Why did the Avtinas family refuse to succumb to tremendous pressure to reveal a trade secret?
By Rabbi Ari Enkin, Rabbinic Director, United with Israel
This week’s Torah portion is Parshas Ki Tisa and in it we read about the incense offering that was offered in the Tabernacle, and later, in the Holy Temple.
It was a twice daily offering as part of the morning service and the afternoon service. It was offered on its a specially designated altar known as the “Golden Altar.” The incense mixture was made up of various plants, spices, and herbs and apparently smelled heavenly.
Now here’s something you may not have known. The Avtinas family was responsible for preparing the incense; its exact recipe was a closely guarded secret that was never shared.
Ever.
For this reason the Avtinas family was, well, not well-liked among other Jerusalemites.
The rabbis, however, were not to be outdone or manipulated. Or at least so they thought. They wanted other people to be able to prepare the incense mixture as well, bypassing the family. So the rabbis hired chemical and spice experts from Egypt asked them to come up with the exact formulation for the incense and fired the family.
While the Egyptian spice team was indeed able to copy the exact formulation of the incense, there was one problem. The smoke column of the incense had to go up in a straight line. Part miracle and part secret ingredient, perhaps. But the incense mixture that the Egyptians made didn’t do that. The smoke just flew around everywhere in no particular way.
That put the rabbis back to square one. They went back to the Avtinas family to demand the secret ingredient that made the smoke column flow straight up. The family refused wouldn’t budge. The rabbis conceded defeat and the Avtinas family were offered their job back.
One problem: The family didn’t want their job back.
But we need incense!
In the end, the rabbis were forced to double the salary of the Avtinas family to convince them to take their job back and get the Temple service up and running again.
Sounds like a good movie script. But what’s really going on over here?
It is explained that God gave the Avtinas family a special gift – the secret of the incense. Sometimes God gives talents and gifts to people because He wants them to have it and no one else.
Yes, the Avtinas family appeared to be difficult and inflexible. Yes, it came across as money-hungry.
However, we are told that there was a good reason to their madness. They knew that one day the Temple would be destroyed, and with it, the valuables, utensils, and secrets, would be stolen or destroyed. The Avtinas family kept the incense mixture a closely guarded secret because they wanted to ensure that the Romans would never be able to reproduce the holy incense for their idolatrous temples.
There is a great takeaway lesson here. Even the great rabbis of Jerusalem were unable break the monopoly that the Avtinas family had on the incense. You know why? Because God decreed as such.
As mentioned, the secret of the incense was a special gift that God caused to fall into the lap of the Avtinas family. When God wants to supply a person with a livelihood and source of income, nobody- — but nobody — can take it away.
We mustn’t be scared of competition or the “big guys”. Big supermarkets make money and the small corners stores also seem to make money. If God wants you to have a livelihood, you will get it no matter what stands in the way.
The Avtinas family wouldn’t budge, and rightfully so. They weren’t scared of the Egyptians or anyone else. And neither should we. What’s destined to be yours will always be yours.
For more insights by Rabbi Enkin on this week’s Torah portion, click on the links below.
No Magic Fixes or Instant Holiness in Judaism
Discover Your Inspiration – and Run with it!
The Golden Calf Reveals the Secret to Golden Relationships
The Golden Calf: Misguided Passion or Ultimate Betrayal of G-d?