Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

kol ish Yisra’el
], subsequent Habad 
commentators have suggested that
 
in this chapter of Tanya it should be emended to “nations of the 

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130 
commandments, remaining the only group that was still susceptible to sin. Moreover, 
one of Israel’s tasks during the exile has been to clarify the 
halakhah 
in order to 
purge the divine sparks of the husk of 
nogah
.
59
But in the days of the Messiah, the 
sparks will be elevated and halakhic studies for the sake of purifying the sparks will 
become obsolete. This in turn will leave Israel free to delve only into the internal, 
mystical layers of the law.
60
By contrast, the mixed multitude, composed of the 
gentile nations who are ontologically linked to the husks, will remain bound by the 
revealed aspects of the Torah even in the days of the Messiah, and they will need to 
study and clarify the 
halakhah 
for themselves in order to stay on the right path and 
avoid repeating the sin of idolatry – the hallmark of the 
‘erev rav
ever since the 
Biblical Exodus. 
The distinction presented above between the function of the Jews and the 
non-Jews is based on a distinction, mentioned earlier in the same text, between 
worship for the sake of purification of sparks and worship for the sake of delving 
into the innermost aspects of the Torah.
61
Once Israel have completed the task of 
purifying the sparks by means of their divine service, when they have freed 
themselves from the need to be occupied with 
halakhah
, it becomes the nations’ task 
to carry on with this activity. The same idea undergoes an interesting twist in one of 
Rashaz’s 
ma’amarim
, where the gentiles are said to be destined to be elevated in the 
messianic future while still remaining unequal to Israel inasmuch as they will 
perform only the commandments that are obligatory on women – an idea that stems 
from the theosophic notion whereby worship during the exile purifies the feminine 
world” [
umot ha-‘olam
]. See 
Likutei hagahot le-Sefer ha-Tanya
; Wineberg, Lessons in Tanya, v, 144. 
For a different interpretation see Ornet, 
Ratso va-shov
, 277, where she interprets 
‘erev rav
as referring 
to ignoramuses [
‘amei ha-arets
], who need to carry on their inner struggle with evil in the messianic 
era, as opposed to scholars, who by then will have subjugated evil and have become free to study the 
secrets of the Torah. However, she does not provide any source to support her understanding of 
‘erev 
rav 
as ignoramuses. 
59
See T4, 26:144b. On the redemptive aspect of studying 
halakhah
in exile, see chapter 2, section 3.4. 
60
This also conforms to Maimonides’ notion that in the messianic days all Jews will reach the 
intellectual level of the Sages and will know “hidden matters” [
devarim ha-seturim
], for “the earth 
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord” [Is 11:9]. See Maimonides, 
Mishneh Torah
, Hilekhot 
melakhim, 12:5. 
61
See note 17 above. 

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131 
aspect of the divinity (
Nukba
).
62
Here, too, the gentiles are allowed to merit the life 
of Torah and 
mitsvot
, but their inferior status in relation to the Jews is not that of the 
ger
versus Israelite but rather the status of the female versus that of the male.
63
The texts discussed above provide a somewhat inclusive perspective on the 
messianic future, as they incorporate the gentiles in the community of Torah 
students, even though it grants them only an inferior position within it.
64
There are, 
however, many references throughout Rashaz’s corpus of teachings to some mode of 
gentile participation in the resurrection. These references follow the path of the 
rectification and sublimation of material reality in the future-to-come. For example, 
while acknowledging that the Israelites had already merited the dew of the 
resurrection on Sinai,
65
Rashaz goes on to say as follows: 
62
See LT 
Shelah 
43a. The female aspect of the Godhead and its role in the redemptive process will be 
discussed in chapter 5. 
63
Also the passivity of the gentiles in the process of redemption testifies to the fact that Rashaz 
constructs the gentiles as being feminine. On Rashaz’s association of passivity with femininity, see 
chapter 5 below. 
64
Rashaz does not state this explicitly, but the idea concurs with his view whereby the gentile nations 
will acquire the status of