Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

C
HAPTER 
4 
1. Setting Times for Torah Study 
There seems to be a scholarly consensus that Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi broke 
new ground by making esoteric lore meaningful and inspirational to broad circles of 
his followers.
1
The innovative path of the founder of Habad had already been 
acknowledged by many of his contemporaries: on the one hand masses of followers 
flocked to his court,
2
while on the other hand, many responded with fierce criticism. 
A wave of criticism was prompted by the publication in 1796 of 
Sefer ha-Tanya
, 
perceived as a far too radical attempt to open up hasidic experience to nonpneumatic 
individuals. Rashaz’s opponents among hasidic Jews were displeased by the fact that 
Tanya
enfolded hasidic concepts in Lurianic garb and so made them intelligible and 
meaningful to broader, supposedly unworthy, audiences.
3
Additionally, in his 
teachings Rashaz invested common experiences and the precepts of normative, 
nonmystical Judaism with mystical meanings, and thus proposed a new, inclusive 
1
On the communicative aspect of Hasidism in general and Habad in particular, see Loewenthal, 
Communicating
, 3-4; see also Elior, 
Paradoxical Ascent
, 21-22. 
2
Nahman of Bratslav is reported to have said of Rashaz that his following numbered eighty thousand 
Hasidim. See Rapoport-Albert, “Hasidism,” 117. The problem of dealing with the masses that reached 
Rashaz’s court led to the so-called “Liozna Ordinances” [
Takanot de-Lozni
], aiming to restrict access 
to the court and the rebbe. See Hillman, 
Igerot Ba‘al ha-Tanya
, 58-70, and Etkes, 
Baʻal ha-Tanya
, 
70-80; idem, “Darko shel R. Shneur Zalman,” 334-341. 
3
For the famous letter by Avraham of Kalisk criticising Rashaz’s attempt to popularize the esoteric, 
see Hillman, 
Igerot Ba‘al ha-Tanya
, 105-07, discussed in Loewenthal, 
Communicating
, 51-52; Elior, 
Paradoxical Ascent
, 21; eadem, “Vikuah Minsk,” 193-96; Etkes, “Darko shel R. Shneur Zalman,” 
343; idem, 
Ba‘al ha-Tanya
, 317-29. According to Habad hagiography, the conflict between Rashaz 
and other hasidic masters about the idea of communicating the esoteric to the masses can be traced 
back to the time when Rashaz was still a student of the Great Maggid. One should keep in mind, 
however, that Habad stories transmitted by the sixth leader of the movement, Rabbi Yosef Yitshak 
Schneersohn, in which Rashaz defends the idea of teaching the esoteric against the criticism of Rabbi 
Pinhas of Korets, were aimed to present the Habad communication ethos as the genuine expression of 
the teachings of Dov Ber of Mezeritch and the Ba’al Shem Tov, and can hardly be seen as a historical 
source. See 
Ha-tamim
2 (1936): 49, and 8 (1938): 50-1, and Glitzenstein, 
Sefer ha-toledot
, 29-30. On 
Habad historiography originating in Yosef Yitshak Schneersohn, see Rapoport-Albert, 
“Hagiography,” 154-55. 

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concept of mystical experience. The reinterpretation of the precept of setting times 
for Torah study [
kevi‘at ‘itim la-Torah
] in Rashaz’s writings was one of the factors 
that greatly contributed to the re-evaluation of the role of ordinary people in religious 
life, and to shaping Habad’s inclusivist vision of mysticism.