Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

 
2. Setting time for Torah study in 
halakhah
. 
2.1. In pre-hasidic halakha. 
The origins of the precept of setting times for Torah study can be traced back to a 
talmudic saying attributed to Rava. According to Rava, when a person is judged in 
the next world, the second question the heavenly court asks him is if he had set times 
for Torah study [
kavata ‘itim la-Torah?
].
4
Commenting on this passage, Rashi 
observes that the basis of setting times for Torah is practical. A person ought to 
divide his time between Torah study and his mundane occupation [
derekh erets
]; 
fixing times for Torah study is intended to establish a balance between these two. On 
the one hand, one should not entirely neglect his worldly responsibilities for the sake 
of Torah study; on the other hand, one can easily become engrossed in worldly 
matters and shun his religious obligations. Accordingly, allotting a certain time of 
the day solely to the purpose of study is regarded a simple technique that makes it 
possible to integrate Torah learning into the daily routine and preserve one from 
transgressing the commandment of Torah study.
5
Medieval commentators followed Rashi’s view on fixing time for Torah 
study as a means to fulfilling a 
mitsvah
rather than a 
mitsvah
in its own right, and did 
not count it as one of the 613 commandments. For example, both the author of 
Sefer 
ha-hinukh 
and Maimonides considered fixing times for Torah study a procedure 
which makes the commandment of Torah study accessible to everyone, including the 
less gifted and the busiest of men: married men and bachelors, the rich and the poor, 
the healthy and the sick alike. Although the commentators did not dwell upon the 
technicalities of 
kevi‘at ‘itim la-Torah
, they read it as an obligation to study Torah 
4
b
Shabat
 
31a. The first question concerns business ethics. 
5
“If there is no 
derekh erets
, there is no Torah.” Rashi to 
b
Shabat 31a, quoting 
m
Avot
 
3:17. 

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170 
day and night
in order to fulfil the biblical obligation “This book of the law shall not 
depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night” [Jo 1:8].
6 
Some of the rabbis attached particular significance to the fact that the Talmud uses 
the plural form of the noun “time” [
‘itim
], and perceived it as an implicit obligation 
to set at least two times for study, one during the day and one during the night.
7
Additionally, the main codices of Jewish law determined the time just after the 
morning prayers to be appropriate for the daily fixed time of study.
8
2.2 In Rashaz’s halakhic writings. 
Ideas outlined by the medieval halakhists are fostered by Rashaz in 
Hilekhot talmud 
Torah
– one of his few books published during his lifetime, and the first attempt 
since Maimonides’s 
Mishneh Torah
to provide an extensive and original treatment of 
the subject of Torah study.
9
Just like the aforementioned halakhists, Rashaz 
juxtaposes setting times for study with full-time learning. In Rashaz’s view, one 
should strive to learn the whole of the Oral Torah, and in order to do so, one should 
devote one’s entire time to study. But if this were not possible, one is obliged by the 
Torah to allot “a significant portion of time [
‘et gedolah
] to Torah learning,” defined 
by Rashaz as at least half a day, in addition to night-time study. Rashaz explains, 
referring to the Talmud [
b
Yoma 19b],
that in order to fulfil the biblical command: 
“And thou shalt talk of them” [Dt 6:7], one should “Make his Torah [study] 
perpetual and his occupation - casual” [