Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Malkhut 
of the World of Emanation mediates between the domain that 
lies above time and the three lower worlds that are subject to temporality, a role 
which renders her the effective source of time. An analogous role is ascribed to the 
more elevated entity of ‘Primordial Man’ (
Adam kadmon
), which mediates the 
72
On the relation between the Tetragrammaton and the order of time, see for example 
Seder tefilot
76b; MAHZ 
Nevi’im
, 116. 
73
A similar Habad model of time’s coming-into-being has been presented by Wolfson, who based his 
analysis on the writings of Rashaz’s son and successor, Dov Ber. In his book on time in Kabbalah 
(
Alef, Mem, Tau
, 109), Wolfson distinguished between three levels: 
Malkhut
as the origin of time, 
YHVH
as the “comprescence of the three temporal modalities – what was, what is, and what will be,” 
and the light of 
Ein Sof 
“that is utterly beyond time.” However, the fragment of Rashaz’s teachings 
quoted above presents a slightly different picture: 
Ein Sof
is entirely above any temporal or quasi-
temporal characterisation; the Tetragrammaton transcends temporality, yet it comprises 
modi
of 
priority and posteriority; eternal 
Malkhut 
is the source of time, as it comprises all three tenses; and 
finally, the lower worlds are subject to temporality. The discrepancies between this model and 
Wolfson’s have their source in Dov Ber’s text, wherein he transposes the source of time into the 
Tetragrammaton, and states that contrary to his father’s words, it “comprises past, present and future 
as one, but […] does not belong to that which is entirely above time.” See Dov Ber Shneuri, 
Imrei 
binah
, Sha‘ar keri’at shema‘, 40c.
74
See note 68 above. 

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47 
transcendent God to the World of Emanation, which itself precedes the creation of 
time but is subject to the “order of time” [
seder
ha-zeman
]:
 
[
Adam kadmon
] is called “primordial thought” [
mahashavah kedumah
], for 
through it He [i.e. God] “looks and sees to the end of all generations”
75
in one 
glance, and therefore he [
Adam kadmon
] is called “one thought,” for it is but 
one thought only.
76
In the spirit of the Lurianic Kabbalah,
77
Rashaz presents 
Adam kadmon
as an entity 
that emanates from 
Ein Sof
prior to the emergence of the hierarchy of the four 
worlds. However, he strips 
Adam kadmon 
of his mythical connotations and presents 
him instead as a simple and instantaneous divine thought that comprises the totality 
of the creation with all its future developments in all their details. Since the 
emergence of time constitutes a part of the creation, 
Adam kadmon
comprises the 
idea of time, too. At first it develops into the ‘order of time’, but with the creation of 
separate beings, this turns into time proper as it is experienced in the lower worlds. 
These gradations of temporality show that Habad thinkers in general, and 
Rashaz in particular, have struggled to fill the ontological gap between the creation 
and a God who is beyond any positive characterisation. Their discourse on time, 
which constitutes a part of this intellectual endeavour, drew on a wide range of 
midrashic, kabbalistic, and philosophical traditions. The complexity of the different 
worldviews stemming from all these earlier sources led to the proliferation in Habad 
thought of a variety of intertwining entities, whose role is to mediate between the 
supra- and the infra-temporal realities. Moreover, the vast ontological gap between 
unity and multiplicity provoked Habad thinkers to further mediate the distance 
between God and temporal reality by adding to their temporal discourse the 
intermediary entity of “the order of time” [