Milsa D'Bedichusa
Milsa D'Bedichusa is a term used by our Sages to describe a statement that brings joy and expands the mind. It belongs to kelipat nogah (neutral shell) which rises to holiness when used for divine service.
Definition of the Concept[edit | edit source]
Unlike the Hebrew word "joke" which sometimes refers to simple mockery, "milsa d'bedichusa" refers to things that bring joy, not to frivolity or levity which come from kelipah (impure shell). Moreover, this frivolity is the essential kelipah which is the root of all kelipot [impure shells]. For example, we find written in the Zohar: "King David was the king's source of joy," and the Maggid of Mezritch explains, "He would bring him joy with milsa d'bedichusa through songs, praises and psalms, with which he would sing away the kelipot. With this he removed the angry and wrathful face from the King. And when the accusers saw that the King was appeased with goodwill and joy, their words were silenced and they fled, and the good advocates prevailed, and justice came to light."
Milsa d'bedichusa is like "casual conversation of Torah scholars," matters related to wisdom but said in a humorous way. Therefore, this concept applies specifically to Torah scholars for whom milsa d'bedichusa is in the category of "byproducts of Torah," but for others it is actual foolishness. For although the wisdom in one's conversation is minimal—like milsa d'bedichusa which is called a "clever saying"—very much in a state of smallness, it is precisely in this that the depth of one's essential wisdom is expressed, which cannot be revealed in the vessel of his intellect through words of wisdom. The higher one's essential wisdom, the more wisdom will be found in the byproducts of his conversation, and one who is not so elevated, the wisdom in his conversation is not as recognizable in the byproducts. The loftiness of the essence is more apparent than in the actual wisdom itself, for the reason mentioned above regarding the enclothment of deep intellect that cannot be expressed in speech except specifically through parables and riddles.
Benefit in Divine Service[edit | edit source]
When the Alter Rebbe lists in Tanya the physical actions that rise to holiness when done for the sake of divine service, he gives as an example a person who says milsa d'bedichusa for divine service to open his heart, like Rava who would do this before studying and would then study with fear.
The Baal Shem Tov explains that the benefit of milsa d'bedichusa is that when a person has mochin d'katnut (constricted consciousness), he cannot serve Hashem. By saying milsa d'bedichusa, even in worldly matters, one enters a state of expansion and liberation from the constraints of the soul, and thus can serve Hashem in a state of expansiveness.
In one place, the Mitteler Rebbe explains that not only is milsa d'bedichusa a good thing in holiness, but there is an even higher level of "the king's jesters" which is essential delight within the King Himself, and is the root of all holiness. This is a level even higher than "love with delights," and stands in contrast to mockery in impurity, which is the root of all kelipot and all sins.
In the Future Era[edit | edit source]
Milsa d'bedichusa means laughter and pleasure that comes through a certain innovation, and therefore it serves in Chassidus as an analogy for the delights that will be revealed in the Future Era from all the divine service of the righteous during the days of exile.