Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

particular claim is based, the whole process culminating in a final stage of 
interpretation, which in the case of the evolution of time model, corresponds to the 
World of Making [
‘olam ha-‘asiyah
]. Just as the Gemara is a comprehensive 
exposition of the Mishnah, which does not generate any new laws but merely 
presents the mishnaic laws in greater detail, so time in the lower worlds is only an 
actualisation of the potential concealed within God’s supra-temporal instantaneous 
thought.
120
The hermeneutical model of the division of time is not limited to the 
metaphor of the source-commentary relation. The “interweaving of temporality and 
textuality,” as Wolfson calls it,
121
is an offshoot of Rashaz’s doctrine of creation, in 
117
Musaf for Rosh ha-shanah. 
118
See for example MAHZ 
Nevi’im
, 9; 
Parshiyot
, i, 409. 
119
See Barayta de-rabi Yishma’el in 
Sifra
, 1a-b. 
120
See MAHZ, 
5565
, 320-1. 
121
Wolfson, 
Alef, Mem, Tau
, 83. 

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60 
which the divine speech plays a prominent role.
122
It is also a result of associating 
Malkhut,
on the one hand
 
with the divine speech, and on the other hand with time: 
[This is] the root of the matter of “time to love” [Eccl 3:8], etc. As is 
explained in the 
Zohar
, the Yanuka interpreted it to mean that it refers to love 
within 
Malkhut
, which is called time [
‘et, 
which is spelled with the letter 
‘ayin
],
123
but it is also called 
et, 
[spelled] with an 
alef
, for [all] “
alefs
[interchange with] 
‘ayins
,”
124
etc. So the issue of time begins in 
Malkhut
, and 
these are the letters 
alef 
[and] 
tav 
which are set in the mouth, as is written in 
Sefer yetsirah
[2:3], and this is sufficient for him who understands.
125
This passage illustrates the relationship of 
Malkhut 
with time and speech. Basing 
himself on the zoharic source, Rashaz ascribes Kohelet’s “time to love” to 
Malkhut
, 
since, following the 
Zohar
, he identifies 
Malkhut
-
Shekhinah
with time.
126
He then 
draws on a talmudic tradition ascribed to the school of Rabbi Eliezer, which tended 
to pronounce the Hebrew guttural 
‘ayin
as 
alef
, and vice versa. The reference to this 
tradition provides Rashaz with the ambiguity he seeks: the time of 
Malkhut
[
‘et
] can 
be read as the particle 
et
, which contains the first and last letters of the Hebrew 
alphabet and therefore points to all the letters of the alphabet by means of which God 
created the world.
127
122
On the role of the divine speech in Rashaz’s doctrine of creation, and its sources in the teachings of 
the Besht, see Idel, “Le-‘olam ha-Shem,” 239-243. See also
Foxbrunner, 
Habad
, 105.
On the role of 
speech in the manifestation of the divine in Kabbalah, see Scholem, 
Kabbalah
, 99. 
123
See Zii, 155b. 
124
See 
b
Berakhot
 
32a. 
125
MAHZ, 
5564
, 205 [Appendix 33].
126
See Zi, 116b, 194a; Ziii, 58a-b. 
127
On