Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Malkhut
[…] and from the Name of 
Adnut
, blessed 
be He
.
54
The interpretation of God’s relation to the world in terms of kingship or dominion 
has further consequence: it transposes the contraction of the name 
YHVH 
into 
Adonai 
or 
Elohim, 
which takes place in the process of the creation, as discussed earlier in the 
chapter, to a process that takes place in the sefirotic realm. The transposition, which 
plays on the proximity of meanings between 
adnut
(lordship) and 
malkhut
(kingship),
55
allows for the definition of the 
sefirah
Malkhut
as the intermediary 
between transcendence and immanence,
56
where time and space are created out of 
nothing. Elsewhere, Rashaz provides a biblical source for this, which in his 
interpretation refers to the origin of both the dimensions of time and space within 
Malkhut
: 
‘Thy kingdom [
malkhutekha
] is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion 
endureth throughout all generations’ [Ps 145:13]: ‘everlasting’ [
kol ‘olamim
, 
literally ‘all worlds’] [refers to] space; ‘all generations’ [
kol dor va-dor
] to 
time.
57
As noted by Wolfson, a parallel is drawn here between the upper and lower unities 
within the conceptual framework of the Habad temporal discourse.
58
The four-letter 
54
T2, 7:82a [Appendix 19]. 
55
See T2, 7:81b. 
56
On 
Malkhut 
as a liminal 
sefirah
in Rashaz’s teachings, see for example T2, 7:81a-b; TO 37a. For a 
discussion of this concept in Rashaz’s doctrine of creation, see Jacobson, “Torat ha-beri’ah,” 340-43; 
Schwartz, 
Mahashevet Habad
, 67. The concept itself is derived from older sources. See the 
discussions of 
Malkhut 
/
Shekhinah
in Scholem, 
On the Mystical Shape
, 157-82; Hallamish,
 
Introduction
, 138; Tishby, 
Wisdom of the Zohar
, 373-376. On the role of 
Malkhut
as an intermediary, 
see Schwartz, 
Mahashevet Habad
, 55-6, n. 107.
57
LT 
Aharei
27b [Appendix 20]. See also TO 37a-b; LT 
Be-ha‘alotekha
30a; MAHZ 
Ketuvim
, i, 21. 
58
Wolfson, 
Alef, Mem, Tau
, 108-09. 

---

43 
name of God, which “indicates that He transcends time, that He was, He is, and He 
will be — all at the same instant,”
59
is paralleled by 
Malkhut
, which comprises three 
tenses: past, present and future.
60
The parallel comes to show that even though time 
comes into being only in 
Malkhut
, its root reaches much higher. It also shows the 
connection between the supra-temporal God and the temporal world: 
 
Although He, blessed be He, transcends space and time, He is nevertheless 
also found below, within space and time, that is, He unites with His attribute 
of 
Malkhut,
from which space and time are derived and come into existence, 
and this is the lower unity.
61
On the symbolic level, the God-world relation is expressed by the verse: “God
 
[
YHVH
] reigns, God has reigned, God will reign,”
62
in which the Tetragrammaton is 
followed by the verb “to reign.” Thus verb, denoting God’s involvement in the 
world, is conjugated in three tenses: present, past and future, yet it remains 
unaffected by the changing temporal modes. In order to preserve the concept of 
divine immutability despite constant changes in the world governed by the divine, 
Rashaz employs the idea of the disclosure [
gilui
] of God in the world: 
Malkhut
of the world of Emanation […] is the root and the source of the 
coming into being of time […]. As is known, the coming into being of the 
past, present and future in the worlds of Creation, Formation and Making 
comes from the aspect of “He reigned, He reigns and He will reign,”
63
etc., 
which is the aspect of world, year, etc.,
64
as is written elsewhere. And the 
source of time is only in 
Malkhut
, which is the disclosure of the [world of] 
Emanation, the World of Disclosure […]. This, however, is not the case 
above, where the aspect of World of Concealment does not fall into the 
category of the source of time, for it belongs in the mode of Surrounding all 
59
T2, 7:82a.
60
Based on the interpretation of the verse “He reigned, he reigns, and he will reign” [
malakh, molekh, 
yimlokh
] as corresponding to the past, present and future tenses. See note 29 above. 
61
T2, 7:82a [Appendix 21]. 
62
See note 29 above. 
63
See note 29 above. 
64
See note 26 above. 

---

44 
Worlds [
sovev kol ‘almin
], which is the aspect of concealment of the essence 
[
he‘elem
ha-‘atsmiyut
].
65
According to this passage, 
Malkhut 
of the world of Emanation brings the divine 
essence [
‘atsmiyut
] out of the state of concealment [
he‘elem
], so that it is disclosed 
in the world [
‘olam
], namely within the categories of time and space.
66
The process 
of disclosure itself is in turn related to the concept of “world, year, soul,” where 
“world” stands for the lower worlds in which the divinity is revealed, “year” stands 
for 
Malkhut,
which is the source of time, and “soul” represents the divine life force 
flowing down from 
Ze‘ir anpin
to 
Malkhut
.
67
Malkhut,
therefore, is a liminal entity that borders the temporal and supra-
temporal realities. On the one hand, it separates the three lower worlds from the 
world of Emanation, often described by Rashaz as one with the Divine.
68
It also 
separates God’s transcendent mode of surrounding all worlds [
sovev kol ‘almin
] 
from His immanent mode of filling all worlds [
memale kol ‘almin
], as well as the 
World of Concealment from the World of Disclosure, and what is above time from 
what is within the temporal realm. On the other hand, 
Malkhut 
is an intermediary 
entity that reveals the infinite God within the finite world in categories of time and 
space. When it ascends to the world of Emanation, it is united with the supra-
temporality symbolized by the Tetragrammaton, where “He was, He is and He will 
be – all at the same instant.” Yet when 
Malkhut 
of the World of Emanation
 
descends 
to become 
‘Atik
69
 
of the World of Creation, it becomes the source of time in the 
lower worlds.
70
65
MAHZ 
5564
, 199 [Appendix 22]. 
66
See also Wolfson, 
Alef, Mem, Tau
, 111. 
67
See MAHZ 
5571
, 168. See also MAHZ 
5564
, 199; LT 
Ha’azinu
74d. 
68
See for example T1, 39:52b, 40:55a, 42:59a, 51:72b, T2, 5:80a, T4, 6:110a; TO 64d. See also 
Schwartz, 
Mahashevet Habad
, 50. 
69
The notion of 
‘Atik
(‘the ancient one’) or 
‘Atik yomin
(‘the ancient of days’)
 
denotes a higher aspect 
of 
Keter
, as opposed to 
Arikh anpin, 
which denotes its lower aspect. See Foxbrunner, 
Habad
, 71-72. 
Both these terms come from the 
Idrot
of the 
Zohar
, where they are used interchangeably as names of 
the first