Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi



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halakhah
delineates a community of Torah students 
who are divided into two groups: scholars and ordinary men.
19
Both these groups 
16
See HTT, 
Kuntres aharon
, 3:1, 844a; 
Ma’amar “Perek ehad shaharit
,
” 
in Ashkenazi, 
Hilekhot 
talmud Torah
, 5:621, and in Mondshine, 
Migdal ‘oz
, 5. 
17
See Ashkenazi, 
Hilekhot talmud Torah
, 5:102. 
18
Rashaz referred to his Hasidim as “learned” [
yod’ei sefer
], a category that covers a wide range of 
literacy levels falling short of the elitist status of scholar [
talmid hakham
]. His Hasidim were 
conversant with rabbinic literature (see for example Rashaz’s epistle on the yearly cycle of Talmud 
study in congregations of his followers in T4, 1:102a-103a), and capable of following his mystical 
sermons, transcribing and distributing them in manuscript form, and reading as well as understanding 
the 
Tanya
– either on their own or with the help of prominent Hasidim who functioned as local 
leaders (see T1, Hakdamah, 4a). The classification of the vast majority of Rashaz’s Hasidim who set 
times for Torah study as non-scholars certainly does not imply that they were ignorant; it simply aims 
to distinguish them from the scholarly elite [
talmidei hakhamim
], who were free to study Torah 
continuously and capable of learning and remembering it accurately. On the high standard of Torah 
education among Rashaz’s followers, see Etkes, 
Ba‘al ha-Tanya
, 168, 186-87; idem., “Darko shel R. 
Shneur Zalman,” 349, 352-53. 
19
The distinction between the elite and the common people is addressed in Rashaz’s writings in 
various ways. Two such distinctions occur in both his sermons and his halakhic writings. The first 
one, which is focused on their Torah knowledge and position in society, is between scholars [
talmidei 
hakhamim
] and nonscholars such as businessmen – 
ba‘alei ‘asakim
, householders
 
– 
ba‘alei batim

and those who perform commandments – 
ba‘alei mitsvot
). The second one distinguishes between 
penitents [
ba‘alei teshuvah
] and righteous men [
tsadikim
] in terms of their relation to God: the latter 
are permanently united with God, while the former may return to God from their secular activities by 
means of ritual. Several sources indicate that these two distinctions are synonymous. See for example 
the excerpt from LT 
Shir ha-shirim
44d-45a, discussed below. Finally, in the first part of 
Tanya

Rashaz introduces the distinction between the intermediate and the righteous person (
beinoni 
and 


173 
have certain obligations, which are determined by different criteria.
20
The scholars 
are obliged to study full-time at all costs, even if this compels them to live in poverty 
and destitution, whereas the laymen should not risk poverty but rather engage in full-
time mundane occupations. For the latter group Rashaz prescribed setting limited 
times for study every day and night as a way of fulfilling the commandment of 
talmud Torah
.
21
Moreover, in particularly difficult circumstances, their study may be 
further limited to one chapter in the morning and one in the evening. And if someone 
is compelled to work the whole day, he may fulfill his obligation of Torah study by 
merely reciting the 
Shema’
during the morning and evening prayers.
22
The distinction and different obligations that follow are based on Rashaz’s 
understanding of the commandment of Torah study. In his collection of the laws of 
Torah study, he pointed out two substrates of the commandment:
23
the 
commandment of knowing the Torah [

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