Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

‘olam
]. This is 
shov
, the disclosure of the 
[light] surrounding all the worlds [
sovev kol ‘almin
] and which comes to 
dwell specifically in the lower worlds [
dirah ba-tahtonim
], which is called 
“eternal life”: drawing down the divine actually and specifically into the 
world.
125
Rashaz described prayer in terms of the elevation of 
Nukba
(the feminine aspect of 
the Godhead, a term used interchangeably with 
Malkhut
)
126
above the sphere of 
being [
yesh
]. Furthermore, since 
Malkhut
is identified in Rashaz’s writings as the 
122
On 
memale kol ‘almin
and 
sovev kol ‘almin 
as technical terms for divine immanence and 
transcendence in Habad, see chapter 1, n. 36 above. 
123
Wolfson, 
Aleph, Mem, Tau
, 64-65. 
124
On the symbolism of 
Ze’ir anpin 
and 
Nukba 
in Lurianic Kabbalah, see Scholem, 
Kabbalah
, 141-
42. On the masculine and feminine aspects of the Godhead in Rashaz, see chapter 5 below. 
125
MAHZ
 Ketuvim
, i, 233 [Appendix 13]; 
Boneh Yerushalayim
, 80 (77); MAHZ
 Ketsarim
, 251. 
126
Scholem, 
Kabbalah
, 141. 

---

199 
source of time in the sefirotic structure,
127
prayer appears as an ecstatic moment that 
restores time back to its source, where all three tenses exist as a unity.
128
“Temporal 
life,” a phrase coined by the Talmud in reference to prayer [
b
Shabat 10a],
129
emphasizes here the momentariness of this experience: as ecstatic love that ceases 
immediately after the completion of prayer.
130
In fact, in prayer one transcends the 
differentiation between past, present, and future; yet one does not transcend time as 
such. Prayer is a transcendental experience that reaches the borderline between 
divine nothingness and worldly being—the 
sefirah
of 
Malkhut
, the point comprising 
the past, the present, and the future, and yet not going beyond it.
Torah study, by contrast, is called “eternal life,” for it draws that which is 
beyond time into temporal reality. The passage is based on the double meaning of 
the word 
‘olam
, as both “world” and “eternity.” Here, 
Ze‘ir anpin
—an aspect of the 
divinity above 
Malkhut
, which is not subject to temporality—is drawn down into the 
world [
‘olam
] to give it eternal life [
hayei ‘olam
],
131
which amounts to transforming 
it into “the dwelling place [of the divine] in the lower worlds,” a conspicuously 
eschatological idea in the Habad tradition.
132
Prayer leads to the source of time, 
where the three temporal dimensions coexist, albeit 
in potentia
only; Torah study, 
however, allows for apprehension above this source, at the level of 
Ze‘ir anpin
, of 
the “source of the coming-to-be of time that is in 
Malkhut
” [
mekor hithavut ha-
127
See for example T2, 7:82a; TO 37a; 
Seder tefilot
75b. 
128
See also 
Seder tefilot
75a-b, where 
sha‘ah 
is identified as the unity of past, present, and future. An 
instructive passage on 
Malkhut
as 
hayei sha‘ah
, in the sense of an ecstatic moment encapsulating all 
three tenses, can be found in Menahem Mendel Schneersohn (
Tsemah Tsedek
), 
Derekh mitsvotekha
, 
1:151a-b, and is discussed in Wolfson,
Open Secret
, 277-8. On the relation between contemplation 
and ecstasy in Habad worship see Elior,
 Paradoxical Ascent
, 162. 
129
The comparison of prayer to “temporal life” and of Torah to “eternal life” is used by Rashaz to 
justify exempting professional scholars from praying the 
‘Amidah
, see HTT 3:5, 851a, 
Shulhan 
‘arukh Rabenu ha-Zaken
, Orah hayim, par. 106, discussed in Foxbrunner, 
Habad
, 139. 
130
Seder tefilot 
28a. 
131
See also T5, 155b. The connection between the temporal life of prayer with 
Malkhut 
and the 
eternal life of Torah study with 
Ze‘ir anpin
appears in Mosheh Hayim Luzzatto, 
Sefer adir ba-marom 
ha-shalem
, 109-10, see also Liwer, “Torah shebe-ʻal peh,” 329. 
132
See section 3.3 of chapter 2 above. 

---

200 
zeman shebe-Malkhut
], as described by Rashaz’s son, R. Dov Ber.
133
The “eternal 
life” in Rashaz’s discourses also denotes “articulation of words of 
halakhah
,”
134
that 
is, the egalitarian study of 
halakhah
has an eschatological value, too. In their day, 
Rashaz explained, the sages could give up on temporal life (prayer) and focus solely 
on eternal life (Torah),
135
but nowadays, at a time of “the footsteps of Messiah” 
[
‘ikveta de-meshiha
], to enable the articulation of 
halakhah
in order to draw down 
the divinity into the world, one had to sacrifice one’s soul in prayer.
136
There emerges a paradoxical relationship between worship by means of 
prayer on the one hand and Torah study on the other. Prayer liberates from the limits 
of transience and corporeality, but some of its essential features make its purpose – 
the attainment of ecstatic experience – fallible. Firstly, since the rhythm and time of 
prayer are externally determined by Jewish law, the ecstatic experience one strives to 
attain is incorporated in the temporal frames set by 
halakhah
; secondly, ecstasy in 
prayer is the product of human’s corporeal powers, namely love and fear of God. As 
such, it is subject from its inception to the limitation of corporeality. Consequently, 
the ecstasy of prayer is a transcendental experience that reaches the borderline of 
temporal existence, where the past, present, and future are amalgamated, but it does 
not reach beyond temporality and is followed immediately by a return to the domain 
of time and matter.
137
133
Dov Ber Shneuri,
Perush ha-milot
, 59b. For a discussion of this excerpt in the context of the 
difference between “time” [
zeman
], attributed to 
Malkhut
, and “the order of times” [
seder ha-
zemanim
], attributed to 
Ze‘ir anpin
, see Wolfson, 
Aleph, Mem, Tau
, 110. See also section 2.5 of 
chapter 1 above. 
134
MAHZ
 Ethalekh
, 90. 
135
b
Shabat 10a. 
136
MAHZ
Ethalekh
, 91. On worship at the time of the “footsteps of Messiah,” see section 1.4 of 
chapter 3 above. 
137
One of the characteristics of Hasidism that was met with fierce criticism by its opponents was a its 
flexible attitude to the halakhically set times of prayer. Indeed, in many hasidic courts, proper 
preparations for prayer were considered more important than adherence to the halakhically prescribed 
times for each of the three daily services, and the desire to attain ecstasy and 
devekut 
led to unusually 
prolonged prayer. See Jacobs, 
Hasidic Prayer
, 48-53; Schatz Uffenheimer, 
Hasidism
, 245-6; 
Wertheim, 
Law and Custom
, 134-43. Rashaz addressed this issue in his teachings. In some of his 
epistles, sent to various communities, he seems to encourage 
shelihei tsibur 
to lead the morning 

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201 
On the other hand, permanent release from time is attainable by means of the ritual 
of Torah study at set times. Through Torah study one draws down onto oneself and 
into the world the eternity enclosed in the letters of the Torah. In contrast to the ritual 
of prayer, the precise time of ritual Torah study is determined not by an external 
authority (Jewish law), but rather by the individual himself (even though preferred 
times are suggested in the halakhic texts). The gesture of setting times for ritual 
study triggers the process of release from the bounds of time, achievable within the 
material world rather than beyond it, by adhering to an entity (Torah) that originates 
above and beyond the source of time.