Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

ratso va-shov
inherent in every on 
of the commandments. In the ritual of the red heifer, the ash from the cremation of 
the heifer stands for 
ratso
while the purifying running water [
mayim hayim
, Num 
19:17] stands for 
shov
. The significance Rashaz ascribes to the red heifer is rooted 
not only in the structure but also in the purpose of the ritual, which he understands in 
much broader terms than his biblical source. While the purpose of the biblical ritual 
is to cleanse the Israelite who has come into contact with a corpse, Rashaz removes 
the red heifer from this halakhic context, transposing it to the theosophic structure of 
the kabbalistic world: the “impurity of the corpse” [
tum’at ha-met
] becomes the 
impurity of the seven Edomite kings, whose death symbolises the breaking of the 
vessels.
136
The red heifer cleanses the cosmic impurity caused by the breaking of the 
vessels and is thus invested with a redemptive value. In addition, the cremation of 
the heifer stands for the love of God as expressed by His mode of 
ratso
137
– the living 
water of Torah, while the vessels in which the ashes and the water are mixed stand 
for the commandments and the letters that make up the text of the Torah.
138
Hence 
Rashaz successfully reinterprets a ritual that has little relevance to daily life in exile 
as an allegory of the purifying and redeeming powers of both Torah study and the 
performance of the commandments. 
The redemptive role of the commandments starts with the individual. The 
commandments have a transformative value, and this idea is further reinforced by 
the correlation between the commandments and the body parts.
139
By performing all 
the six hundred and thirteen precepts of the Torah one imbues one’s body with 
holiness.
140
Moreover, the division of the commandments into positive and negative 
135
LT 
Hukat
56a-c. 
136
LT 
Hukat
56d. 
137
Rashaz refers here to a verse from 
Sefer yetsirah 
1:8: “If thy heart fail thee [
‘im rats libekha
] return 
to thy place,” which originally refers to 
ratso va-shov
in Ezekiel 1:14. 
138
The letters are called vessels as they contain the light of 
Ein Sof
. See LT 
Hukat
57a. 
139
b
Makot 23b. See also Urbach, 
The Sages
, 342-3. 
140
The development of this concept in the teachings of the last Habad rebbe, Menahem Mendel 
Schneerson, is discussed in detail by Elliot Wolfson (
Open Secret
, 130-60), in the chapter entitled 
“Semiotic Transsubstantion of the Somatics”. 

---

104 
is reflected in their different functions within the body, and it is for this reason that 
one is obliged to perform all 613 commandments: 
The 365 negative commandments [are performed in order] to restrain the 365 
blood vessels of the vital soul in the body, and to prevent them from drawing 
nourishment or vitality from one of the three completely unclean 
kelipot 
by 
means of that sin, [...] as Scripture says: “I will cause the unclean spirit to 
pass out of the land” [Zec 13:2]. The 248 positive commandments [are 
performed in order] to draw the light of the blessed 
Ein Sof
earthwards, so as 
to raise up and bind to Him, and to unite with Him in perfect union, the 
totality of the vital soul, which resides in the 248 organs of the body, so that 
they would become one, in accordance with His blessed will to have an 
abode amongst the lowest creatures [