Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

or hozer
], and magical, as the strength necessary to 
achieve the purification of the sparks. The passage discloses a broader function of 
Torah study than mere intellectual cognition, and through the idea of study at fixed 
times it finds a way to incorporate the nonscholars’ study into the hasidic mystical 
project. As a result, even apparently futile study at fixed times, by less qualified or 
even ignorant men, who are nevertheless devoted to the halakhic lifestyle, serves a 
purpose complementary to the Torah study of scholars and pneumatics. 
 
4.2 Torah study at set times as an alternative to full-time study. 
In certain cases, when laymen set times for Torah study, their study gains a 
dimension previously reserved for the Torah study of scholars and pneumatics. This 
is expressed, for example, in the idea of the person as a substitute temple for the 
Divine Presence.
70
The hasidic authors based the idea of a human temple on the 
biblical verse: “Let them make me a sanctuary and I will dwell in them” [Ex 25:8]. 
The fact that God had said “in them” [
be-tokham
] — in the people of Israel—instead 
of using the seemingly more suitable “in it” [
be-tokho
] - in the sanctuary - led the 
Safedian kabbalists and the hasidic masters who followed in their footsteps to 
believe that Scripture had actually intended to declare that humans are God’s 
sanctuary [
mikdash
] in the world.
71
In their view, the commandment of building the 
sanctuary is detached from its biblical setting and should be understood as referring 
to everyone, at anytime: “It is not written ‘in it,’ but ‘in them,’ to say that each and 
every Jew must build the tabernacle [
mishkan
] in his soul,” that is, draw down the 
revelation of God through prayer,
72
commandments, and Torah study.
73
Among 
70
On the idea of the human temple in the beginnings of Hasidism, see Margolin, 
Mikdash adam
, 127-
138. 
71
See for example Vidas, 
Reshit hokhmah
, Sha‘ar ha-ahavah, ch. 6, 58a; Alshekh, 
Torat Mosheh 
Alshekh
, Terumah, 148a; Horovits, 
Shenei luhot ha-berit
, Sha‘ar ha-otiyot, ot kuf, 5. 
72
LT 
Naso
20b. 
73
See TO 87a, where commandments are compared to the curtains [
yeri‘ot
] that cover the sanctuary 
on the outside, and Torah study to the instruments of the tabernacle [
kelei ha-mishkan
], the inner 
components of the sanctuary. 

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187 
these three, Torah study occupies a distinguished place, and the talmudic saying that: 
“Since the destruction of the temple, the Holy One blessed be He has nothing in the 
world but four cubits of halakhah alone” [
b
Berakhot 8a], prompted Rashaz to declare 
the Torah “verily the tabernacle of the Holy One, blessed be He.”
74
According to 
Rashaz, drawing down the Divine Presence into the human temple is achievable not 
only by lengthy studies but also by setting times for studying halakhah. 
The process of building a human sanctuary is detailed in 
Tanya
.
75
It follows 
the pattern of the biblical narrative, albeit in a spiritual setting. In the biblical 
narrative, the Israelites were commanded to build the sanctuary when it became clear 
that they were not able to receive divine revelation and remain alive. As this is 
described in the Talmud, during the revelation at Mount Sinai, “at every utterance 
their soul took flight” [
b
Shabat 88b]. Rashaz interprets this to mean that they could 
not handle the ultimate nullification of
existence [