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one of them to sleep, eating, drinking and the like, but he should funny. It is something so pathetic that it has no equal. It means that
devote them to learning Torah and words of wisdom. The sages a person is living in an exceedingly deep state of falsehood.
said that the song of Torah exists only at night. As the verse states,
‘Arise, sing at night’ (Lamentations 2:19). Also, when a person learns Your attitude to sleep should be as follows: if you can sleep six
Torah at night, a thread of kindness is extended over him during hours and function throughout the day—one hour of sleep for
the day. Thus, the verse states, ‘By day Hashem will command His every three hours of being awake—why should you sleep more
kindness, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of and lose out? The less sleep, the more blessing, significance and
my life’ (Psalms 4:9). And fire will consume every house in which life you gain. Therefore, every person must carefully consider the
words of Torah are not heard at night.” These words are stated as minimal amount of sleep that he needs to function properly, and
the halachah in the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 246). Since this is he should engage in much prayer that during those hours he will
the halachah, that means that everyone has the ability to conduct receive everything necessary for his health and for his physical
himself in this manner, if only he wants to. and spiritual welfare, and that he should not, heaven forbid, lose
precious hours in unnecessary sleep. In its entirety, the craving
Making up Hours for sleep is a lack of knowledge of the first order, showing that a
person lacks a purpose in life. When a person has a purpose, every
moment of life is precious to him, and his entire aspiration is to
The Gemara tells that Rav Chisda would sit and learn long hours
without going to sleep. His daughter once asked him: “Don’t you sleep as little as possible.
want to sleep a little?” He told her: “In a little while, [after I leave
this world,] I will have much time to sleep and little time to learn We Take an Accounting
Torah. Therefore, now that I can learn Torah, I do not have time
to sleep, and I will make up my hours of sleep in the grave” (Eiruvin Even a few extra minutes of sleep constitute a major loss. If a
65a). person regularly sleeps an extra ten minutes a night, he will lose
more than 60 hours a year. In the course of 70 years, he will lose
There is an excellent saying: “If a person makes his bed like a about half a year of his life: 177 entire days, which constitute
grave, his grave will be like a bed. But if his bed is a bed, then his more than 4,200 hours—thousands of precious hours of Torah
grave will be a grave.” That is to say, if a person sees his bed as a and prayer, of learning with his children, of performing good deeds
grave and flees from it as one flees death, he will attain true life, and mitzvot, and more. If a person sleeps an extra hour every day,
and afterwards, when he lies in the grave, he will have no reason to he will lose three years of his life. And if he sleeps an extra two
fear harmful forces, and he will truly attain proper rest. But if he hours, that will come to six years. People who sleep even more
thinks that his bed is the place of his ultimate tranquility, afterwards than that lose decades of years. How much could a person earn
in the grave he will necessarily suffer a great deal. And it is told during those years, how much he could serve Hashem during those
that when Rabbi Zusia would wake up he would immediately tell years! Oversleeping is literally suicide.
himself: “Zusia, Zusia, you have slept enough. You will make it up
in the grave.” Thus, it is clear that our attitude to sleep must be an attitude
of accepting the King’s decree. We do not need to treat sleep
Good Night as a holy object that must be adorned and elaborated upon. It is
enough for us to do what we are obligated to do. There is no point
in volunteering to contribute extra hours, not even an extra few
A verse in Psalms (127:2) states, “He gives his beloved one
sleep.” This is the only place in Tanach in which the word “sleep”—