Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

C
HAPTER 
3 
1. The days of Messiah and the resurrection of the dead.
1.1. The days of Messiah. 
The twin concepts of the days of the Messiah and the resurrection of the dead recur 
throughout Rashaz’s teachings. He often mentions them in one breath while 
discussing the era that will follow the end of exilic history.
1
In such cases, the two 
concepts function as one without being clearly differentiated, serving as a regulative 
device for determining the course of the present. On other occasions, however, 
Rashaz’s wording suggests that the days of the Messiah would precede the 
resurrection of the dead. An example of this is a passage from 
Tanya
(discussed in 
another context in the previous chapter), in which “the messianic era, and especially 
[
uvi-ferat
] the time of the resurrection of the dead” are said to be the fulfilment of the 
creation.
2
This implies that despite their proximity, Rashaz does distinguish between 
the two concepts.
3
Rashaz elaborates on this distinction in one of his epistles,
4
where he 
attempts to reconcile both talmudic
5
and the zoharic
6
statements anticipating the 
future annulment of the commandments with sources that suggest the opposite view, 
including biblical prophecies referring to death and birth at the end of days [Is 65:20; 
Jer 31:8], and talmudic speculations on the 
halakhah
of messianic times.
7
He 
harmonises these conflicting traditions by suggesting that the future abolition of the 
mitsvot
refers to the days of the Messiah, while the messianic 
halakhah 
would not 
come into force until after the resurrection of the dead: 
1
Conflicting eschatological notions have been present in the Jewish sources since the time of the 
Sages. See Ginsburg, 
Sabbath
, 145-6 n. 46; Klausner, 
The Messianic Idea
, 408-19; Rapoport-Albert, 
Women and the Messianic Heresy
, 119 n. 35; Urbach, 
The Sages
, 651-2. 
2
T1, 36:46a; see chapter 2, section 1.1 above. 
3
For the talmudic distinction between the days of the Messiah and the resurrection of the dead, see 
b
Pesahim 68a. 
4
T4, 26:142a-145b. 
5
b
Nidah, 61b. 
6
Ziii,124b. 
7
b
Sanhedrin,
 
51b. 

---

119 
How is it possible that in the days of the Messiah they will no longer need to 
know the laws of 
isur 
and 
heter
, and of impurity and purity? How will they 
slaughter the sacrifices, and also [the animals] for common use, when they 
will not know the laws of 
derasah
, 
haladah
, and 
shehiyah
, which render the 
slaughtering unfit, and [the laws] of the defective knife? Will there then be a 
man born who by his very nature will slaughter without 
shehiyah 
and 
derasah
? Will the knife also be the way it should, and remain forever without 
defect? [There are] also many more laws [relating to] fat, and blood, and 
other prohibitions. They will also need to know about the impurity of a 
corpse, as Scripture says: “The child shall die an hundred years old” [Is 
65:20]. It will be further necessary to know about the impurity of a woman in 
confinement, as Scripture says: “A woman with child and her that travaileth 
with child together [Jer 31:8]. Even if a woman gives birth every day as a 
result of one marital union, nonetheless, with respect to the restrictions 
resulting from her impurity, the law will not change.
8
The picture Rashaz draws appears to resemble the Maimonidean notion of the 
messianic future,
9
where “the world moves along its customary lines” [
‘olam ke-
minhago noheg
]
10
: people continue to be born and die, and they still need to know 
the laws that regulate everyday life, such as the laws of ritual slaughter, purity,
 
dietary restrictions, etc.
11
Moreover, the laws of the sacrifices are still in force, which 
indicates that the Temple has been rebuilt. Even the idea that in the messianic era 
women will give birth repeatedly, day after day, does not suggest a break from the 
natural order of the world but only its enhancement by the removal of such obstacles 
as have so far limited women’s procreative capabilities.
12
8
T4, 26:143a-b [Appendix 1]. 
9
See Maimonides, 
Mishneh Torah
, Hilekhot teshuvah, 8-9; Hilekhot melakhim u-milhamot, 11-12. 
For a discussion of messianism in Maimonides, see Ravitzky, “To the Utmost Human Capacity,” 221-
56. 
10
Maimonides, 
Mishneh Torah
, Hilekhot melakhim u-milhamot, 12:1. 
11
See also 
Seder tefilot
291a, where Rashaz states that the obligation to remember the Exodus will 
remain valid in the messianic era. 
12
This will be discussed further in chapter 5. 

---

120 
The messianic days appear, therefore, to be a transitional stage between exile 
and the ultimate redemption. Rashaz himself is not consistent on the question 
whether the Messianic days still belong in the time of “doing”, namely, the time of 
fulfilling the commandments, or whether they are to be considered the time of the 
reward for so doing, the latter option echoing the talmudic dictum (commenting on 
Dt 7:11): “Today [namely, the present time] is for doing them [namely, the 
commandments], tomorrow [namely, the future-to-come] is for collecting the 
reward.”
13
In the following passage, Rashaz leans towards the former view: 
Now, our Sages of blessed memory said: “There is no difference between this 
world and the messianic era except for the oppression [of Israel by foreign 
kingdoms],”
14
because the days of the Messiah are not the world-to-come that 
follows the resurrection [of the dead], which is the time of rewarding the 
righteous. Rather, the days of the Messiah are in the nature of what is referred 
to as “today is for doing,” not of “collecting the reward.”
15
The essential part 
of “today is for doing,” and the ultimate fulfilment of “doing” belong in the 
days of the Messiah […], for the essential part of doing is the sacrificial 
service, which we cannot perform in the exile, even though the prayers have 
been established as a substitute for the sacrifices during the exile. Yet this 
[kind of doing] is not truly “according to the precept of thy will” [
Musaf 
for 
Sabbath and 
rosh hodesh
].
16
The messianic days feature in this passage
 
as the time at which worship will reach its 
culminating point, when the Jews are able to fulfil the commandments that for the 
time being, during the exile – in the absence of the Temple and the Temple service – 
they are not able to perform. Despite the attempt to provide ritual substitutes for the 
sacrifices with the establishment of prayers, there is still a need, even in exile, to 
perform all the 
mitsvot
exactly as God commanded. Rashaz’s quotation from the 
liturgy emphasizes the insufficiency of this exilic substitute, as it originates in a 
prayer which pleads with God to gather all the Jews in the Land of Israel precisely in 
13
b
‘Eruvin 22a; see also 
b
‘Avodah zarah 3a. 
14
b
Berakhot 34b, 
b
Sanhedrin 91b. 
15
See note 13 above. 
16
TO 46a-b [Appendix 2]. 

---

121 
order to enable them to offer Him sacrifices. Thus as long as they represent the 
essence of worship and allow for the fulfilment of all 613 commandments exactly as 
God willed them to be fulfilled, which entails the reinstatement of the Temple 
service, the messianic days still count only as a stage in the redemptive process 
rather than constituting the redemption itself.
17
The redemption is the stage that 
follows, when all the commandments have been performed in full; it is the 
resurrection of the dead, the time when the righteous receive the reward of their 
deeds. 
1.2. The resurrection of the dead. 
From this viewpoint, the resurrection of the dead appears to be the ultimate purpose 
of the creation in general
18
and of the fulfilment of all the commandments in