Beitzah 22b: Rabban Gamliel’s family used to burn incense in their homes on Yom Tov, but the Sages prohibited it. This was said regarding giving a good scent to the home, but smoking one’s clothing with incense to make it smell good is forbidden on Yom Tov according to both opinions.

ביצה כב ע”ב: מניחין את המוגמר ביום טוב…וחכמים אוסרין… אמר רב אסי: מחלוקת להריח, אבל לגמר ־ אסור.

Rabbi Nissan Shalomayev, Rav of the Bucharian community in Hillcrest was asked whether it is allowed to use the plant called esfand to ward off the evil eye, as practiced in some Bucharian Jewish households. To use esfand, the seeds are heated in a pan until they begin to produce smoke. One then circles this smoke around the head of a person while reciting an ancient mantra. After this, the smoke is taken throughout the different parts of the house to allegedly fight off the evil eye.

Rabbi Shalomayev researched the matter and found that this ritual is derived from the Zoroastrian pagan religion. Today, many Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries like India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran use this plant, particularly for removing the evil eye from children, newborns, mothers, and those returning from funerals. In many of these countries, one can find an espandi (one performing the esfand ritual) selling his services on the streets.

Even if the people burning the esfand are just doing it for the good smell, it is forbidden as the Shulchan Aruch says, “There are some who forbid burning a good-smelling spice in the house, unless it is done to counteract a bad odor.” (Yoreh Deah 179:18) The Shach explains that the reason is because it appears as if he is burning the incense to a demon.

Source: https://bukharianjewishlink.com/index.php/rabbi-s-thoughts/5436-using-ispandud-esfand-plant-to-remove-the-evil-eye

[The question is that we indeed find in our Gemara that it was common practice to burn spices (mugmar) in the house for their fragrant smell. The Minchas Yitzchok (4:86) answers that when people are home, it is permitted because everyone sees that he is perfuming the house for the people, not for a demon. The Shulchan Aruch only means to forbid it at a time when no one is home.

Does this mean that burning esfand is allowed when people are home? No. It may be that esfand is different from mugmar, because it is known in those countries to be used to repel evil eye or demons. Mugmar refers to other spices like levonah that were never used in any idolatrous ritual.]

Beitzah 16a: All of a person’s food is allotted to him between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, except for Shabbos and Yom Tov expenses, and tuition for his children to learn Torah. In those matters, if he spends less, they will give him less, and if he spends more, they will give him more.  

ביצה טז ע”א: כל מזונותיו של אדם קצובים לו מראש השנה ועד יום הכפורים, חוץ מהוצאת שבתות והוצאת יום טוב, והוצאת בניו לתלמוד תורה. שאם פחת ־ פוחתין לו, ואם הוסיף ־ מוסיפין לו.

משנה ברורה תי”ט סק”א: וכתבו הפוסקים בשם מדרש פסיקתא כל מזונותיו של אדם קצובין לו מר״ה עד ר״ה חוץ ממה שמוציא בשבתות ויו״ט ור״ח וחוה״מ ומה שהתינוקות מוליכין לבית רבן אם מוסיף מוסיפין לו ואם פוחת פוחתין לו וכתב הב״י דמה שאמר מה שהתינוקות מוליכין וכו׳ קאי על שכר לימוד והב״ח פירש דקאי על ר״ח והכונה על מה שאנו נוהגין לשלוח ע״י התינוקות מעות של ר״ח לרבן ואין לבטל המנהג ע״כ:

שער הציון סק”ב: ובמ״א משמע שהיה לו הגירסא בטור מה שהתינוקות מוליכין לבית רבן בר״ח ובאמת לא מצאתי גירסא זו בשום מקום עיין מקור הדברים באו״ז וברוקח ובפסיקתא דרב כהנא בפרשה ולקחתם לכם ומצאתי במבאר לפסיקתא שתמה ג״כ עליו:

פסיקתא דרב כהנא כח,א: תני מראש השנה נקצצין מזונותיו של אדם חוץ ממה שהוא מוציא בימים טובים ובשבתות ובראשי חדשים ובחולו של מועד ומה שהתינוקות מוליכין לבית רבן, אם פחת פוחתין לו ואם הוסיף מוסיפין לו.

Someone once asked Rav Chaim Kanievsky if there is anything wrong with quoting Rabbi Shlomo Buber, since he was “a controversial figure.” Rav Chaim replied immediately that the Chofetz Chaim quotes Buber, so he is clearly acceptable. The questioner went and searched through all the writings of the Chofetz Chaim, but could not find it, so he gave up and came back to Rav Chaim, who replied on the spot, “It’s an explicit Shaar Hatziyun in 419:2.”

There the Mishnah Berurah brings down the Tur who says that not only does one get reimbursed for Shabbos and Yom Tov expenses, as our Gemara says, but also Rosh Chodesh as the Pesikta says:

“It is taught: From Rosh Hashanah a person’s food is allocated, except for what he spends on Yom Tov and Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh and Chol Hamoed and what the children carry to their rebbe’s house. In these matters, if he spends less, they will give him less, and if he spends more, they will give him more.”  (Pesikta Derav Kahana 28:1)

The Magen Avraham, however, quotes the Tur as saying that the term “Rosh Chodesh” should be at the end of the sentence and refers to a tip or tuition payment that children used to bring to their rebbe every Rosh Chodesh. According to this, there remains no source to say that a person will be reimbursed for money spent on a Rosh Chodesh meal.

The Shaar Hatziyun says, however, that he didn’t find this text in the Tur and in fact, all earlier Rishonim who quote the Pesikta, as well as our Pesikta itself, have the words Rosh Chodesh earlier in the sentence. He also mentions that “the commentator on the Pesikta” (meaning Rabbi Shlomo Buber, who published the Pesikta in 1868 with explanatory footnotes) makes this point as well.

Source: FJJ, March 24, 2022 p. 12

[What is hard to understand here is why anyone would have thought that Rabbi Shlomo Buber was controversial. He was a religious Jew who dedicated himself to researching and publishing all the Midrashim, determining the meaning of obscure words, the correct version of the texts, as well as when and where they were compiled. Perhaps it was because he referred to himself as a maskil and had friends who were maskilim.]