Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

partsufim 
which refer to the 
sefirot
Hokhmah
and 
Binah
, the sources, respectively, of unbounded 
Hesed 
(Kindness) and constricted 
Din 
(Judgement); one who is engrossed in worldly affairs and studies at set times needs to dissolve 
himself in the unbounded Divine Wisdom in order to arouse in himself love of God, whereas a full-
time Torah student is able to find the love of God by means of contemplation (
hitbonenut
– a term 
deriving from 
binah
) of the Godliness within the constrictions of the world. For the Lurianic doctrine 
of 
partsufim
, see Scholem, 
Kabbalah
, 140-44. 
 
For the source of the notions of “Kindnesses of 
Father” and “Kindnesses of Mother,” see Vital, 
‘Ets hayim
, Sha‘ar ha-kelalim, chapters 10, 15-6. 
45
Rashi to 
b
Berakhot
 
21a.
46
See for example TO 64b-d, 67b, 102a; LT 
Tsav 
13c,
 
18a, 
Shelah
48c, 50c-d, 51b, 
Mas‘ei
96b. See 
also section 3.2 of the chapter 2 above. 
47
LT 
Sukot 
81a. 

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180 
which God reveals himself to the student in the recited words of 
halakhah
“face to 
face,” as to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Hence, Rashaz re-evaluates the seemingly routine 
ritual of studying Torah at fixed times, and endows it with profound mystical 
implications by inscribing it into his concept of repentance. 
The excerpt above reveals an ostensibly paradoxical feature of Rashaz’s 
thought: he seems to value study at fixed times by ordinary people more than 
continuous study by full-time scholars. This seemingly contradictory approach is 
based on an appreciation of the transformative aspect of 
kevi
‘
at ‘itim la-Torah
, and 
of the much greater effort a simpleton must make to direct himself to God than the 
effort required of a Torah scholar.
48
According to Rashaz, a merchant who returns to 
the Torah at fixed times attains a higher level of ecstasy [
hitpa‘alut
] than someone 
who has been studying continuously. The meaning of 
hitpa‘alut
, one of the prevalent 
terms in Rashaz’s writings, remained a matter of dispute in later generations of 
Habad.
49
In this context, it
 
is defined in ontological rather than psychological terms, 
as an essential change [
shinui ha-mahut
] in a person, which need not be 
accompanied by an emotional outburst.
50
The transformative aspect of setting times 
for Torah is emphasized elsewhere, this time without reference to the psychological 
factors mentioned above: 
48
Elsewhere Rashaz points at another advantage of Torah studies undertaken by an ignoramus. 
According to him, Torah study requires ultimate attentiveness to its object, namely, that the student’s 
entire mind [
sekhel
] would be devoted to the Torah. A wise person, preoccupied with numerous 
worldly matters, may find it difficult to disengage from them and to focus entirely on the Torah, 
whereas the ignoramus [
‘am ha-arets
], who in fact has no mind at all, is not distracted by worldly 
matters when he undertakes Torah study, and from this perspective, he is paradoxically more 
successful in his studies than the more intellectually gifted person. See LT 
Shir ha-shirim
25d. 
49
Elior, 
Paradoxical Ascent, 
191-200; eadem,