In
the ceremony of Havdalah, it is customary for a box of aromatic spices to
be handed round accompanied with an appropriate blessing. Although the original
reason for the presence of spices at the close of Shabbat may be as prosaic
as the fact that food could now be prepared, the spices became a subject
for mystic speculation.
Resh Lakish, the 3rd-century Palestinian amora said as follows '"On
the eve of the Sabbath, God gives man an additional (or enlarged) soul,
and at the close of the Sabbath He withdraws it from him, for it says; 'He
ceased from work and rested', i.e., Vayinafash: once it (the Sabbath)
ceased, the additional soul is lost." [1] In this passage there is
a play on the word Vayinafash (ceased/rested from work); the prefex
"va/vey" attached the word nefesh (which also means
soul) creates a new concept: "woe is to the soul at the end of the
Sabbath."
The
notion of neshamah yeterah was richly expanded in kabbalistic literature,
particularly in the Zohar. The use of spices at the Havdalah service is
explained as the way to strengthen the soul that becomes faint with the
departure of the neshamah yeterah at the end of the Sabbath. [2]
A myrtle was preferred by the mystics for it alluded in allusion to the
words of the prophet Isaiah: "Instead of the brier shall come up the
myrtle." [3] In general, all varieties of fragrant spices and plants
were deemed suitable for the benediction of the spices, except for those
used as disguise for foul odors,or for idolatrous worship; some authorities
prohibited the use of sharp, acrid spices, such as pepper.