Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

hitsoniyut
– 
externality, with which one is connected when separated from God, both of which 
Rashaz derives from the same root, while taking the metal ‘iron’ again to be an 
allusion to Edom.
59
Thus the iron barrier is created specifically by the “deed of 
Edom” and leads to the exile of Edom. The sins associated with Edom are defined as 
the essence of this exile, not as a theological rationalisation of the historical 
encounter with Edom but rather simply as a signification of the spiritual state called 
exile. 
To recap, references to various historical exiles of the Jewish people do 
appear throughout Rashaz's teachings, yet they rarely provide any information that 
could distinguish them from one another. Despite occasional references to specific 
historical circumstances or personalities, Rashaz subordinates the historical 
perspective to the metaphysical one, thereby making it almost impossible to 
distinguish any historical exile from the continuous state of the Jews’ spiritual exile 
within the created world. Rashaz tends to recall particular exiles only insofar as their 
names may allude to some aspect or another of the condition of spiritual exile (sin, 
engrossment in mundane affairs, etc.). This dual understanding of exile, on the one 
57
T1, 17:23a [Appendix 9]. 
58
See T1, 17:23a. See also T1, 26:32b, T4, 18:126b. Moreover, in TO 83a, the iron barrier that 
separates Israel from “their father in heaven” rises after the destruction of the Temple, and thus it is 
explicitly linked to the exile. 
59
See 
Midrash Tanhuma
, Terumah 7. 

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81 
hand as a succession of historical events that took place at particular times in the 
past, and on the other hand as a condition of existence that has lasted since the 
beginning of time itself, will have important implications for Rashaz’s idea of the 
redemption. It allows him to develop a range of interconnected redemptive notions: 
collective redemption from a particular exile in history, cosmic redemption at the 
end of days, and personal redemption in the here and now. 
2.3 Egypt – the paradigm of exile. 
The exile in Egypt occupies a special place in Rashaz's teachings. It encapsulates the 
historical, the communal and the personal perspectives by being the first exile in the 
history of the Jewish people, which is celebrated and re-enacted every year at 
Passover throughout the Jewish world, with every individual commanded to see 
him/herself every day as one of the Israelites who were led by God out of Egypt.
60
The story of this exile is therefore important primarily as a rich narrative of 
redemption, with the hasty flight from Egypt on the night of Exodus, the splitting of 
the Red Sea, the giving of the Torah at Sinai, and the conquest of the Land of Israel 
as its main landmarks. Rashaz consciously exploits these themes, which are 
intertwined in his concept of exile as a metaphysical rather than a political condition. 
As a result, the Egyptian exile not only reflects the exile of the 
Shekhinah
in the 
process of creation but at the same time forms the paradigm of the future 
redemption.
61
When Rashaz describes the Egyptian exile (as he does when dealing with all 
the other exiles), he often focuses on the Hebrew name for Egypt as a key to 
understanding its essential features: 
60
“In every generation a person in obliged to look at himself as though he departed from Egypt” 
[
b
Pesahim 116b. Appendix 10]. 
61
As Rashaz states explicitly: “Every exile is in the nature of the Egyptian exile”(TO 51a [Appendix 
11]). 

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82 
Now, the Sages said: “When they were exiled to Egypt, the