One idea that holds it all together
Welcome to the summary lesson on the maamar Basi LeGani 5711. In the opening lesson we laid out the map; here, at the end, we will look back over the whole journey in one glance — short and clear.
The entire long maamar, with all its chapters, rests on one sentence: 'the Holy One desired to have a dwelling in the lower realms.' He 'desired' — a pull from His very essence — to have a dwelling, a home, specifically here below, in the physical, dark world. Not a palace to visit, but a home to live in with His whole being.
The whole maamar in one breath
Let us recall the journey. We opened with 'Shechina' — the Divine Presence — and saw that it belongs specifically 'below.' Then came the drama of history: the sin of the Tree of Knowledge 'removed' the Shechina from the earth, and seven tzaddikim — from Avraham to Moshe — drew it back down, until Moshe, the seventh, brought it to the earth in actuality, in the Beis HaMikdash.
Then we asked the great question: why specifically below? And the answer was uncovered step by step. True creation — 'yesh me'ayin' — comes only from the 'Etzem'; the upper worlds are only 'revelation,' while specifically this world, which feels 'I exist of myself,' is an echo of the Etzem, which alone 'exists of its own self.'
And therefore the Etzem is hidden specifically here — and specifically here it can be revealed. How? Through the avodah of transforming darkness into light: 'iskafya' and 'is'hapcha,' to take the 'koch,' the fervor of the animal soul, and transform it into 'folly of holiness' — devotion above reason. And so the 'dwelling' is built: no longer mere revelation, but the Essence itself residing below, 'loftier even than before the sin.'
The two sets of seven — what our generation, seventh to the Alter Rebbe, brings
And here let us pause on a beautiful question you may have had. The maamar says we are the 'seventh generation' — but seventh to the Alter Rebbe, not to Avraham. We knew the task of the seven generations from Avraham: to draw the Shechina down to the earth. But what is the task of the seven generations from the Alter Rebbe? What do they bring?
And the distinction is the depth of the whole maamar. The seven tzaddikim from Avraham to Moshe drew down 'Shechina' — a divine revelation into the world, climaxing at the Giving of the Torah and the Mikdash. But a revelation, by its nature, can be withdrawn — and indeed the Shechina departed at the sin, the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, and we went into exile. It was a great inspiration, but not a permanent one.
The seven generations from the Alter Rebbe — the generations of Chassidus — come to complete what was lacking: not to draw down 'Shechina' (a light that can leave), but 'ikar Shechina' — the 'Etzem' itself — and to fix it here in a 'dwelling' that will never depart, 'loftier even than before the sin.' The Alter Rebbe, first of his seven, parallels Avraham the first: just as Avraham was the first to proclaim G-dliness in the world, so the Alter Rebbe revealed the teaching of Chassidus — the inner Torah — the tool by which one touches the Essence. And our generation, the seventh, parallels Moshe the seventh: to complete the drawing-down in actuality, in the true and complete redemption.
In one word: the first seven brought the King to visit; our seven turn the world into His very home. The first drew down light; we draw down the Master of the house Himself, permanently.
And therefore — it depends on us
And from here the demand, the point toward which the whole maamar strove. The avodah of thousands of years has already been done: the concealments, the sin and its repair, and the passing of tzaddikim. Only one thing remains — us. In the words of the maamar: 'now it depends on nothing but us, the seventh generation.'
And this does not require us to be Avraham or Moshe. What is asked is 'aps katzehu' — a small edge, of which everyone is capable, and for which we have already been given the powers. The practical thing: to take the least luminous point in me — the 'koch,' the wild power within me — and transform specifically it into holiness. Specifically from there the dwelling is built.
And this brings us back to the opening: we asked 'why specifically below,' and answered — because specifically below, specifically out of the darkness that is turned into light, the Essence rests. May each of us be a brick in this dwelling — and may we merit to see the Rebbe here below, in a body, and he will redeem us. Thank you for learning the entire maamar with us.