Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Torat ha-’elohut
, 290-315; Jacobs, 
Hasidic Prayer
, 
100-03; Etkes, 
Ba‘al ha-Tanya
, 430-45. 
50
LT 
Shir ha-shirim
44d; see Ornet, 
Ratso va-
shov, 182-3. See also:
 
MAHZ
 5565
, i, 494-5, where the 
essential change is defined as the cause of ecstasy, and MAHZ
5565
, i, 502-03, where the cause of 
ecstasy is the renewal [
hidush
or 
hithadshut
], inherent in penitence.

---

181 
This is the advantage of setting times for Torah study by a tradesman, that it 
is more in the nature of subjugation [
itkafya
] [of the evil side] than is [the 
case of] those who dwell in tents [i.e. full-time scholars].
51
In the dynamic image of reality that emerges from Rashaz’s writings, ordinary 
people, subject to the ongoing struggle with materiality, seem to be valued more than 
the scholars and mystics who permanently dwell in lofty spiritual realms. The 
gesture of the layperson who gives up some of his worldly interests in order to set 
times for Torah study is tantamount to the subjugation of profanity to holiness, 
termed in Habad “the subjugation of the evil side” [
itkafya de-sitra ahara
]. This is 
not the case of the full-time scholars, who are constantly joined with the divine, and 
who therefore do not need to make any effort to achieve the the state of subjugating 
the evil side and reconnecting with God.
To summarize: setting times for Torah study means return-repentance, which 
is tantamount to self-transformation and preparation to receive God’s revelation in 
the words of Jewish law. Additionally, worship by means of setting times for Torah 
study produces a more intense state of ecstasy [
hitpa‘alut
] and is more effective at 
subjugating the evil side than the worship of full-time scholars by means of their 
constant Torah study. 
3.2 The theurgical significance of setting times for Torah study. 
Rashaz’s notion of repentance is not confined to the spiritual life of the individual. 
Alongside its personal aspect, repentance also has a theurgical significance: it effects 
a restitution of order in the divine realm by way of restoring the order of the letters 
constituting the divine name.
52
The personal and the theurgical aspects of repentance 
51
TO 80c [Appendix 3]. 
52
“Let us begin with the 
Zohar’
s esoteric interpretation of 
teshuvah. 
[
Teshuvah
] is 
tashuv he 
[“the 
he
is to be returned”]. [The reconnection of] the latter 
he
[to the preceding letter 
vav
] is 
teshuvah tata’ah 
[“lower-level 
teshuvah
”]; [the reconnection of] the former 
he 
[to the precedent letter 
yud
] is 
teshuvah 
‘ila’ah
[“upper-level 
teshuvah
”]. T3, 4:93b, based on Ziii 122a [Appendix 4]. The letters of the 
Tetragrammaton refer to different aspects of the 
sefirotic
tree: 
yud
to 
Hokhmah
, 
he 
to 
Binah
, 
vav
to 
the six lower 
sefirot
(
Hesed, Gevurah
, 
Tif’eret
, 
Netsah
, 
Hod,
and 
Yesod
), and the second 
he 
to the 

---

182 
converge in the commandment of setting times for Torah study. According to 
Tanya
, 
one must overcome one’s nature and join one’s emotional and intellectual attributes 
to their counterparts within the Godhead. In particular, one’s mind and speech should 
cleave to “God’s word, namely to 
halakhah
.”
53
Overcoming one’s nature also means 
achieving more than one was used to achieve in study, as the Midrash states: “If he 
was accustomed to study one page [of Written Law], let him study two; if he was 
accustomed to study one chapter [of Oral Law], let him study two.”
54
What Rashaz presents in 
Tanya
in general terms as the obligation to increase 
the regular measure of Torah study acquires much more concrete shape in one of his 
discourses, where the “two chapters” are understood as referring to the two times 
[
‘itim
] that one must set for studying Torah: “‘If one was accustomed to study one 
chapter, let him study two’: this stands for setting times for Torah study: [two] times 
indeed.”
55
Given that halakhic material constitutes the divine word, its study and 
recitation bring about the re-unification of the soul, which is the “part of God 
above
,
”
56
with the divine life-force [
hiyut
]. This is identified as a theurgical mode of 
repentance [
teshuvah
], through the reconnection of the letter 
he 
with the rest of the 
divine name. The theurgical process of restoring order in the divine name appears to 
be available to practically everyone and is actually commanded of everyone. Thus an 
activity, previously reserved for pneumatic figures immersed in mystical texts and 
practices, appears here to be open to any literate person through the routine study of 
normative halakhic literature.
57
This re-evaluation of the laymen’s study at fixed times may seem 
paradoxical, given the prevalent image of Habad as an intellectualist Hasidic 
lowest 
sefirah
Malkhut
, identified with the divine speech. See T3, 4:94b. For a scholarly discussion of 
this motif, see Foxbrunner, 
Habad
, 133-36. 
53
T3, 9:98b. See also T3, 8:98b, where Rashaz presents Torah study as the “upper-level” 
teshuvah
, 
following Ziii, 123a. 
54
Vayikra rabah
,
 
25:1 [Appendix 5].
55
MAHZ
Ketuvim
,
 
i, 17; in a similar vein, Maharsha interprets the plural of 
‘itim
as referring to 
morning and evening study. See Eidels, 
Hidushei agadot
18b, to 
b
Shabat 31a. 
56
Jb 31:2. On the soul as part of God, see for example T1, 2:6a, 35:44a; TO 16a; LT 
Va-yikra
2d. 
57
On the possibility of achieveing mystical union through halakhic study, see Loewenthal, “Finding 
the Radiance,” 301-08. 

---

183 
school,
58
yet it is compatible with Rashaz’s broader enterprise, intended to empower 
ba‘alei mitsvot
, the less scholarly and the supposedly lower class members of Jewish 
society. In numerous places throughout his writings, Rashaz cites or refers to the 
talmudic saying: “Where penitents [
ba‘alei teshuvah
] stand, not even the perfectly 
righteous can stand” [
b
Berakhot 34b], and it is clear that
he saw in fixing times for 
Torah study a mode of repentance. Setting times for study similarly serves as a 
means of elevating the ordinary person above the righteous and the scholarly, and of 
drawing attention to the more intense ecstasy [
hitpa‘alut
] and greater subjugation of 
the evil side that the layperson can achieve.