Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Da’at
, 
Tif’eret
and 
Yesod
. 
47
See for example TO 41a. 
48
LT 
Be-ha’alotekha
35d. 

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78 
Canaanaite nations.
49
Here, however, what distinguishes the Babylonian exile from 
all other exiles is not the role it plays in the process of purification. Rather, Rashaz 
singles it out to explain why it lasted for no more than seventy years (the seven 
attributes of the world of husks multiplied by ten [as each is itself composed of ten 
attributes] yielding a total of seventy),
50
while the exile occasioned by Edom 
(Rome), stretching to his own lifetime, had already lasted for seventeen centuries, 
even though the sins for which it was the punishment were not as grave as the sins 
that led to the Babylonian exile.
51 
Persia and Media feature in Rashaz’s teachings not only as the impure forces 
that mirror the divine agencies of creation. Sometimes, conversely, they stand for the 
powers of the 
Shekhinah
itself, Media as
 
the external and Persia as the internal lights 
of the divinity [
orot makifim 
and
orot penimiyim
]. These two types of light, which 
descended into the lower worlds together with the 
Shekhinah 
when she accompanied 
Israel on their exile, became
 
embodied, respectively, in the Torah and in the 
commandments. Rashaz supports this idea with an invented etymology of the names 
Persia and Media, whereby Persia [
Paras
] derives from the Hebrew word 
perusah
meaning a slice of bread; just as the bread nourishes the body, so the Torah nourishes 
the soul, and just as the bread must be sliced and divided into small pieces to be fit 
for consumption, so the Torah, as it descends to the lower worlds together with the 
internal lights, must be divided and distributed through numerous levels to provide 
49
See LT 
Matot
85d-86a. Rashaz uses here the term attributes [
midot
] in order to link the wickedness 
of the Canaanite nations and the sins of Israel with the construction of the lower and impure world. In 
the kabbalistic symbolism utilised by Rashaz, the three upper 
sefirot
are referred to as the brains 
[
mohin
], and the seven lower 
sefirot
as emotional attributes [
midot
] (see for example T1, 3:7a-b). In 
kabbalistic literature the terms 
sefirot
and 
midot
are often used interchangeably. See Hallamish, 
Introduction, 125; Scholem, 
Kabbalah
, 100. See also 
Seder tefilot
, 189b, where the purification of the 
seven lower 
sefirot
of the world of husks is not associated explicitly with the Babylonian exile. 
Rather, the seven evil 
sefirot
derive from the death of the seven primordial kings and the breaking of 
the vessels. See, for example, MAHZ 
5565
, ii, 774. On the death of the kings in Kabbalah, see 
Wolfson, “Min u-minut,” 254 n. 109, and the literature listed there. 
50
LT 
Matot 
85d-86a; see also Foxbrunner, 
Habad
, 90. 
51
According to the Sages, the first Temple was destroyed as retribution for the cardinal sins of 
idolatry, incest and bloodshed, whereas the second Temple was destroyed for the lesser sin of baseless 
hatred [
b
Yoma 9b]. 

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79 
them with spiritual nourishment. In turn, Rashaz derives the name Media [