Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi The Alter Rebbe Parshat Ki-Teze 5565-1805 (1) first version

Indented text by the translator

Time Up

Two worlds up, the ratio is increased to six Earth years to one higher-higher-world day. Still higher, 100 Earth years correspond to one higher-higher-higher-world day. And so it goes until, at the highest level in which time exists, 1,000 Earth years equal one day.

            This being said, time is present in each of these worlds. Although a huge gap of value distinguishes Emanation’s one day from Earth’s 1,000 years, nonetheless, the term “one day” remains a valid description of time. Relative to the lower worlds, Emanation’s comprehensive integration is viewed as being “above their time.” But it is still time.

Time In

Time’s ascending interinclusion brings to mind the talmudic principle: “There is nothing that a detail possesses which isn’t contained within its generalization.” The Mishnah, for example, is regarded as a generalization; the Talmud, which explains the Mishnah, is viewed as its specification. It’s true that innumerable legal opinions and facts are found in the Talmud. Nonetheless, none of these details are new; they all existed within the Mishnah. It’s only that, in the Talmud, they emerge from a hitherto concealed state.

Time Out

In a similar manner, we can now understand how time divides into subunits as it descends from world to world. Time’s last stop is in the spiritual “chambers” of the world of Action. There, it manifests the concluding set of details. They materialized from the state of generalization extant in the world immediately above Action.

            And that generalization is considered a mere detail relative to the world above it. This series of ascending details-generalizations continues all the way up to the six days of Emanation. They are called days in relation to their position in the world of Emanation, yet are simultaneously viewed as generalizations, since each one contains 1,000 “lower” years of the three lower worlds of Creation, Formation, and Action.

Baal Shem Seer

Now we can understand how the Baal Shem Tov saw what would transpire 10 years in the future. His soul didn’t originate from the initial generality which preceded all others—Primordial Man. Nonetheless, the chamber of the world of Formation also includes numerous years, which will occur later in the lower world of Action. When the Baal Shem Tov’s soul ascended to Formation, he grasped there what would ultimately transpire here. For the past and future of the world of Action are found within Formation’s chambers.

References

Time In

“There is nothing that a detail possesses which isn’t contained within …” The Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Shavuot, page 15, side b.

The Mishnah, for example, is regarded as a generalization

Maimonides’s commentary to the Mishnah, Introduction.

the Talmud, which explains the Mishnah, is viewed as its specification

Rashi on The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chagigah, page 10, side a.

Time Out

the spiritual “chambers” of the world of Action

Eitz Chaim, portal 42, chapter 3.

the three lower worlds

Idra Rabba, page 132, side a.

of Creation, Formation, and Action

The Book of Isaiah, chapter 43, verse 7;

The Second Book of the Zohar, page 192, side b;

Tikunei Zohar, chapter 70, page 138, side b.