In Tractate Middos, the Misnah discusses a chamber in the southwestern corner of the courtyard of the Beis Hamikdash. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said, “I forgot what it was used for.” Abba Shaul said, “wine and oil were stored there, and it was called the “chamber of oil.”
The Rebbe’s father explains that this chamber was identified with the divine attribute which is susceptible to forgetfulness, but Abba Shaul was able to restore memory to that chamber due to his connection to the divine attribute associated with endurance and memory. This is alluded to in the chamber’s role. It housed wine, which is associated with forgetfulness, but it also stored oil, which restores memory.
Thus we see a consistency in Abba Shaul’s stance on spiritual surrender. Oil from Regev, even though it was a land whose sanctity was “human made,” could be used in the Beis Hamikdash, meaning, self-transcendence is possible in Regev as well. So, too, even in the chamber of wine of forgetfulness and human limitation, it is possible to house the oil of enduring self-transcendence.
