Shekalim 16 a, b

Amud (a) focuses on the process of anointing.  The process of "anointing one with oil" has always struck me as fascinating, both because it would feel so wonderful to have oil poured onto my head, and because it would feel so disgusting to have oil poured onto my head.  This must have been messy - difficult to clean.  Wouldn't it get all over one's clothing?  And though it symbolized power, the anointing also describes a public viewing of what seems like an intimate process - one's reaction to the sensation of oil on one's head and then body.  Is that what a new king would want remembered as his first kingly response?

We learn about the makeup of the oil, the vessels that hold the oil, who gets anointed, who does not get anointed, and different types of anointing oils.  We are told about flasks that pour the oil and about horns that pour the oil.  The rabbis then veer into lessons about how to anoint kings (Deuteronomy 17:20).  From there, it is a short and logical step into the names of the sons of Yoshiyahu (based on an adjacent verse).

Amud (b) returns to the contents of the ark.  R' Meir, Rav Yehuda and Rav Yochanan assert their dissenting ideas regarding the dimensions and the contents of the ark.  Did it hold four tablets, two that were broken and two that were whole?  Did it contain a Torah scroll?  And the rabbis agree that Betzalel built the ark, but how?  How many boxes were covered in gold?

The conversation becomes more esoteric when the rabbis wonder how the tablets were inscribed.  Were there five commandments on each of two scrolls?  Or perhaps ten commandments repeated on two scrolls?  What about twenty tablets on four scrolls?  Or even forty tablets on four scrolls, where the writing could be read through each tablet?

Perhaps there was a Torah scroll as well, one that contained all of the teachings of Moses at Sinai.  Or perhaps there were tiny letters, lessons of Torah, in between the larger engraved letters, just as there are ripples between the waves in the sea.  Rabbi Pinchas shares the words of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: the letters of the Torah were like black fire on white fire; fire on fire from fire. This idea, taken from Deuteronomy 4:24, 4:11-12 and 32:2, suggests that we understand the mystical, non-physical, yet powerful spiritual energy that is our Torah.  Each of the references in Deuteronomy mentions fire together with G-d giving us the Torah.

We end today's daf with Halacha 2, which explains where the thirteen prostrations took place in the Temple courtyard.  Interestingly, they were not performed all at one site, which would have been much easier to perform. Instead the entrant would prostrate himself first in a number of different places, each named specifically.

Today's daf offered many different sections, each with its own rules and guidelines.  Some of these were simple to follow and some were highly complicated.  Some sections were fascinating and others were far less interesting - at least to me.  For example, I was amazed at the contents of the oil: myrrh, cinnamon, fragrant cane, cassia, and olive oil.  The roots of these plants were boiled in water, and then oil was added to the mix to absorb the fragrances.  The oil could be easily removed and used to anoint or perfume.  I would love to know the scent of myrrh and cassia.  How would these combine with cinnamon and cane?  And would this aroma - like the incense burned as offerings - carry with it a memorable trigger for all who were present?