Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Ba-midbar 
18a, 
Be-ha’alotekha
, 33d. 

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161 
righteous [
tsadikim
] “have no rest in the world-to-come, as Scripture says: 'They go 
from strength to strength' [Ps 84:7].”
187
However, these ascensions, and the delights 
related to them, refer most likely to life after death rather than to the messianically 
redeemed world at the end of days. 
The River of Fire, therefore, can be seen as a transitory stage, either between 
the Lower and the Upper Gardens of Eden, or between countless other levels of the 
Garden. The image of the River of Fire is not uncommon in the Jewish sources; it 
originates in the vision of Daniel [Dn 7:10] and was reinterpreted time and again in 
the mystical tradition. It is said to issue from the perspiration of the four living 
creatures [
hayot
] of the vision of Ezekiel [Ez 1:5-14],
188
and it surrounds the Throne 
of Glory, regulating access to the Divine Presence; it invests the Throne of Glory 
with extra splendour, and has both a punitive and a restorative function: it pours fire 
over the heads of the wicked, and yet the angels bathe in it to be renewed every 
day.
189
In the 
Zohar
, the River of Fire has one effect on the souls of the wicked and 
another on those of the righteous: “The souls of the righteous immerse and are 
purified in it, [while] the souls of the wicked are judged in it, and they burn before it 
like a straw before fire.”
190
The 
Zohar 
also underlies Rashaz's idea that the River of 
Fire constitutes the second stage of purification, because even in the Lower Gan 
Eden, the soul has not yet been fully cleansed of its worldly appearance: 
When she [the soul] is raised above, she must separate from all lowly 
appearance and matters; so she is passed through that River of Fire. Then the 
soul is cleansed completely; she emerges and appears before the Master of 
the Universe.”
191
187
b
Berakhot 64a; 
b
Mo'ed katan 29a. Note, however, that in both these instances, the Talmud refers 
to “scholars” [
talmidei hakhamim
] rather than to “the righteous” – 
tsadikim
, as Rashaz does in most 
cases, for which see note 186 above. 
188
See 
b
Hagigah 13b; 
Bereshit rabah
78:1; Zii 221b, and LT 
Shelah 
41a, 
Matot 
86b. 
189
See, for example, 
3
 
Enoch
, ch. 18:19, 33:5, and the notes there; 
b
Hagigah 13b; 
Eikhah rabah
3, 
Het
; 
Tikunei zohar
, Hakdamah, 4a. 
190
Ziii 16b [Appendix 17]; see also Zi, 201a; Zii, 247a; Ziii, 159b. 
191
Zii 211b [Appendix 18]. See also de Vidas, 
Reshit hokhmah
, Sha’ar ha-yir’ah, ch. 33. 

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162 
In some of Rashaz's sermons, the stage of being cleansed in the River of Fire 
acquires special significance: the pure souls who have arrived in the lower levels of 
the Garden of Eden do not need to shed off any traces of worldly impurity, but rather 
they must leave behind the worldly delights that they experienced there, so as not to 
be confused when they experience the delights of the higher Garden of Eden. The 
crossing of the River of Fire grants them the experience of complete oblivion and 
prepares them for the new delights awaiting them at the higher level of the garden 
they are about to enter.
192
It is worth noting that, the
 
function of the River of Fire 
here resembles that of the River Lethe which flows through Hades, whose waters 
were drunk by the dead in order to make them forget their earthly lives.
193