Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

teshishut koah ki-nekevah
], which is 
derived from Rashi’s commentary on Nm 11:15 and Dt 5:25. 
34
LT
 Kedoshim
29d. 
35
On the doctrine of creation by means of divine speech in Hasidism, see Idel, “‘Le-‘olam ha-
Shem,’” 219-286, and in particular 239-43, where he discusses Rashaz. See also Foxbrunner, 
Habad
, 
104-5. 
36
The identification of the feminine aspect of the Godhead with the divine speech is a classical 
kabbalistic theme. See Scholem, 
On the Mystical Shape
, 181-2
37
The numerical value of the letter 
he
, which also stands for the “lower letter 
he
” – the final letter of 
the Tetragrammaton, identified with 
Malkhut 
and the divine speech.
38
LT
 Kedoshim
29d.
39
See for example T2, 4:79b; TO 63c, 117d; LT 
Emor 
38d, 
Ba-midbar
7c, 
Hukat 
58d; 
Seder tefilot
236d. Rashaz combines here three kabbalistic themes: the identification of the five Judgements with 
the five organs of verbal articulations and the five final letters (see Poppers, 
Sefer ha-likutim
, Be-
reshit, par. 2, 15-16), the correlation of the five Judgements with the five “naked things” in a woman 
enumerated in 
b
Berakhot
 
24a (ibid. See also Ziii 142a), and the interpretation of the word 
nekevah 
as 
the 
nekev he
(see for example Vital, 
‘Ets hayim
, Sha‘ar 34, ch. 2, par. 9, 151; ch. 3, 156; Poppers, 
Sefer ha-likutim
, Shir ha-shirim, par. 2, 336). 

---

216 
female is envisioned as the recipient of the divine voice and as the factor responsible 
for limiting and transforming the unlimited voice into articulated words of divine 
speech. 
The feminine 
sefirah
Malkhut
functions as a liminal entity in the 
sefirotic
tree 
that bridges the gap between the divine unity and the multiplicity of creation.
40
As 
such, it is associated with forces of “Judgements” [
gevurot
] that restrain the 
unbounded influx of the divine life force [
hiyut
] in the process of creation, while her 
role as an intermediary between the divine and the worldly puts her in proximity to 
evil and impurity.
41
The contractions of the divine life force caused by 
Nukba
in 
order to vitalize the lower worlds are so intense that they enable the external 
(namely: evil) forces to draw from it: “Woman is the aspect of “Judgements” 
[
gevurot
], the aspect of 
Malkhut
whose [Prv 5:5] “feet go down to death” (…), the 
source and root of the grasp of the external forces [
ahizat hitsoniyut
].”
42
Here 
cosmology and halakhic praxis intertwine: the proximity of the abstract “female” to 
death precludes flesh-and-blood women from performing the purification ritual of 
the Red Heifer by sprinkling its blood.
43
Moreover, Rashaz buttresses the concept of 
the female who strengthens the external forces with the rabbinic saying that 
[
b
Berakhot 24a] “The hair of woman is a naked thing,”
44
by using female hair as a 
symbol of the life force divided, diminished and enclothed in an entity so remote 
from its source that cutting it off causes no pain.
45
In a similar vein Rashaz links 
40
On 
Malkhut 
as a liminal