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Focusing On Our Blesings

By: Rav Eytan Goldstein

As Purim approaches we have the opportunity to work on our connection with Hakadosh Baruch in a unique way. Through understanding the depth of the twice daily ketoret offering, the mistake of Adam and Haman, and the power of smell, we can try and greet the lofty day with an elevated perspective.

The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim (3:45) discuss how the twice daily ketoret offering would fill the Beis Hamikdash with a beautiful fragrance. The ketoret was comprised of 11 different herbs and balms. Surprisingly one of the ingredients, chalbana, was known to have a terrible smell. We’re confronted with the obvious question of why would they bother to put something into the ketoret that doesn't smell good if that defeats one of the main reasons for bringing it in the first place?

The Gemara (chulin 139b) teaches that there is a hint to Haman's name in the torah. The Rabbanim bring the passuk of "hamin haetz" (Bereishes 3:11)- "from the tree". At first glance it seems as if the Gemara is playing a cute game of I spy. In reality, the Torah is teaching us that the same mistake that caused the downfall of Haman was also the same mistake Adam and Chava sinned. Haman was second in command, everyone n in the kingdom bowed down to him except one person, Mordechai. Similarly, Adam and Chava were told they can eat and enjoy everything in the entire Gan Eden except one tree. Haman’s perception of all that he had was- "kol zeh anenu shevah li"(Esther 5:13)-” all of this is worth nothing to me” since there is one Jew who won't bow down to me. In Adam and Chava’s case, there was one tree they could not eat from. What brought about both Haman’s downfall and Adam and Chava’s sin was a struggle to perceive all that one is blessed with, and not focus on what we feel we're lacking. The chalbana is the fix for this mindset.

The Sefer Yetzirah writes that every month is connected to a part of the face, specifically Adar is connected to the nose and smell. Smell was the only one of the five senses not used in the sin of Adam, and therefore remained undamaged. In Adar we tap into the power of smell. The secret beauty of the chalbana is the way we are mitaken, fix, the mistaken mindset of- "hakol zeh ano shevah li". When the chalbana was added to the mixture of the ketoret it would help bring out the other 10 spice’s, it even improved the overall smell of the ketoret! When it was added to the greater mix it became a lot clearer that there is a reason for this spice to be added. There is a good aspect to this seemingly bad smelling spice. It's just about how one views the spice, by itself, or part of the greater picture of the ketoret. In Adar we have the opportunity to greet all chalbana type of situations, situations which may seem lousy, and realize that when there seems to be some level of deficiency, it is just about how you look at the situation. In the greater whole we have much more than what we're missing.

This is an elevated outlook one can have when they feel as if they are lacking. Sometimes we wish we had more time, more money, more children, more friends, more knowledge. We get so upset by something that we feel like we're missing, we can't even appreciate everything we do have. This approach is very dangerous since we can never attain everything. We must try to take a step back and focus on all that we have been blessed with and realize that any feeling of deficiency is only an opportunity to magnify the great blessings we do have in our life. Hashem should bless us to smell the beautiful blessing the chalbana in our everyday lives, to look at our lot as it is complete, and to greet Maschiach speedily in our days.