations of the anointing oil ingredients there is no real way to duplicate the Holy Oil.
Learning the difference between these two fragrances of G-d is a challenge because they are both mentioned in the same chapter of the book of Exodus. Hope this has helped clarify the difference.
