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Shabbat 62
In today’s daf we have a few mentions of perfume, specifically the “balsama” as Rashi calls it, or the Apharsemon Oil. We learn that one of the things that a woman cannot carry on Shabbat is a צלוחית של פלייטון, a small perfume vial. Later on, we have a statement by Rabbi Ami that the women of Jerusalem would go out with אפרסמון in their shoes and when they would meet boys in the market, they would step on the apharsemon and release a scent so strong that it would make the evil inclination enter them “like a poisonous snake.”

Powerful stuff! What was it? The Gemara and other sources of the time are familiar with the apharsemon plant (not the persimmon of today) that was grown in the Ein Gedi region and was used to make perfume. It was a valuable item that made those who grew it rich. Apharsemon is usually translated as “balsam” and some say that is the origin of the Hebrew word “bosem,” perfume.

Apharsemon was valuable but the perfume was difficult to make and its production was a closely guarded trade secret. So closely guarded that written into the inscription of the synagogue mosaic from Ein Gedi, a center of apharsemon production, is a curse on those who give away the “secret of the town,” i.e., how to make apharsemon perfume.

Professor Zohar Amar identifies the apharsemon as Commiphora gileadensis and has succeeded in planting it in Ein Gedi. The next challenge is to figure out “the secret of the town” and make some Eau de Balsam from it.

Professor Zohar Amar and the renewed apharsemon plants in Ein Gedi

And what about the container for the perfume, a decoration that a woman cannot carry outside on Shabbat? A recent excavation of the Second Temple period town of Migdal on the shores of the Kinneret may shed some light on that. The archaeologists found a small perfume vial with a greasy substance inside. Ancient apharsemon? Only the lab results will reveal the truth!

Perfume vial from 1st century CE discovered at the Jewish town of Migdal on the Kinneret

For further reading:
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A1%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%9F_(%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%9D)

http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/science/1.1219605

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