Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

2.
 
Literature review. 
2.1 Primary sources. 
Rashaz’s corpus consists of over 30 volumes, the majority of which published 
posthumously. The largest category within this corpus comprises his homilies 
(
ma’amarim
). Delivered orally in Yiddish, they were translated into Hebrew even as 
there where being transcribed by his followers. The homilies circulated in 
manuscript form for many years, until the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menahem 
Mendel Schneersohn the “Tsemah Tsedek” (1789-1866), initiated the process of 
14
See Loewenthal, “Women and the Dialectic,” *15-*16. For a critique of the acosmistic approach to 
Rashaz, see also Jacobson, “Bi-mevokhei ha-‘ayin.’” 
15
See Loewenthal, 
Communicating
. 

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16 
making them available in print. In 1837 in Kapust, and 1848 in Zhitomir, he 
published two volumes of Rashaz’s homilies on the weekly Torah portions, 
Torah
or 
and
 Likutei Torah
. Teachings pertaining to prayer were included in Rashaz’s prayer 
book, 
Seder tefilot mi-kol ha-shanah
, first published in Kapust in 1816, and an 
additional collection of unpublished 
ma’amarim
appeared in Jerusalem in 1926 as 
Boneh Yerushalayim
. However, the more comprehensive publication of Rashaz’s 
sermons began only in the second half of the twentieth century, when Habad’s Kehot 
Publishing House brought out a series of volumes entitled 
Ma’merei Admor ha-
Zaken
. This process continues to some extent to the present day, as brochures of re-
discovered copies of homilies are published occasionally in print and online. 
Another important segment of Rashaz’s corpus, generally overlooked by 
scholars interested in the philosophical or theological dimensions of the Habad 
tradition, are his halakhic works. Two of them were published in Rashaz’s lifetime in 
Shklov: 
Hilekhot talmud Torah
in 1794 (Compendium of the Laws of Torah Study), 
and 
Seder birkhot ha-nehenin 
in 1800 (Laws of Blessings for Enjoyment). His other 
legal writings were compiled posthumously into 
Shulhan
arukh Rabenu ha-Zaken
, 
published by his sons in Kopys and Shklov in 1814 and 1816.
16
Rashaz’s writings also include a large number of letters, addressed 
collectively to his hasidic communities or to certain individuals. Some of these 
letters contain mystical teachings while others issue instructions to remote Habad 
communities; some relate to Rashaz’s involvement in fund raising for the hasidic 
settlement in the Land of Israel, and some testify to his controversies with other 
hasidic leaders and with 
mitnagdim
or with non-hasidic Jews. In general, the letters 
provide invaluable insights not only into Rashaz’s style of leadership but also into 
the model of spirituality he propagated. They were first collected and published by 
David Zvi Hillman in Jerusalem, in 1953, as 
Igerot Ba’al ha-Tanya u-venei doro
. 
Later, Kehot published a new edition of Rashaz’s letters in two volumes, entitled 
Igerot kodesh 
(together with the letters of Dov Ber Shneuri [1773-1827] and 
Menahem Mendel the Tsemah Tsedek). 
16
On the publication of Rashaz’s halakhic works, see Mondshine, 
Sifrei ha-halakhah
. 

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17 
Finally, there is the book 
Tanya
, the publication of which in 1796 in 
Slavuta
17
established one of the unique features of the Habad school of Hasidism: the 
Tanya
is the first more or less systematic exposition of a hasidic model of 
spirituality. It is one of four of Rashaz’s books to be published during his lifetime, 
and the only one of them that concentrates on his mystical teachings. As Rashaz 
explains in a letter that precedes the printed versions of the work, it was written to 
provide his followers with a manual of direct spiritual guidance so as to render 
regular personal contact with him unnecessary. Effectively, the book was to serve as 
a substitute for the experience of listening to Rashaz’s homilies. Additionally, in 
1981,