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holy sleep. When a person enjoys such sleep even for a short period and of how they may make use of these precious hours to renew for You at midnight” (Isaiah 26:9), in order to run after
of time, it gives the entire day force and vitality. And the tzaddikim their service of Hashem. You and not to be enticed after another category—that
who attained such sleep would sleep very little. of the unclean husks….
The holy Zohar states unequivocally that the soul can gaze upon
Mighty as a Lion the pleasantness of the King and visit His palace only when it clings This awesome passage from the Zohar explains that sleep
to the intent to do so with supernal longing. The Matok Midevash constitutes a tremendous danger. During sleep, the nefesh has two
brings support for that from the verse, “My nefesh has yearned
We must conscript all of our fear of heaven at the time that we possibilities: either to cling to the unclean husks and wander about
go to sleep, and go to sleep like a lion! The first paragraph in the and also expired for the courtyards of Hashem” (Psalms 84:3). The among them the entire night (following which this person awakens
nefesh, which is on the level of yearning, merits to come to the
Shulchan Aruch states, “A person should gather his might like a accordingly), or to cling to and see the pleasantness of Hashem and
lion to rise in the morning to engage in the service of his Creator.” courtyards of Hashem. In accordance with that, I have explained visit His palace!
in this chapter that we need to muster great strength at the time of
What is meant by “a person should gather his might”? He must sleep so that we will fall asleep in the midst of strong yearning and
gather his might to overcome the urge to sleep. When does a person According to the Zohar, when a person is not deserving of
need to gather strength? When he is going to engage in battle. The longing for Hashem. We must battle to attain that, so that no desire holy sleep, his soul rises to the unclean camps and clings to them.
to sleep will enter into us. This passage explains that only when a
great war of life is the war of the will. Which do you prefer: to sleep Unfortunately, that causes many psychological problems and
or to serve Hashem and cling to Him? The war begins at night. person has a single intent—the intent to come close to the mental distress. Sometimes a person wakes up in the morning
Holy One, blessed be He, and to cling to Him—only then
I have yet to see a donkey that went to sleep and got up in the does his soul rise to its root. And that sleep is not sleep at all depressed and anxious, with darkness and fears clinging to him, in
morning turned into a lion. Whoever you are when you go to sleep, the most literal sense. More than once I have met ordinary people
that is who you will be when you wake up. A person who wants to but solely clinging to Hashem. who suddenly, in the midst of their lives, grow confused. They
gather strength to wake up like a lion must gather strength to The holy Ari teaches that during sleep at night, the ruach clings awaken with anxieties that cling to them in a diseased fashion, and
go to sleep like a lion. He must gather his strength against the evil absolutely to its source. The ruach rectifies the nefesh, and as a they do not understand where this comes from. According to what
inclination, which is the craving for sleep. If he does not gather his result a person attains the level of the ruach, which is higher than we have learned here, this results from these unclean husks that
strength against it, it will gather its strength against him. He must the level of the nefesh: “As a result of the sleep of the night, the tell the soul falsehoods and to which it clings. Thus, sleep is truly a
acquire strength in this war, in which he dedicates his holy will to nefesh yearns for Him, may He be blessed, and rises to Him in the terrible danger. We must certainly inspire ourselves to engage in the
cling to Hashem. work of the will during sleep!
secret…. And since it rises with that craving and yearning, it remains
above and does not return. And with the coming of the morning But the aspect of good is always stronger than that of evil. When
In accordance with that, we may understand the Rema’s comment
on this statement of the Shulchan Aruch: “When a person lies when I awaken, then ‘with my ruach within me I beseech You’ the soul experiences the taste of clinging to the light of Hashem,
(Isaiah 26:9).” And the Ari describes the tremendous rectifications
down in bed, he must know before Whom he is lying down.” brought about by means of proper sleep. when it takes pleasure in seeing the pleasure of Hashem and visiting
One may ask what the relevance of this is here. The Shulchan His palace, after it wakes up, a taste of “more” remains with it, and
Aruch is speaking about getting up early in the morning, not about Rabbi Moshe Dovid Valli states in his commentary on Proverbs: it experiences great yearning and longing to be close to Hashem.
going to sleep. Apparently, the Rema should have inserted his
comment in the section dealing with the halachot apropos to going When a person attains holy mindfulness because of his This passage of the Zohar sums up clearly the entire topic of
to sleep—i.e., the halachot of the Bedtime Sh’ma. clinging [to Hashem], although it leaves him when he sleep. It explains the great mystery within sleep. Therefore, before
Rabbi Shimon began speaking these words, he said, “I am surprised
But a person who studies the complete comment of the Rema will lies down [to sleep], it still surrounds him and guards that people aren’t careful to know the words of the Torah and to
appreciate the depth of his intention. The Rema writes: him. And thus he laughs at fear and is not afraid. As know what maintains their existence!” People go to sleep every
the verse states: “When you lie down, you will not night without understanding and without feeling what awaits them
The verse, “I have placed Hashem before me always” fear” (Proverbs 3:24). On the contrary, the power of the after they fall asleep. They do not take heed of the danger in sleep
is a great principle in the Torah and a central component 15 mindfulness itself that is surrounding him will sweeten