Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Malkhut
. The “six extremities” [
shesh ketsavot
] of 
Ze’ir anpin 
(the six 
sefirot
constituting it) correspond to the six thousand years for which the world is 
traditionally said to last until the arrival of the redemption, and to the six days of the 
week in which the purification of sparks takes place.
116
The reason why the state of exile has endured for so many years is the great 
number of fallen sparks awaiting purification. The initial two hundred and eighty 
eight
117
were split from their source in the process of the evolution of the worlds of 
Creation, Formation and Action. In reality, however, the number of sparks trapped in 
the lower worlds significantly exceeds this initial number, and accordingly, more 
time is required to purify them. When the process of purification is completed, the 
Messiah will come.
118
115
Seder tefilot
, 53d-54a.
116
See ibid. On the traditional belief that the world will last for six thousand years, see 
b
‘Avodah 
zarah 9a. 
117
On the 288 sparks in Kabbalah, see Jacobs, “The Uplifting of Sparks,” 106-7; Scholem, 
Major 
Trends
, 268.
118
TO 27d. On the Lurianic notion of the Messiah, who appears only in order to bring the process of 
tikun
to conclusion, see Scholem, 
The Messianic Idea
, pp. 47-48. 

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99 
The purification of sparks can also be seen from an axiological perspective, 
whereby it is a means of separating good from evil. To recognize the exile as part of 
the tension between the good and the evil elements of reality is to underscore the 
ahistorical character of the exile, as good and evil have existed since the creation of 
the world, and became intermingled already in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and 
Evil. The task of separating good from evil prepares the ground for messianic times, 
when God “will swallow up death for ever” [Is 25:8] and “all wickedness shall be 
wholly consumed like smoke”
119
Several important features of the exile arise from this description. First, as 
was emphasized above, the exile is not the product of a historical chain of events, 
and it is not limited to any particular point in time. Even the primordial sin of Adam 
did not cause the intermingling of good and evil that is an inherent quality of exile; 
the only consequences of the sin were that the process of separating good from evil 
manifested itself as hard labour (ploughing, sowing and reaping) and as a constant 
struggle between these two aspects of reality, whereas before the sin, separation took 
place as a harmonious and peaceful process.
120
The sin changed the character of the 
exile but not its essence. In short, the world, from its creation until the final 
redemption, exists in the state of exile. Secondly, the evil that must be separated 
from good is associated with materiality; the purpose of separating it from good is 
conceived of as a process of purification aiming to reveal the godliness that resides 
within the ostensibly ungodly, material lower worlds. Rashaz’s mentor, Menahem 
Mendel of Vitebsk, in one of his pastoral epistles, pointed to the duality of 
spirituality and materiality in the world, embodied also in each person through the 
duality of soul and body. Any activity in which a person cleaves to the spiritual 
aspect in order to “strip it off all aspects of corporeality [
le-hafshit mi-kol ofenei ha-
gashmiyut
] that is dust, and return it to the place of the [divine] will”
121
is considered 
a redemptive act of “raising the