Once a child has experienced being tickled, they can easily be tickled again by merely waving a finger in front of them (perhaps accompanied by a suggestive and playful word) – even without any contact at all.
I think this is very important, because anticipating what might happen next is essential for us to rise above realism, and be able to see the world optimistically – not as it is, but as it can be. Our anticipation is mostly triggered by sights and smells.
Sight offers grounds for optimism, because if we can see something, we can anticipate it. If we cannot see the finger waggling in the air, then we don’t know that we are going to be tickled – and so we do not laugh!
And smells… smells are wonderfully evocative. Think of entering a warm home, and instantly smell fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. The mind is transported, connecting that smell to all the other times we have smelled cookies – and then enjoyed eating them. Without so much as ingesting a single calorie, we can experience the joy of the cookie merely through the memory and the anticipation.
The symbolism of both sight and smell are uniquely linked in the Torah. There is a word that appears only four times in the Torah – zach. It is used to specify the olive oil used for the menorah, and a spice used for incense and to accompany the showbreads. And I think this word is selected because it links those two items, sight and smell, marking them both as focused on the creation of hope and optimism (as well as in other respects, explored below).
Let’s start with the menorah.
You shall further instruct the Israelites to bring you zach oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. (Ex. 27:20) Command the Israelite people to bring you zach oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. (Lev. 24:2)
The menorah is all about creating and spreading light, which symbolically suggests spiritual energy and revelation (sort of a night light for all peoples). The olive oil reminds us of the olive leaf Noah received while on board the ark – this leaf inspired both relief and hope: once he saw it, Noah stopped fretting about what was happening outside the ark. In sum, the menorah is meant to be a night-light for all peoples, a calming symbol of faith in G-d’s promises and hope for the future through physical and spiritual illumination.
The spice used for the incense is known by the latin name Libanum, from the Greek libanos, and the Torah Hebrew levonah – because this spice is milky in color, thus sharing a root word with the Hebrew, lavan, meaning “white”. It is mentioned as being zach two places in the text:
For the incense: And G-d said to Moses: Take the herbs stacte, onycha, and galbanum—these herbs together with zach levonah … Make them into incense. (Ex. 30:34)
And then with the showbread: Place [the bread] on the pure table … With each row you shall place zach levonah, which is to be a token offering for the bread, as an offering by fire to G-d. (Lev. 24:7)
The incense reminds us that our bodies are ensouled (as Adam was ensouled through his scent-organs, his nostrils), while the bread reminds us of partnering with G-d in creation, and the need to correct for the errors of Eden (from which we were expelled with the words, “by the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread.”
As with optimism and hope (and chocolate chip cookies wafting through the air) the levonah is all about the sense of smell – a contrast with the light produced by the olive oil.
What does it mean? First of all, the use of zach in these verses would seem to be redundant, unless it is used to link the olive oil for the Menorah with the levonah (removing the word would not change the meaning of the command, since presumably every ingredient was supposed to be of high quality).
But the word levonah has its own overtones in the Torah, because of the way it is used elsewhere. The very first use of the letters levonah are as physical bricks used to construct the Tower of Babel!
And they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks (levonah), and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick (levonah) for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
Bricks are for building – and buildings can be used for good or for ill. We are supposed to build for the sake of heaven, not for our own egos. The Tower of Babel was about self-aggrandizement and was thus not good, but buildings that further G-d’s purpose for the world would be good!
And here is the second use of the word in the Torah:
Then Avraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born (levon) to him that is a hundred years old?
Levonah here refers to to supernaturally gifting an old man a son, to birth, and to new life.
Together, bricks and sons represent man’s own potential creations. Which means that the olive oil (to create spiritual energy) and the levonah (to evoke physical creativity) are paired concepts – with zach highlighting that link.
Zzach means more than just linking two key ingredients for the creation and sustenance of hope. Zach is also about reciprocal promises! The flood, after all, ended with the first covenant, a promise from G-d to man. The promise is marked in a visual form: the rainbow, illuminated by the sun.
And the incense is thus our reciprocal promise back to G-d. It is a promise that we, in turn, dedicate both our physical creations/building as well as our investments into our children to the ultimate Creator! And in this way, we act to reverse and cure the ancient uses of both – our buildings are correctives for the mistakes of building the Tower of Babel, and our children are to correct for those who offer their children to the fire, to Molech. Thanks to the symbolic lessons of the mishkan, we learn to apply these gifts for good.
Zach thus offers the reciprocity of gifts and promises: divine light to the people and the world, and our own investments pledged back to our Creator, the source of all of our blessings.
Light and smell. Spiritual and physical. Divinely-gifted promise of hope, in return for man’s promise to dedicate our creations back to G-d. All linked through just four instances of one word, zach.