פירוש על שמות 30:37

במתכנתה means, according to the quantity of spices used by Moses.

והקטרת אשר תעשה, "And the incense which you are to make, etc." According to Keritut 6 the words: "you shall make," mean that Moses was to separate an amount needed for the daily incense offerings from the total on the day it would be used. This means that if an individual would compound an amount of incense of even half the daily portion offered on the altar, [the daily portion was divided into a half to be offered in the morning and the other half to be offered close to evening. Ed.] such an individual would be guilty of the most severe karet penalty; he would be cut off from his people (for all times).

'ושחקת ממנה וגו, the reason some had to be rubbed into fine particles was that on Yom Kippur the incense was to be of fine particles as we know from Leviticus 16,12 קטורת סמים דקה.

You shall do it only for My Name. I.e., it does not mean literally [to make incense] for Adonoy, for it is written (Tehillim 50:12): “If I was hungry I would not tell you [to feed Me], for Mine is the world and its fullness.” Similarly with (25:2), “Have them take for Me a terumah-offering”; [it does not mean literally for Hashem]. Gur Aryeh writes that Rashi explains this here, rather than on: “This shall be sacred anointing oil to Me” (v. 31), because here the verses contradict each other. It is written: “It shall be holy of holies to you” (v. 36), and: “It shall be sacred to you” (v. 37). Yet it is written also: “For Adonoy” (v. 37). Therefore Rashi explained: “‘It shall be holy for you’. . . meaning: You shall do it only for My Name.”

‘קדש תהיה לך לה IT SHALL BE UNTO THEE HOLINESS FOR THE LORD — This means that you must not make it except in honour of My Name.

לא תעשו, "you must not make it, etc." This means that even if the person making it had no intention of smelling the incense he had made he would still be guilty of a penalty though not the same penalty as if he had smelled the fragrance of the incense he had compounded. We derive this conclusion from the fact that the Karet penalty is mentioned in our portion only in verse 38 where the Torah speaks of someone smelling the incense.