3,893. Making the Anointing Oil

Hilchos Klei HaMikdash 1:2

In the wilderness, Moshe prepared the anointing oil by taking 500 shekel each of musk, cinnamon and kidah,* and 250 shekel of fragrant cane. When Exodus 30:25 says “fragrant cinnamon, half its measure – 250,” this means that it should be doled out in two measures of 250 shekel each. These were ground separately and then mixed together, after which they were soaked in pure, sweet water until all of its strength has been transferred to the water. A hin** of oil, i.e., 12 log of four reviis each, was put on the water. This was cooked on the fire until the water boiled out and only the oil was left. This was then put in a vessel for future generations to use.

Hilchos Klei HaMikdash 1:3

Musk is the blood of a wild animal from India [i.e., the musk deer], which everyone knows is universally valued as a fragrance. Cinnamon is a tree from the Indian islands; it has a pleasant aroma and people use it as incense. Kidah is costus (family Costaceae, AKA “spiral ginger”). Fragrant cane is a thin cane, like red straw that comes from the Indian islands and has a pleasant smell. This is a spice that doctors put in balsam.

*Keep reading – this will be explained in the next halacha!

**About a gallon and a quarter.