3,903. The Ingredients of the Incense

Hilchos Klei HaMikdash 2:3

The weight of the eleven spices was as follows: balsam, onycha, galbanum and frankincense – 70 maneh each, a maneh being 100 dinar (about 1.75 lbs.); musk, cassia, spikenard and saffron – sixteen maneh; costus – twelve maneh; cinnamon – 9 maneh, fragrant bark – three maneh. The cumulative weight was 368 maneh. The whole mixture was ground very finely. A quarter-kav* of Sodom salt was added, plus a pinch each of Jordan amber and the smoke-raising ingredient. A maneh of this mixture was burned on the golden altar every day – 365 maneh, corresponding to the 365 days of the solar year. The other three maneh were ground very finely again on the day before Yom Kippur, as the Kohein Gadol would offer a handful of it on Yom Kippur. The rest is the remainder of the incense that is discussed in Hilchos Shekalim. [Ultimately, the surplus incense was used for leap years.]

Hilchos Klei HaMikdash 2:4

“Nataf” in the Torah refers to balsam trees, which produce balsam oil. Onycha is a chitinous part of a certain mollusk used in incense. Galbanum is a dark resin with a strong, bitter odor that comes from trees that grow in Greece. The Rambam provides the names of the rest of the incense ingredients in Arabic.

*A kav is about 0.4 gallons.