Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

3.2 Time as 
ratso va-shov
.
Time, together with all created being, is integrated in the rhythm of the constant 
ascent and descent of the divine life force in 
ratso va-shov
.
107
The notion of creation 
as an act of continuous annihilation and revival of the world informs Rashaz’s 
concept of time. The philosophers who influenced him defined time as a derivative 
of motion or duration. Rashaz transposes the physical concept of motion to the 
metaphysical concept the divine influx, and even though he does not produce a 
rigorous definition of time in these terms, he clearly conceptualises time as deriving 
from the 
ratso va-shov 
of the divine influx, and as a measure of the intervals that 
punctuate the cycles of the worlds’ annihilation and revival.
108
Rashaz provides alternative explanations of the genesis of 
ratso va-shov
, 
which gives rise to time. In some of his teachings, 
ratso va-shov 
appears to be an 
effect of certain permutations of divine names, following the concept that the twelve 
hours of the day correspond to the twelve permutations of the Tetragrammaton, 
whereas the twelve hours of night correspond to the twelve permutations of the name 
Adonai
.
109
Each and every permutation draws down a particular variety of the divine 
life force. Thus, when one permutation is substituted with another, the life force 
related to the former permutation departs, and the life force of the latter descends to 
the world, creating the passage of time. To illustrate this process, Rashaz presents the 
106
See 
Seder tefilot
, 303b. 
107
The relation between 
ratso va-shov 
and time in Rashaz has been noted by Foxbrunner. See his 
Habad
, 71, and 249 n. 71 for the list of sources.
108
See for example LT 
Hukat
65a. 
109
See for example T1, 41:58b, T4, 6:110a; LT 
Rosh ha-shanah
, 61a; MAHZ
 5567
, 347; 
‘Inyanim
, 
127; 
Ketsarim
, 329. 

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56 
invented etymology of the Hebrew word for hour [
sha‘ah
] as semantically connected 
to the homonymous verb that means “to turn toward something,” for in the passage 
time “the divine life force turns downwards from up above, by way of 
ratso va-
shov
.”
110
Elsewhere in his teachings, Rashaz refers, on the one hand to the pre-
temporal order of the emanation of the 
sefirot
, and on the other hand, to the 
dynamics of their emergence, as the source of the 
ratso va-shov 
of time. The former 
corresponds to the idea of the order of time as described above: the sequence of the 
emanation of the 
sefirot 
precedes time and serves as its paradigm, while the latter 
points to the opposing forces of 
Hesed 
and 
Gevurah
that emerge in the process of the 
emanation. The dialectical relation of unity and opposition between the emerging 
sefirot
constitutes a form of 
ratso va-shov
and, becomes the ground from which time 
will emerge: 
For they [the 
sefirot
] are in the nature of 
ratso va-shov
, which is the order of 
time, from which branches out the cause of time as the duration that effects 
from [the motion of] 
ratso va-shov
, which is comparable to a heartbeat. Since 
the motion of 
ratso va-shov
comprises both an affirmation and a negation of 
this affirmation, it causes there to be a passage of brief duration
111
of the