Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

ehad
] in the first verse of the 
Shema‘,
is paralleled by the expression, in the second 
verse, of God’s presence in the world, which will last forever “and ever” [
va-‘ed
]. 
50
On upper and lower unities, see Elior, 
Paradoxical Ascent
, 27-29. 
51
See T2, 7:81b, based on Zii, 134a. 

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41 
The interchangeability of 
ehad
and 
va-ed
serves to demonstrate that the divine 
transcendence and the divine immanence are but two modes of expression of the 
Divine unity.
52
Secondly, as the Tetragrammaton in the first verse of the 
Shema‘
expresses the upper unity, so the “kingdom” (
Malkhut
) in the second verse points to 
the lower unity of God within the world.
The word 
Malkhut
describes the character of God’s relation with his creation. 
In Rashaz’s teachings, God is compared to a king who must have subjects on whom 
to exercise his power. It is not enough for the king to rule over his family or his 
court; in order to display his supremacy to the full, he needs to be able to subdue 
people who are not close to him. In Rashaz’s allegory of the king, the word ‘people’ 
[
‘am
] is explained as meaning ‘those which is dimmed’ [
‘omemot
], namely, 
something that is most estranged and remote from its source – the king’s glory. It 
refers to individual beings in the world, whose existence ultimately stands in contrast 
to the unity of God. As the allegory intends to show, God creates these beings in 
order to demonstrate that they constitute a part of his dominion, while at the same 
time proving that it is impossible for any existence not to result from His will.
53
As 
in the 
ma’amar
quoted above, in which Rashaz referred to the spatio-temporal reality 
as the most disparaged place into which the Torah descends, here, too, he describes 
the spatio-temporal world as the entity that is opposed to the divine being. By adding 
Malkhut
to the picture, he underscores the absolute transcendence of God on the one 
hand, while on the other hand, presenting 
Malkhut 
as the divine agent that acts 
through His immanence: 
All these dimensions [of space and time] have no relation to the holy 
supernal attributes. Only concerning the attribute of His 
Malkhut
[…] is it 
possible to say that He […] is King above without end and below without 
52
See T2, 7:81b, MAHZ
 Ketuvim
, ii, 20. The idea of the interchangeability of these two words comes 
from Zii, 135a and is based on the fact that the 
alef 
of 
ehad 
and the 
vav 
of 
va-‘ed
are interchangeable 
by dint of belonging to the same group of vowel-letters (
matres lectionis
), while the 
het 
of 
ehad
and 
the 
ayin
of 
va-‘ed
are similarly interchangeable by dint of belonging to the same group of guttural 
letters. See on this Wineberg, 
Lessons in Tanya
, iii, 908-9. 
53
See T2, 7:81b; MAHZ 
‘Inyanim
, 92; Elior, 
Paradoxical Ascent
, 202. The allegory of God as 
sovereign of his people will be further discussed in chapter 2, section 1.1. 

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42 
limit, and likewise in all four directions. The same is true concerning the 
dimension of time: “God [
YHVH
] reigns, God has reigned, God will reign.” 
Thus, the life-force of space, and likewise of time, and their coming into 
being from nothingness, and their existence as long as they shall exist, are 
from the attribute of His