Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

‘
ayan,” 28. 
12
Rosman, “‘Al nashim va-hasidut,” 162. On women in 
Shivhei ha-Besht
see Dvir-Goldberg, “ha-
Besht u-‘mahbarto ha-tehorah,’” 45-54. On 
Shivhei ha-Besht
see Rosman, 
Founder of Hasidism
, 143-
155; Etkes, 
The Besht
,
 
203-248.
13
Heilman, 
Bet rabi
, 57b and 92a n. 2. On women in 
Bet rabi
, see Dvir-Goldberg, “Ha-Besht u-
‘mahbarto ha-tehorah,’” 59-61. 
14
Heilman, 
Bet rabi
, 57b; for the letter, see Hillman, 
Igerot Ba‘al ha-Tanya
, 235-6.
15
Mondshine, “Igeret mi-bat Rabenu marat Freyda(?).” See also Loewenthal, “Women and the 
Dialectic,” 21*-22*; Rapoport-Albert, “The Emergence,” 15*; eadem, “On Women in Hasidism,” 518 
n. 41.
16
Heilman, 
Bet rabi
, 54a. For a discussion of Shterna’s personality, see Loewenthal, “Women and the 
Dialectic,” 21*-22*; Rapoport-Albert, “The Emergence,” 56*-57*. 

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210 
with distinguished men,”
17
but there are other hagiographic traditions which claim 
that Rashaz denied the existence of any such strong, spiritual bond between him and 
his wife. The following tale was apparently transmitted by a certain Avraham Abba 
Person, a follower of Menahem Mendel, the Tsemah Tsedek, who is known among 
Habad Hasidim as a repository of hasidic stories. The tale is told in the name of 
Ze’ev Volf Vilenker, who was a follower of Rashaz:
18
Once our Rebbe [Rashaz] overheard the 
rabbanit
[Shterna] sitting and talking 
with her [female] friends, and in the middle of the conversation she said: 
“and mine [that is: my husband, Rashaz] says such and such.” When he heard 
it he called out to her, saying: “what makes me yours? One single 
mitsvah
! 
No, I am not entirely yours!”
19
Contrary to the image of the close relations between Rashaz and Shterna presented 
by Heilman, this tradition, published by Yehoshua Mondshine from manuscript in 
Migdal ‘oz
, shows Rashaz to be rebuking his wife for speaking out in his name, as if 
the marital bond between them gave her special access to her husband’s spirituality 
and wisdom, while in fact this bond was restricted to one commandment only, 
presumably the commandment of “be fruitful and multiply,” or the commandments 
of 
‘onah
(regular conjugal relations). 
Notably, an expanded version of this story appears in 
Ha-yom yom
– a 
collection of Habad sayings and thoughts, published in the early 1940s by Menahem 
Mendel Schneerson: 
Once, as the Alter Rebbe stepped out of his room, he overheard his wife 
remarking to several women, “Mine says…” The Rebbe said: “With one 
mitsvah
I am yours; with how many are we G-d’s!” With these words he fell 
onto the doorpost in 
devekut. 
On “awakening” from the 
devekut
he said: [Sg 
3:11]
 “
Go out and see” 
– 
to step out of self and perceive the Divine comes 
from [the following words in the verse] “daughters of Zion,” 
Malkhut
17
Rapoport-Albert, “The Emergence,” 15*; see also ibid., 57*; eadem, “From Woman as Hasid,” 
436-7. 
18
On A. A. Person, see 
Ha-Tamim
, 6 (1937) 89-90 (312a-b), n. 1. 
19
Mondshine, 
Migdal ‘oz
, 174. [Appendix 1] 

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211 
arousing 
Ze‘ir anpin
. The Future will bring the fulfilment of [Prv 12:4] “A 
virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.”
20
This version of the story introduces the mystical dimension, absent from the