Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Madai
] 
from the word 
madim
[Sm 1, 17:38] meaning apparel, which he takes to be an 
allusion to the external lights surrounding the soul; just as garments envelop the 
body, so the commandments envelop the soul and are therefore referred to as its 
garments.
52 
The Greek exile features in Rashaz's teachings even less frequently than the 
exiles of Persia and Media. He mentions it occasionally as the 
Hokhmah 
(Wisdom) 
of the world of husks, due to the association of Greece with “external wisdom,” 
namely philosophy. The Greek wisdom of the husks stands against the wisdom of 
God, for according to Rashaz, the Greek philosophers at the time of the Hasmoneans 
negated prophecy. The fact that there was very little oil in the Temple after the 
Maccabeans had it cleared of the hellenizers symbolizes the Greeks’ attempt to 
uproot the Torah,
53
as oil stands for the Torah.
54
This is slightly modified in another 
ma’amar
, where the Greeks’ opposition to the Torah locates them in the “middle 
line” [
ha-kav ha-emtsa’i
] of 
da’at
, 
tif’eret 
and 
yesod 
within the hierarchy of the evil 
sefirot
, in juxtaposition to the Torah, which forms the middle line within the 
Godhead’s scheme of emanation.
55 
Lastly, the exile of Edom, traditionally associated with the conquest of the 
Land of Israel by the Romans, or with the current Diaspora, which began with the 
destruction of the Second Temple by Titus’ army, is similarly reinterpreted in 
spiritual terms. It no longer signifies political subjugation by a foreign nation or an 
idolatrous religious cult but rather an aberrant mode of divine service. In 
Tanya
, 
Rashaz describes the exile of the 
Shekhinah
to Edom
 
as the fall of the divine 
presence into the grasp of external (evil) forces [
hitsonim
]:
As our rabbis, of blessed memory, state: “When they [the Israelites] were 
exiled into Edom, the 
Shekhinah 
went with them.”
56
That is to say, when a 
52
See TO 118b; MAHZ 
5568
, i, 96; T1, 4:8a – 5:10a. 
53
The hellenizers did not want to spill the blood of Israel, but to make them forget God's Torah [
lo 
bikeshu lishloah yadam ela lehashkiham et Toratekha
], as it is phrased in the prayer 
‘Al ha-nisim.
54
TO 41a. See also TO 30a, 34a, 41a; MAHZ 5568, ii, 655.
55
MAHZ 
Ethalekh
, 64. 
56
b
Megilah 29a. 

---

80 
person practices the acts of “Edom” [
‘oseh ma’aseh Edom
], he degrades and 
brings down thither the Divine spark, which vitalizes his 
nefesh
, 
ruah
and 
neshamah
.
57 
Rashaz identifies the exile in Edom with sin [
ma’aseh Edom
], and points out that 
every sinful act draws down the divine presence to the external forces [
hitsonim
], 
supplying them with the vitality that increases their strength. The term “external 
forces” is only one of several other names for the demonic side, but in this context, 
Rashaz uses it to emphasize a particular method by which sin reinforces the powers 
of evil: it raises an “iron barrier” [
mehitsah shel barzel
] between the sinner and 
God.
58
Underlying this claim is yet another word play, this time on the words 
mehitsah 
– the barrier that separates the individual from God, and