Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

milah
] stands also for the etymologically linked word 
for the power of speech [
ruah memalela
],
129
which brings “the divine Wisdom out of 
potentiality into actuality, out of concealment into disclosure.”
130
The exile is 
defined by the confusion of languages and the impossibility of expressing the unity 
123
b
Shabbat 88b. 
124
LT 
Ba-midbar
10c. 
125
See 
Seder tefilot 
308d. See alfso LT 
‘Ekev 
13d-14a, where God’s great mercy [
rahamim rabim
] 
rests upon every person who performs repentance and brings him back to life, which constitutes a 
personal experience of the future resurrection of the dead [
tehiyat nafsho ki-tehiyat ha-metim
]. On the 
relation between the Sinaitic experience and the resurrection of the dead, see note 25 above. 
126
See note 110 above. 
127
See Wolfson, 
Alef, Mem, Tau
, 113-5. This will be discussed below.
128
See T4, 4:105b. On the nexus of circumcision, theophany and the divine word in Kabbalah, see 
Wolfson, 
Circle in the Square
, 41-47. 
129
See Onkelos to Gen 2:7. 
130
TO 12b. 

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149 
of God in a discursive manner, whereas the redemption liberates language, 
transforming it into a suitable means of divine revelation.
131
To sum up, the redemption has an epistemological dimension. In the 
redeemed state, the individual is released from his corporeal limitation and can 
perceive Godliness intuitively, totally and directly, in a manner unmediated by 
discursive thought or the division between one sense and another. Still, this 
liberation from corporeality does not entail the rejection of the body: just as at the 
Giving of the Torah, so in the throes of personal ecstasy, the senses absorb Godliness 
freely, as a synesthetic experience; and in the future-to-come, the body will exist in 
its subtle, sublimated form, enabling everyone to experience God sensually. 
1.6 The messianic figure. 
The definition of redemption as synonymous with 
teshuvah 
raises the question of the 
role of the messianic figure in the redemptive process: if the redemption comes about 
through Israel’s repentance, results in the divinization of the entire world by filling it 
with the overflowing light of the Infinite, then the messianic figure, whose task is to 
redeem the Jewish people or the world becomes irrelevant, all the more so if, 
regardless of the final redemption of the future-to-come, everyone can achieve a 
redeemed state of being individually, while still in exile. Indeed, in light of the 
redemptive significance of repentance, the messianic figure plays only the marginal 
role of prompting the righteous to repent.
132
As explained above, repentance is a 
means of transcending the time limits of the emanated worlds, to enter the redeemed 
reality of an “everlasting day” filled with divine light. Thus, while penitents [
ba’alei 
teshuvah
] are both the instruments of redemption and its beneficiaries, the righteous, 
who technically do not need to repent, appear to be excluded from the redemption.
133
The Messiah is therefore given the task of concluding the redemptive process by 
131
Elsewhere Rashaz describes circumcision as a revelation of God’s voice to the mute congregation 
of Israel. See LT 
Pinhas
79c. 
132
Following the description of the redeemer’s mission in Ziii, 153b. 
133
This follows on from Rashaz’s valorisation and empowerment of ordinary people’s mode of 
worship, which will be further discussed in the next chapter. 

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150 
elevating the righteous to the redeemed state which the penitents have already 
merited by dint of their repentance.
134
Even though the messianic figure plays only a marginal role in the process of 
redemption, its significance grows in the post-exilic world. As mentioned above, 
while the Messiah reigns primarily over Israel, his authority spreads to the gentile 
nations who flock to his court in order to learn wisdom from him.
135
The messianic 
task of revealing wisdom can be linked to one of the distinctive features of messianic 
times: the gentiles will be permitted to study the revealed layer of the Torah, while 
the Jews will freely explore its inner mystical meanings. In this context, the task of 
the Messiah reflects that of Moses, through whom the Torah was first given to the 
Israelites: just as Moses drew down the revealed aspect of Torah on Sinai, so the 
Messiah will draw down its inner aspect.
136
Finally, one other question should be raised about the messianic figure in 
Rashaz’s teachings: can the Hasidic 
tsadik
fulfil this role? There is no indication that 
Rashaz’s followers associated him with this redemptive role,
137
and yet some of the 
tsadik
’s functions may be interpreted as being messianic.
138
In his sermons, Rashaz 
134
See for example LT