Recap and opening — from what material do we build a house for G-d?
Welcome to the eighteenth lesson on the maamar Basi LeGani 5711. Today we open chapter 6.
Recall where we stood. In chapter 5 we reached the heart of the maamar: the purpose of creation is a 'dwelling in the lower realms' — that the Essence itself should rest specifically here below. And we saw that the way to build this dwelling is the avodah of transforming darkness into light — 'iskafya' and 'is'hapcha' — and, more deeply, to transform the 'folly' of the other side into 'folly of holiness.'
Until now this has sounded abstract: 'folly of holiness,' 'avodah above reason.' But at the conclusion of the maamar the Rebbe gives us a tangible, striking sign, hidden specifically in one small detail — in the material from which the Mishkan was built.
And this is the question we will open with: from what material does one build a home for the Holy One? And the answer — 'acacia wood' specifically — holds within it the entire secret of our avodah. Let us understand.
Acacia wood — davka a “tree of folly”
The maamar opens thus: 'since the essence of the Shechina is in the lower realms, the main revelation of this was in the Beis HaMikdash.' That is — we said the main resting of the Shechina is below; and the place where this was revealed most powerfully was the Beis HaMikdash, and before it the Mishkan. There, more than anywhere in the world, G-dliness was openly tangible.
And in the words of the maamar: 'at the conclusion of the maamar he explains, that since the essence of the Shechina is in the lower realms, the main revelation of this was in the Beis HaMikdash — this is the reason the Mishkan was made of acacia wood (atzei shittim) specifically, because the intent is to transform the folly of the other side, and the koch of the animal soul, into folly of holiness, as our Sages said, his folly availed the elder — avodah and bittul that are above reason and knowledge.'
And now comes the precision: 'this is the reason the Mishkan was made of acacia wood specifically.' Pause on the word 'specifically.' Of all the trees in the world — cedar, cypress, pine, olive, precious wood — specifically 'acacia wood' (atzei shittim) was chosen. Why?
And here the Rebbe hears in the word 'shittim' a hint. 'Shittim' and 'shtus' (folly) are from the same root. 'Acacia wood' is not merely a kind of wood — it hints at 'shtus,' folly. The home of the Holy One is built specifically from a 'wood of folly.'
Think how surprising this is. We would expect a palace for a king to be built from the noblest, most refined, most logical material. And here, the very opposite: the Mishkan, the place of the Shechina's resting, is built from the material that hints at the absence of logic, at 'folly.' This small detail is the entire teaching of chapter 6 — and at once we will see why.
The “kafter” of the animal soul — the boil that must be turned
The maamar continues and explains the 'specifically': 'because the intent is to transform the folly of the other side into folly of holiness.' That is — specifically a 'wood of folly' is chosen, because the whole goal of the avodah is to take the 'folly' of the other side and transform it into folly of holiness.
We mentioned both concepts in the previous lesson, and we will sharpen here with the help of one Yiddish word the Rebbe uses: 'koch' — a boiling, a fervor. Think of a person who 'boils' over money, over honor, over desire: he is swept up, burning, loses his head, acts far beyond all logic. This boiling — the 'koch' of the animal soul — is the 'folly of the other side': an immense power of devotion without calculation, directed toward the wrong things.
And here is the novelty of the Mishkan: the goal is not to extinguish the 'koch.' The goal is to transform it. Not to kill the boiling — but to redirect it. That same wood, symbol of wildness, becomes the beam upon which the Beis HaMikdash stands.
Picture a wild river that overflows and destroys. One can try to dam it and stop it — that is 'iskafya.' But one can take that same mighty current and channel it through a turbine until it lights up an entire city — that is 'is'hapcha.' The water did not vanish; the power was not weakened; only the direction flipped. So exactly with the avodah: to take the wild 'koch' and transform it into a fire burning in the service of G-d.
“His folly availed the elder” — when folly serves holiness
Here the maamar brings a saying of our Sages: 'his folly availed the elder' (ahani lei shtutei l'sava) — 'his folly was of avail to the elder.' The phrase is taken from the Gemara (Kesubos 17a), and behind it stands a beautiful story worth knowing.
The Gemara discusses how one gladdens a bride and groom, and tells of the amora Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak, who would dance before the bride with three myrtle branches in his hand, to gladden her. Rabbi Zeira saw this and was put off: 'the elder is shaming us' — the elder, a Torah scholar, 'embarrasses' us with conduct that looks like 'folly,' beneath his dignity.
But when Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak passed away, a pillar of fire was seen separating him from all the people — a sign of an especially lofty level. And then Rabbi Zeira retracted and said: 'his folly availed the elder!' — that very 'folly,' that joy and devotion beyond honor and calculation, for the sake of a mitzvah and of another's joy — is what stood by him, what brought him to the highest level.
And this is exactly the matter in the maamar: when one takes the power of 'folly' — the devotion that is beyond reason — and directs it toward holiness, it 'avails'; it achieves what intellectual, calculated avodah could never achieve. And so the maamar concludes: this is 'avodah and bittul that are above reason and knowledge' — service and self-nullification above reason and knowledge.
And why specifically avodah above logic? Because we are trying to draw down the Etzem — the Holy One as He is in Himself, who is above all revelation and all order. Something above logic cannot be grasped with the tools of logic; only avodah that is itself above reason — devotion without calculation — touches the Etzem. Picture the difference between a calculated gift and a person who leaps into the water without thinking to save his friend: there, beyond all reason, the depth is revealed. This is 'folly of holiness,' and specifically it builds a dwelling for the Holy One.
Summary — and a preview: the Rebbeim who lived this
So let us sum up this part of chapter 6. We asked: from what material does one build a home for the Holy One? And the answer — 'acacia wood,' a 'wood of folly' — taught us the whole avodah: not to extinguish the 'koch' of the animal soul, but to transform that very power, that very devotion without calculation, from 'folly of the other side' into 'folly of holiness' — service and self-nullification above reason and knowledge.
But the Rebbe does not leave this as a beautiful, abstract idea. He continues and says something that brings it all back to life: 'all the matters that my father-in-law the Rebbe demanded of us — and likewise the other Rebbeim — they themselves fulfilled.'
And what is the connection between the demand and its fulfillment by the Rebbeim? The Rebbe bases it on a teaching of our Sages on the verse 'He tells His words to Yaakov, His statutes and judgments to Israel': what the Holy One Himself, as it were, does — He tells Israel to do and to keep. The Holy One does not command a thing He Himself does not fulfill. And so too with the leaders of Chassidus: everything they demanded of those bound to them — they themselves first fulfilled and did.
And why did they reveal to us that they themselves fulfilled it? The maamar says: 'in order that it be easier for us to fulfill them.' When one knows the path has already been paved, that the head of the generation himself has already walked it — the demand no longer sounds distant or impossible. It becomes something achievable, because it has already been done before us.
That is: everything the Rebbe Rayatz demands of us — that same devotion beyond logic, that same love of a fellow Jew without calculation — the Rebbeim did not merely teach. They lived it, in their very bodies, in deed.
And in the next lesson we will see this in actuality — a series of stories, from the Alter Rebbe to the Rebbe Rayatz, each of which is 'folly of holiness' in actual practice. Thank you for learning with us, and we will meet in the next lesson.