Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

roshem
] of the nullification of 
Shmoneh ‘esreh 
set and affixed, so it will never 
be shaken, every day in his Torah studies,” [Appendix 11] and the discussion of this passage in 
Hallamish, “Mishnato ha-‘iyunit,” 257-258. 
108
TO 28d; see also T1, 12:16b-17a.
109
On twofold ecstasy in Rashaz, see Wolfson, 
Open Secret
, 145; idem, “Oneiric Imagination,” 141. 

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196 
materiality, and bestows lasting unity with God in the material world.
110
The 
principle that Israel, Torah, and God are a unity is used to present the way to 
perpetuate self-nullification through Torah study.
111
However, the unity is 
understood as an obligation one should strive for rather than a description of the 
actual state of things. Accordingly, a person who studies Torah and puts its laws into 
practice nullifies his will before the will of God,
112
and even when he is busy with 
his daily concerns, he does not break his communion with God.
113
Here too, prayer 
plays a preparatory role, as substituting one’s will with the divine will requires of the 
ordinary person that he transcend his nature, and prayer arouses the hidden love 
concealed in the heart of every Jew, a love that surmounts his nature.
114
Obviously, 
one may choose not to study immediately after prayer, and return to study later in the 
day, but in that case, one loses the state of love achieved during prayer, and moves 
away from God.
115
Rashaz continued to elucidate the essential difference between Torah study 
and prayer that determines whether the 
devekut
they engender is temporary or 
perpetual. According to one explanation, the union with the divine can be 
perpetuated by memorization of the words of the Torah. Since “Torah and the Holy 
One, blessed be He, are one,” when a person has the words of the Torah “carved in 
the mind of his memory which is in his soul,” it is as if he is united with God 
Himself, even if he is engaged in mundane occupations.
116
110
On Habad worship through corporeality, see Wolfson, 
Open Secret
, 138-140. 
111
On the origins of the expression see Tishby, 
Hikrei kabalah
, 3.941-953, where he corrects the 
common erroneous attribution of the expression to the 
Zohar
by pointing out to its origin in Moshe 
Hayim Luzzatto’s writings. 
112
Based on 
m
Avot
 
2:4. 
113
LT 
Shir ha-shirim
25d-26a; on the mystical role of ritual routine, see Wolfson, 
Open Secret
, 74: 
“Indeed, even the minimal halakhic routine should and can be endowed with this mystical valence 
predicated on the consubstantiality of God and the Jewish soul.” 
114
LT 
Ba-midbar
13d. 
115
See LT 
Tavo
43a. 
116
LT 
Kedoshim
30d. Ideally, everyone ought to memorize the entire Written and Oral Torah. 
However, because of the “affliction of the times, shortness of the comprehending consciousness and 

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197 
According to another explanation, the difference between these two modes of 
worship lies in their different ontological features. The love engendered by prayer 
ceases, for prayer is time-bound, whereas the Torah is above the dimension of 
time.
117
The Torah itself is eternal,
118
and therefore Torah study provides a glimpse 
into eternity. The words of Torah recited by a student are the very same words that 
were spoken to Moses on Mount Sinai:
Even though the Torah was given in time and place, and it has been already 
three thousand years since the Torah was given, it shall be in your eyes as if 
it was given verily this day [