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may He be blessed. But if at times he cannot pray with that Hashem is an awakening from sleep. As the Rambam teaches: “A engaging in a great deal of prayer with the work of the will every
clinging, he should not say, “I will not pray at all,” even person is obligated to be punctilious with the mitzvah of putting up day. Nevertheless, fortunate is the person who is able to keep this
though he cannot have proper deep feeling, he cannot a mezuzah, because it is a constant, universal requirement. When teaching in its plain sense. When a person successfully nullifies his
pray with clinging, and his prayer is not accepted…. He a person enters or exits a room and is reminded of the unity of craving for sleep and wakes up at night, he will be able to implement
should not say that, but always pray. And if he cannot Hashem, the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, he will recall this teaching in its simple sense. Fortunate is he and fortunate is his
pray with proper clinging, he should [at least] pray with His love, and he will awaken from his sleep and his madness portion, and he will see very swift results.
amidst the vanities of temporary matters. He will know that
all his might. That is because, when he later prays with nothing stands forever except the knowledge of the Rock of the Taking Care
proper clinging, he will raise all of his previous prayers world. And immediately he will return to his mindfulness and
with this prayer that he is now praying properly…. proceed upon upright ways” (Hilchot Mezuzah 6:13). Every person must realistically evaluate how many hours of sleep

he needs. A person needs to examine himself and remember clearly
A Question of Life that he should sleep only in order to fulfill his requirement to do
so, and that every extra minute of sleep is a great loss and a type
Higher than Prayer Thus, we see that sleep is absolute evil, and that it does not give of suicide. You must be aware that six hours is enough or more
life. Sleep is solely a decree of the King, a coercive imposition than enough for everyone. That is a generous amount of sleep. A
Also, it is known that all holy matters require preparation. As that we must perform in the right and proper manner. Rabbi Levi person should go beyond that to aspire and attempt to reduce his
Rabbi Nachman states in Sefer Hamidot (Tefillah 23): “Every Yitzchak Bender, an elder of the Breslov Hasidim, used to say that amount of sleep.
holy matter requires preparation and readiness.” In particular, there is a concept of holy sleep (cf. Likutei Halachot). The question is: Also, regarding the hours that you do need to sleep, if you
we require preparation for prayer. As the Gemara tells, the how do we attain holy sleep? Where do we begin?
early pietists would spend an hour before prayer (Berachot 30b). You must know that the central Divine service in regard to sleep approach this in the right way—i.e., if you yearn and pray until
you receive strength to overcome your craving for sleep (as I will
Therefore, Rabbi Nachman placed the above teaching under the
heading of Tefillah—“Prayer.” takes place when a person is going to sleep. Everything depends on discuss at length)—you will see that the Holy One, blessed be He,
what he wants during the minutes in which he first lies down in bed. will renew your mind in six hours, and you will wake up fresh, filled
What is preparation for prayer? Preparation is a person’s intention, If he wants to cling to Hashem, he will receive holy life, mindfulness with enthusiasm and energy. Over time, as you strengthen and
yearnings and thoughts of what he wants to achieve, with Hashem’s and faith, and his sleep will be truly sweet, good and brief. It will sanctify yourself, you will see that you can renew your mind and
help. Therefore, we must pray before the formal prayer that we be a holy sleep. But if he wants to sleep or to rest, heaven forbid, refresh yourself with less and less sleep. You will be able to sleep
will be able to recite the formal prayers properly: “Master of the he removes his mindfulness entirely and remains empty. And when much less and yet be more awake, more focused and more healthy
world, give me the will and desire to pray. Help me stand and the pit is empty and it does not contain water, snakes and scorpions to serve Hashem.
pray at length. Help me not want to get the prayer over with, and enter, and every power of uncleanness takes control of it, and that However, the following basic principle must be stated: we do
not be dismissive of prayer. Help me insert my intent into every affects the person the entire coming day (as will be explained). nothing by force—“because not by force does a man grow
single word.” The more a person is accustomed to experiencing
There exists today an extensive school of thought that focuses on
intentions and good longings throughout the day, the easier it is for the importance of the “quality of sleep”—but that is the quality of mighty” (Samuel I 2:9). It is impossible to fight sleep by force, but
only with will and prayer, only by means of the work of the will.
him to pray. And so Rabbi Nachman teaches in Sefer Hamidot
(ibid. 50): “As a result of a person’s yearning at night for Hashem, death. For our many sins, sleep has turned into a “pleasure” and into I knew a tzaddik who tried to fight against his sleep by force. In
order to keep from dozing off, he would eat and drink many sweet
“quality time.” As I have explained at length, this is a falsehood of
may He be blessed, it is easy for him to pray in the morning.” But the first magnitude—the greatest falsehood of the evil inclination. things. In the end, he did himself a great deal of harm and grew
the principal preparation for prayer should take place right before
prayer. In truth, sleep should be an absolute bond with Hashem. And the sick. If he had known of the way of prayer, he would have reached
quality of a person’s sleep depends solely on the quality of better results with much less effort, and he would have maintained
Preparation itself has its own importance and significance, even his yearning for and bond with the Creator before he fell his health for many years.