Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

 
5. Study That Follows Prayer. 
Halakhah
, which dictates study in everyone’s daily routine, encourages the 
undertaking of study immediately following prayer, on the assumption that otherwise 
one would be liable to be overwhelmed by mundane responsibilities and forget about 
learning. The pragmatic considerations that underlie the halakhic regulations acquire 
a variety of other explanations in Rashaz’s mystical doctrine, connected to the 
theurgical purposes of Torah study. These include the idea that prayer is a necessary 
preparation for study by way of the 
ratso 
that precedes 
shov
, and that the Torah is a 
factor that perpetuates the self-nullification and union with God that are achieved 
during prayer.
95
5.1 Prayer as preparation for Torah study. 
The assumption that prayer is an appropriate preparation for Torah study is 
compatible with the halakhic call to set times for study immediately after prayer on 
pragmatic grounds. According to Rashaz, Torah study and other religious obligations 
are interdependent: Torah study cannot function on its own but should form part of a 
harmonious, multifaceted regimen of divine service. Moreover, study 
li-shmah
demands self-nullification. According to Rashaz, “The Holy One, blessed be He, 
does not come to rest on someone who is an existent being [
yesh ve-davar
], for I and 
95
On the ideological implication of setting study sessions immediately after prayer, see Hallamish, 
“Mishnato ha-‘iyunit,” 257-58, where he presents Torah study at set times as a finalization of the 
process which begins with prayer and effects the spiritualization of the self. Foxbrunner rejects 
Hallamish’s speculation on the grounds that Rashaz’s emphasis on setting time for study immediately 
following the morning prayers “is based wholly on explicit statements to that effect in the Talmud, 
Tur
, 
Shulhan ‘arukh
(
Habad
, 219).” However, Hallamish does not question the halakhic origins of the 
principle and points out himself its halakhic formulations in Rashaz’s 
Shulhan ‘arukh
. The talmudic 
and halakhic statements do not render invalid Rashaz’s far-reaching ideological implications of this 
principle as outlined by Hallamish. 

---

193 
he [
ani ve-hu
] cannot dwell [together] in the world.”
96
Nullification of the self [
ani
], 
equivalent on the spiritual level to self-sacrifice [
mesirat nefesh
] in sanctification of 
the Divine Name [
kidush ha-Shem
], is achievable through the recitation of the 
Shema’ 
and, more generally, prayer.
97
Following the nullification of one’s will, one 
substitutes it with God’s will, which is embodied in the words of the Torah, thus 
achieving a level similar to that of Moses when “the 
Shekhinah 
was speaking from 
his throat.”
98
According to 
Tanya
, the blessings of prayer repeat the gesture of 
returning one’s soul to God and reuniting it with Him; they function as necessary 
preparation for the 
beinonim 
to attain the intention 
li
-
shmah
. Only after such a 
preparation can one begin one’s regular course of study [
shi‘ur kavu‘a
]. This 
preparation should be repeated whenever one sits down to learn the Torah.
99
The interdependence of Torah and prayer is set forth in numerous places in 
Rashaz’s lore, as the relation between ascending and descending, or the lower and 
upper “arousal” [