Zalman of Liadi, was born on the 18th day of Elul in 1745 (September 4). Kabbalah teaches that the yarthzeit of a Tzaddik (righteous person) causes the spiritual revelation and ascent of their life's spiritual service, the ascent of the "feminine waters" the Tzaddik illuminated. Anyone who attaches themselves to the teachings and influence of the Tzaddik receives from their illumination and blessing on the yartzheit. In the Kabbalistic scheme, this "arousal from below" elicited the "arousal of God from above" to descend "masculine waters" by the descent of the souls on this date, later on, of the Baal Shem Tov and Schneur Zalman of Liadi. Kabbalah finds an allusion to the deeper aspects of this structure, including the essence of the different spiritual teachings of these three figures, in a Scriptural verse that relates to the mystical meaning of the 18th of Elul. Photo gallery See also Notes Jewish theology Kabbalah Sephirot Hebrew words and phrases Kabbalistic words and phrases Light and religion