Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Bavel
] did not turn unto the Lord with 
all their hears [
be-khol levavam
]” [Appendix 8]; see also Luzzatto, 
Adir ba-marom ha-shalem
, 379, 
were 
Bavel 
becomes 
levav 
by dint of Moses' emendation. 
41
See MAHZ 
Razal
, 204; based on Rashi to 
b
Ta'anit 10a; see also 
b
Shabat 113b and 
b
Zevahim 113b. 
42
See T4, 4:105a. See also Zii, 63b. 
43
See Zii, 63b, where prayer “out of the depths” refers to the prayer that draws from the “depth of 
all”: the 
sefirah 
of 
Hokhmah.
44
See TO 41c; LT 
Be-ha’alotekha
35d; MAHZ 
5568
, ii, 655, 694. On the exiles as bodyparts of 
Adam Beliya’al, see MAHZ 
5568
,
 
ii, 655. On the figure of Adam Beliya’al see Scholem, 
On the 
Mystical Shape
, 232.

---

77 
Torah portion 
Terumah 
[Ex 25:17-27:19]. The Midrash, musing on the fate of the 
oppressors of Israel in the messianic days, connects two biblical motifs: the statue of 
the book of Daniel [Dn 2:31-33], whose “head was of fine gold, his breast and his 
arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron 
and part of clay”, and the offerings of gold, silver and brass collected from the 
Israelites for the construction of the Tabernacle [Ex 25:2]. For the Midrash, the three 
precious metals mentioned in both Daniel and Exodus refer, respectably, to 
Babylonia, Media and Greece, indicating that at the end of days, the Messiah will 
incorporate these three gentile nations in his redemptive project. But from the fact 
that the Exodus verse does not mention iron [
barzel
], the Midrash concludes that out 
of all the gentile nations that enslaved Israel, only Edom, associated with iron, will 
be rejected.
45
Rashaz borrows this idea and sets it within the sefirotic scheme. 
Babylonia, as the “head of gold” [
resha di-dehava, 
Dn 2:38], is located at the top of 
the world of husks as its 
Keter
; Media and Persia, as the silver arms, stand for the 
sefirot
of 
Hesed
and 
Gevurah
;
46
only Greece acquires a new role: despite the fact 
that brass in the Book of Daniel is associated with the abdomen and thighs, Rashaz 
identifies it as 
Hokhmah 
of the world of husks, clearly taking Greece to be a symbol 
of non-Jewish wisdom and philosophy.
47
Babylonia in this context exemplifies the 
idea that only from the lowest levels can the greatest heights be reached. Thus, the 
construction of the golden menorah in the Tabernacle was made possible by the 
experience of exile in Babylonia.
48
The Babylonian exile, therefore, has its 
telos
:
 
in the 
ma’amar
discussed 
directly above it is the golden menorah of the Taberacle; in another context Rashaz 
identifies it with the purification of the seven evil 
sefirot
represented by the seven 
45
Shemot rabah
, 35:5. 
46
However, in MAHZ 
Ethalekh
, 63-4 Rashaz changes the order of the exiles and presents Egypt as 
the 
Keter
of the world of husks, the Egyptian wisdom as 
Hokhmah 
and 
Binah
, Babylonia and Media 
as 
Hesed 
and 
Gevurah
, while Greece is the “middle line” of the world of husks, namely its