Ein Kelokeynu & Pitum Haketoret
This shiur explores Ein Kelokeinu and the accompanying text Pitum HaKetoret, two powerful passages recited at the end of Shacharit each morning. Join Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman and examine their historical development, thematic structure, and spiritual significance, tracing how praise of God’s uniqueness transitions into the evocative description of the Temple incense service.
Ein Kelokeynu & Pitum Haketoret: Ein Kelokeynu
Every day we read in the beginning of our prayers (and in Israel at the end of our prayers as well) we read the formula for the making of the incense that was burned in the Temple. This formula begins with the words “P’tum hak’toret keitzad….”- “How was the incense prepared…”
The incense of the Temple figures prominently in many parts of the Torah. Unlike the other offerings brought in the Tabernacle it was brought on a special golden altar which was located within the Tabernacle and not in the copper altar which stood in the courtyard of the Tabernacle. The incense figures tragically in the story of Aaron’s sons , Nadav and Avihu. And it was the incense that brought an end to the plague which struck the Jews after the rebellion of Korach.
Today we will learn a bit about the prayer Ein K’Elokeinu which we say before we read the P’tum Hak’toret passage and then we will learn about the K’toret –incense- itself.
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman graduated from Yeshiva University in 1980 and the dental school of Columbia University in 1985. In 1989 he began studying and teaching at Yeshivat Hamivtar and now studies and teaches at Yeshivat Machanaim in Efrat. He has rabbinic ordination from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.