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One time, Rabbi Nachman spoke with us a great Know, dear reader, that you can sleep much less—but do Moharan I 60). Therefore, the great accusation of the evil Haman
deal about the value of hitbodedut, and he praised this not try to do so by force. You must engage in much work against the nation of Israel began with “There is a nation” (Esther
practice extravagantly. He said that it is impossible to on holiness, pray a great deal and engage in the war of the 3:8), which can be translated as “a nation is sleeping”—meaning,
obligate people to engage in this practice more than an will with all your might (as will be explained). state our sages, that he told Achashverosh that the nation of
hour a day, because it is impossible to burden them more Israel is asleep in the sense that it is not performing the Torah’s
than that. But in truth, they should spend the entire We Don’t Want to Sleep commandments (Megillah 13b).
day doing hitbodedut. He spoke a great deal on this Rise Up First to Kill Him
topic, and we heard a few beautiful and lovely talks from Until now, I have demonstrated that sleep does not give life. Now
his holy mouth regarding the value of hitbodedut, which I will return to the topic and explain why the concepts of tiredness
Every morning we recite the baraita listing a number of actions
is superior to everything…. He spoke at length on this and the urge to sleep are tremendous heresy and irreverence. The that have no measure: whose fruits a person enjoys in this world
concept of “being tired” is extremely negative. The Torah tells that
the entire day. Fortunate is the person who engages in when the evil Esau returned from the field, “he was tired” (Genesis but whose principal remains for him in the world-to-come. One of
this practice. 25:29). Rashi explains that he had returned from murdering, and these actions is “getting up early to go to the study hall.” The main
our sages say that he had transgressed five grave sins that day (Bava thing is to get up early—and that is a great aid to achieve length of
When we feel pleasure in doing the work of the will, our prayer Batra 16b), which may be translated as “You were tired and weary days (Berachot 8a). The greatest service of Hashem is to arise from
receives an entirely new character. It becomes the heart of the and you did not fear God” (Deuteronomy 25:18). sleep. Therefore, Rabbi Nachman said, “The essence of the work
day. It is no longer a frustrating time that we want to end, as of a Jew in the winter is to get up at midnight. And in the summer,
though prayer is a punishment, heaven forbid. On the contrary, Tiredness results comes from a disconnection from Hashem. A when the night is very short [outside the land of Israel], he should
this is when we are awakened from grinding habit and from the person who clings to the Life of lives is alive. And a person must be careful to get up early in the morning, at dawn” (Sichot Haran
necessary circumstances that distance us from our goal. We return have the will to cling to Hashem 24 hours a day. Therefore, I 301).
to ourselves and to our inner being, and we free the true yearning do not like to speak of “sleep,” because sleep is forgetfulness and
of our soul to cling to its Creator. This is the only time that is disconnection from Hashem. The letters of the Hebrew word for The Gemara states a number of times, “If someone comes to kill
ours, in which we can truly be who we are and express our true “sleep,” sheinah, can be rearranged to form the word neshiyah, you, rise up early to kill him.” The holy books state that this alludes
intentions. “forgetfulness.” Why does a person go to sleep? In order to gain to the evil inclination, which comes to kill a person. As the verse
life and strength, and in order to renew his mind. But know that states: “The wicked one looks at the righteous person and seeks to
sleep does not accomplish any of this. It only damages a person and kill him” (Psalms 37:32)—and the Gemara interprets this verse as
disconnects him from Hashem. Therefore, never say, “I am going referring to the evil inclination (Kiddushin 30b). The counsel against
A Personal Request to sleep.” The true description of this part of your life must be: the evil inclination is to “rise up early to kill him.” By waking
“I am going to cling to Hashem”—in the simple sense. What is the up early in the morning with alacrity to serve the Creator, you
rectified aspect of sleep? Absolute clinging to Hashem! overcome and defeat the evil inclination. In accordance with what I
Dear reader, every day you pray three times and you recite a few have explained here, you may understand that the counsel to wake
psalms. Thus, every day thousands of jewels are passing through A person must cling to Hashem by means of the Torah, prayer up is not just one element among others on how to overcome the
your fingers: prayers for learning Torah, for the success of your and keeping the mitzvot. But when he feels that it is hard for him to evil inclination, but it is the essential element, because the essence
children, and for the fulfillment of all of the needs of the entire concentrate on Torah learning and prayer, and therefore he cannot of the inclination is the inclination toward death and sleep—and so
nation of Israel in all areas and across all generations—wonderful cling to Hashem by means of Torah and prayer, he must bond to the essence of overcoming it is waking up early.
explicit requests and wonderful implicit requests. It is a pity that Hashem directly by means of absolute clinging to Hashem. But
day after day passes, and you only read the siddur. It is a pity that the desire to sleep is something very lowly. It means that a person Thus, practically speaking, all service of Hashem consists of
you do not experience the proper taste of prayer. It is a pity that wants to forget and disconnect himself from Hashem, that he wants waking up from sleep. The entire world and its activities are in
you do not build the vessels with which to receive new abundance the category of sleep, and a person’s every movement in serving