Shabbat Tsav & Gadol

Vayikra Chapter 6:1-8:36 - Sweet Smell

by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen

The term sweet smelling is used in many places in the Torah. Its first use is when Noah leaves the ark and sacrifices to God.

God ‘smells’ the fine smell Rayach Hanichoach of the sacrifice which helps God reconcile with the human condition and establish a covenant not to destroy mankind again.

The term is used when Yaakov presents himself to his father Yitzchak as if he were Esav, and his father smells the clothes which his mother Rivka has put on her son and he says that this is the smell of Esav, the smell of the fields, and blesses him. But the most common use is with regard to sacrifices and there, the Rayach Hanichoach , a pleasant or sweet smell, is used repeatedly.

Of course, the question is not whether God smells, or has a nose, which in physical terms makes no sense. As Maimonides says, God has no physical attributes or characteristics whatsoever. So that language used to describe God is metaphorical. The Torah is full of what is called anthropomorphic terms. Meaning humans use human language to describe something that is Godly, not human. The Torah talks about the finger, the hand, or God hearing. It talks of God being angry but surely not in the way we humans feel anger or disappointment.

What is so special about smell that makes it used so often in relation to God?

There are good smells and bad smells to be found throughout the physical world. Animals and homo-sapiens are very tuned in to smells. And we recognize in ourselves that sometimes our bodies produce foul smells too. It seems to me that sweet smelling is a metaphor for God and Divine approval. Just as smell cannot be seen, it can't be touched it, but it can be recognized by olfactory glands.

When we kill animals for food there are lots of bad smells. Anybody who's been to an abattoir will attest to that. One might imagine therefore that the Temple would have been full of the foul smells of an abattoir. And yet the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot ( 5:7) says that one of the miracles of the temple was that no woman ever fainted (or miscarried) from the smell of the animals being slaughtered. This might be because included within the sacrificial system there was a lot of incense, Ketoret, and incense has several different ingredients amongst them of course it was cannabis. Incense gives a very definite positive smell that humans can appreciate and has a calming effect. And coincidentally a calming effect of animals too.

The sweet smell of the sacrifice is ascribed to God smelling, not humans smelling. Therefore, it seems to me that smell was the nearest way the Torah could find to describe the experience of God and what God approves or disapproves of in human behavior. So that if somebody would challenge the priest and ask what is God? Or where is God ? Or how do I know there is a God? The priest would reply that one might say God is like a sweet smell. Something you cannot see or touch and yet you can recognize it .

Sacrifices were the universal way of worshipping God for thousands of years. But the system could easily be abused. Isaiah said God rejects the sacrifices of hypocrites who commit crimes and misbehave ( Isaiah Chapter 1). And in the Haftarah of Yom Kippur he said that God doesn’t want fasts unless they are accompanied by caring, charitable, good beings (Isaiah 57) .

Sweet smelling is a metaphor used both of humans and of God to describe something morally spiritually approved. How we should behave. But given that it's so difficult to find words in human language to describe something so intangible as the spiritual the sweet smell is the nearest we get.

The Shabbat before Pesach is called Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Shabbat. There are many explanations. But I prefer the one that the greatness is referring historically to the past and our great history as a people starting with the Exodus. And to a great Day in the future when there will be redemption and true peace on earth.

Shabbat Shalom

Jeremy

April 2025

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Jeremy Rosen was born in Manchester, England, the eldest son of Rabbi Kopul Rosen and Bella Rosen. Rosen's thinking was strongly influenced by his father, who rejected fundamentalist and obscurantist approaches in favour of being open to the best the secular world has to offer while remaining committed to religious life. He was first educated at Carmel College, the school his father had founded based on this philosophical orientation. At his father's direction, Rosen also studied at Be'er Yaakov Yeshiva in Israel (1957–1958 and 1960). He then went on to Merkaz Harav Kook (1961), and Mir Yeshiva (1965–1968) in Jerusalem, where he received semicha from Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz in addition to Rabbi Dovid Povarsky of Ponevezh and Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro of Yeshivat Be'er Ya'akov. In between Rosen attended Cambridge University (1962–1965), graduating with a degree in Moral Sciences.