Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

‘avodah she-ba-lev
] depends on the intention [
kavanah
] that is in one’s thought, and of Torah study 
it is said that: “Thou shall meditate therein [Josh 1:8].” Rashaz may well be reading the word 
“meditate” [
hagita
] as meaning “articulate”, “utter” or “speak out,” as an evocation of the halakhic 
rule that in Torah study, “thought is not the same as speech” [
b
Shabat 150a], which is why Torah 
must be recited aloud in fulfilment of the commandment of Torah study. Finally, charity is associated 
with deed’ [
ma’aseh
], following the biblical verse that refers to “the work of righteousness” [
ma’aseh 
tsedakah, 
Is 32:17], which may be alternatively translated as “a deed of charity.” See LT 
Aharei 
26a. 

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106 
The transformation that occurs in each individual by virtue of fulfilling all 
613 commandments is part and parcel of the larger process that enables God to 
occupy “a dwelling place in the lower worlds”, for the accumulation of many such 
individual transformations gives rise to a cosmic transformation: 
The whole community of Israel, comprising 600.000 particular souls, is the 
[source of] life for the world as a whole, which was created for their sake.
144
And each one of them contains and is related to the vitality of one part in 
600.000 of the totality of the world, which [part] depends on his vital soul for 
its elevation to God through its own [the soul’s] elevation, namely, by virtue 
of the individual’s partaking of this world for the needs of his body and vital 
soul in the service of God, viz., [by] eating, drinking, and the like, [by his] 
dwelling and all his utensils.
145
Rashaz takes Rashi’s view, whereby the opening verse of Genesis is a statement to 
the effect that the world was created for the sake of Israel, to suggest that the world 
was created in order to enable Israel to worship God. Every material object in man’s 
worldly environment is capable of being utilized for the purpose of divine service, 
and thus of being elevated to the divine – whether by serving as a ritual object or 
simply as a means of maintaining the individual in a state of physical well-being, 
which renders him fit for divine service. The commandments, which draw down the 
divine light into the material world, transport it from the domain of the husks into 
God’s domain. Thus, by subjecting mundane objects to the rules of 
halakhah
, the 
Jew enables the divinity to pervade the “four cubits” of his mundane environment. 
This is particularly conspicuous with regard to ritual objects such as the 
mezuzah
or 
the Torah scroll, which are but pieces of leather until they are incorporated in the 
ritual framework and acquire religious significance. Similarly, money donated for 
charity, or items of food blessed appropriately, conform to the divine will as 
expressed in the commandments and are therefore absorbed into the light of 
Ein 
Sof
.
146
Food has an additional significance, because it is converted into new blood 
144
See Rashi to Gn 1:1. 
145
T1, 37:48a [Appendix 25]. 
146
See T1, 37:46b-47a. See also LT 
Be-har 
42b: “Now, the purpose of and the reason for all the 
commandments is to turn being [
yesh
] into naught [
ayin
], so that the nullification of being [
bitul ha-

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107 
and can thus provide the body with energy. Blood, as related to the animal soul, is a 
quintessential derivative of the impure, evil 
kelipah
; yet when the energy it generates 
is used for Torah study and prayer, it is transformed into good and integrated in the 
domain of holiness.
147
Each and every soul of Israel becomes responsible for 
elevating its own small share of the world by utilizing it in serving the divine. The 
transformation of the whole world into God’s dwelling place is an outcome of the