Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

sovev
) into the immanent 
(
memale
),
157
thus conveying the divine influx from above time into the spatio-
153
See TO 5d-6a. 
154
Keri’at shema’
, preceded by 
Pesukei de-Zimra 
and the blessings “Yotser” and “Ahavah.” 
155
On the “hidden love” possessed by every Jewish person regardless of merit, see Foxbrunner, 
Habad
, 99-103; Hallamish, “Mishnato ha-‘iyunit,” 320-3. 
156
See T5, 162a-b. 
157
This is related to the idea that the word “barukh”, which opens the standard blessing formula, is 
etymologically related to kneeling (and in the eighteen benediction of the 
‘Amidah
, it is also linked to 
the praxis, as a praying person traditionally bows down on the word “barukh”), and as such it 
symbolises movement from up downwards, not only in this world but also in the world of the 
sefirot
. 
See, for example, TO 20a, 53b; LT 
Be-hukotai 
48b, 
Seder tefilot 
142b. In TO 37c Rashaz derives the 
word “barukh” from the word “bending” [
mavrikh
– see 
m
Kilayim 7:1: “He who bends the vine shoot 
into the ground” {
ha-mavrikh et ha-gefen ba-arets
}]. 

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110 
temporal world.
158
Moreover, at the time of prayer man’s thought cleaves to God as 
an act of self-sacrifice,
159
since he eradicates his own will and becomes a vehicle or 
chariot [
merkavah
] for the divine will, uniting himself with “his father in heaven” 
through entirely submitting both his will and his heart to God.”
160
In this way he 
brings down the divine life-force into the world, becoming instrumental, on the one 
hand, in keeping the world in existence, and on the other hand, in establishing the 
divine kingdom on earth.
161
This amounts to creating God’s dwelling place within 
the lower worlds, and ultimately, to bringing about the redemption.
162
The redemptive role of Torah study is closely related to its legal dimension. 
As the criterion by which one distinguishes right from wrong, pure from impure, the 
permitted from the forbidden, the Torah is an instrument of separation between good 
and evil in the world, and thus an agent of the redemption. Rashaz explains this 
158
See TO 37b-c, where the blessing recited before a commandment is performed constitutes the link 
that connects the material with the spiritual dimension [
be-gashmiyut
and 
be-ruhaniyut
] of the Torah 
and all its commandments. The Torah, as well as the ritual object, employed in the performance of a 
commandment is described as a material “sign” [
tsiyun
or 
siman
] signifying the spiritual dimension of 
reality; by reciting an appropriate benediction prior to performing a commandment, one connects 
these two dimensions of reality. Consequently, by drawing down vitality from the supra-temporal 
reality of the divine, the spatio-temporal Torah and its 
mitsvot
become, for Rashaz, the “source of 
time and space.” See also LT 
Be-hukotai 
48b, where Rashaz associates the benediction (from the 
Passover 
Hagadah
), “Blessed is the Omnipresent [
ha-Makom
], blessed is He!” with drawing divine 
vitality into space [
makom
], and the ninth benediction of the 
‘Amidah
prayer, pleading for “good 
years” [
birkat ha-shanim
], with drawing this vitality into time.
159
On self-sacrifice [