The Aroma of Righteousness: Scent and Seduction in Rabbinic Life and Literature

Notes

n o T e s Chapter 1 1. Adapted from Genesis Rabbah 42:1. J. Theodor and Ch. Albeck, eds., Midrash Bereshit Rabba (Jerusalem: Shalem Books, 1996). Another version of this narrative is found in Avot d’Rabbi Natan, Recension A, chapter 6, and Recension B, chapter 13, in Menahem Kister, Avoth De-Rabbi Nathan: Solomon Schechter Edition, with References to Parallels in the Two Versionsand to theAddenda in the Schechter Edition (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1997). 2. Eitherthroughcomparison(theplaintothemountain) orexplication(R. Eliezer fled from his brothers). 3. Midrash (the singular of the word “midrashim”) derives from the root d-r-sh (‫דרש‬), “to seek.” Midrash is the biblical commentary, interpretation, or exegesis created by the rabbis from approximately the first century c.e. onward. Although midrash usually centers on the narrative and poetic sections of the Hebrew Scriptures (i.e., the Torah and Writings), it can also focus on other sources (e.g., the Jewish celebratory calendar , legal literature). A midrash can be lemmatic (exegetical), based on a specific line of Scripture, or it can be part of a sermon, homily, or teaching. Midrashim can be found both in aggadic (nonlegal) material and in halakhic (legal) material. 4. By “valence” I mean not only the apparent characteristics of an aroma but all the subsurface images and connotations, as well as cultural constructions, that may also adhere to it and to related terms or images. Similarly, certain scent terms attract other terms, with all of their latent meanings intact. 5. For example, Genesis Rabbah, a work edited in the fifth century c.e. and thus representative of earlier strands of tradition, ties the patriarch Abraham to a verse in Song of Songs simply by stating the verse and affirming, “This refers to Abraham.” In some instances the text includes an ambiguous reference to an event in the patriarch’s life, or to a character trait, but these rabbinic formulations are nearly impenetrable without comparison to a fuller description. Fortunately, elaborations can often be found in the much later collection of Song of Songs Rabbah, which may clarify the earlier vague remark while at the same time include new images. 6. Scientists argue about whether it is possible to recall and thereby reexperience an odor from memory alone. There is anecdotal evidence that a few people can do this; I have yet to meet any. 7. Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses (New York: Vintage Books, 1990), 10. 8. See also D. Michael Stoddart, The Scented Ape: The Biology and Culture of HumanOdour (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 12. 9. For instance, people “born before 1930 in less urbanized and industrialized times . . . mentioned such natural odors as pine, hay, horses, sea air, and meadows as reminiscent of childhood. But those born after 1930 were more apt to mention food and artificial odors such as plastic, scented markers, airplane fuel, Vaporub®, and Play Doh® as reminiscent of their childhood.” Alan R. Hirsch, “Nostalgia, the Odors of Childhood , and Society,” Psychiatric Times 9, no. 8 (1992): 29. 10. Ackerman, Natural Historyof the Senses, 11. 11. On long-term memory and olfaction, particularly in comparison to vision, see Donald A. Wilson and Richard J. Stevenson, Learning toSmell:Olfactory Perceptionfrom Neurobiology to Behavior (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), 196. 12. Trygg Engen, The Perceptionof Odors (New York: Academic Press, 1982). 13. This fact is not to be confused with synesthesia, “a sensory blending, where stimulation of a single sense arouses a mélange of sensory images. Stimulation evokes not just those sensations that are normally considered proper to that modality, but also evokes sensations or images that are normally considered proper to other modalities.” Lawrence Marks, The Unityof the Senses: InterrelationsAmong the Modalities (New York: Academic Press, 1978), 83. 14. For an interesting explanation of instances that contradict this assertion, including pungent cheeses and strong fish, see William Ian Miller, TheAnatomyof Disgust (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997). 15. Ibid., 67. 16. Dan Sperber, Rethinking Symbolism, trans. Alice Morton (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), 115–16. 17. Ackerman, Natural Historyof the Senses, 6. 18. Martha McClintock, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, is one of the names most commonly associated with pheromone research. 19. In 2004, Linda Buck, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Richard Axel, of Columbia University, won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their work on odorant receptors and how the olfactory system is organized. Their work together began when Buck won a...