October 15, 2024|י"ג תשרי ה' אלפים תשפ"ה Sukkah and Sleeplessness By Rabbi Efrem Goldberg

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When most of us think about or talk about the mitzvah of Sukkah, it’s about eating in the Sukkah.  Indeed, that is the activity in which we recite the beracha of Leishev BaSukkah.  We don’t make a leishev b’sukkah when hanging out, playing a game, learning Torah, or going to sleep in a Sukkah.  And yet, the Halacha is clear that eating is not the most significant thing one does in a Sukkah.  To illustrate, one is allowed to eat achilas arai, an “insignificant” eating like a snack, outside of a Sukkah, but even sheinas arai, a short nap, is forbidden outside of the Sukkah.  (The Rama rules that we are lenient today about sleeping in the Sukkah because of weather and the elements).  When we sleep in a Sukkah, sleep goes from a mundane necessity to a mitzvah, a means of connecting with Hashem.  

In his Emunas Itecha on Sukkos, Rav Moshe Wolfson points to an interesting Halacha.  In instructing the Jewish people about bringing Korbanos to the Beis HaMikdash on the Shalosh Regalim, the pasuk tells us, “וּבִשַּׁלְתָּ֙ וְאָ֣כַלְתָּ֔ בַּמָּק֕וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִבְחַ֛ר ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ בּ֑וֹ וּפָנִ֣יתָ בַבֹּ֔קֶר וְהָלַכְתָּ֖ לְאֹהָלֶֽיךָ׃, You shall cook and eat it at the place that your Hashem will choose; and in the morning you may start back on your journey home.”  When offering a korban in Yerushalayim you have to fulfill a mitzvah of leena, you have to stay over, you can’t leave until the morning.  Rav Wolfson suggests that there is a relatable social principle here: coming to eat and drink and then not staying over is rude.  When we come to the holiest place in the world, into Hashem’s home, we don’t eat and run, we stay over.  Similarly, he says, the Sukkah, wherever it is, is a mini-Mikdash, an embassy of Shechina.  Eat and drink like we would a korban, and then perform leena, stay over, sleep.  Sleeping in the Sukkah is experiencing Divine hospitality and being a gracious guest.  Perhaps we can build upon this idea.

Sleep is necessary, it is non-negotiable.  The world record for staying awake is eleven days. More precisely, the record is 264 hours and 24 minutes without sleep. If you stay up the night of Shavuos and know how you feel in the morning, you can only imagine doing that for 11 days straight.  The record was set in 1965 by Randy Gardner, who was then seventeen years old and apparently wasn’t harmed from the experience.  However, staying awake that long straight is actually dangerous and can cause irreparable harm to the brain which is why the Guinness Book of Records stopped accepting entries for staying awake. 

 

The Gemara in Nedarim (15a) tells us והא"ר יוחנן שבועה שלא אישן שלשה ימים מלקין אותו וישן לאלתר...Rabbi Yochanan said "An oath that I will not sleep for three days" - we punish him since he took an oath in vain and he may sleep immediately.  In other words, the Gemara implies that one can’t stay away for even three straight days.

 

In January of 1788, because of efforts regarding a young Jewish man who had converted to Christianity, the Vilna Gaon was arrested on charges of kidnapping.  On September 15, 1789, the Gaon and others were sentenced to twelve weeks in prison, leaving him incarcerated over Sukkos.  As you can imagine, the Lithuanian prison did not provide a Sukkah.  As mentioned, the Halacha is one cannot even take a nap outside of the Sukkah so what was the Vilna Gaon to do?  Simple.  He decided he wouldn’t sleep the week of Sukkos. Indeed, the sefer Tosefes Ma’aseh Rav, published in 1892, describes that he “walked from one place to another, and held his eyelids open, and made an extraordinary effort not to sleep outside the sukkah – not even a brief nap – until the authorities released him to a sukkah.”

 

Did the Gra really stay awake for a week?  Randy Gardner did for 11 days so who knows, it does appear possible. Without exception, we have all had days, or weeks, or periods where we felt there was so much to do we wish we didn’t have to use time to sleep. No matter how hard we try – maybe we could go three days, eleven days, or somewhere in between, but eventually we all need to sleep.  Why?

 

In Tehillim (3:6) Dovid HaMelech says: אֲנִ֥י שָׁכַ֗בְתִּי וָאִ֫ישָׁ֥נָה הֱקִיצ֑וֹתִי כִּ֖י ה׳ יִסְמְכֵֽנִי׃ , I lie down and sleep and wake again, for Hashem sustains me.  In the next Perek (4:9) he says, בְּשָׁל֣וֹם יַחְדָּו֮ אֶשְׁכְּבָה וְאִ֫ישָׁ֥ן כִּֽי־אַתָּ֣ה ה׳ לְבָדָ֑ד לָ֝בֶ֗טַח תּֽוֹשִׁיבֵֽנִי׃ , Safe and sound, I lie down and sleep, for You alone, Hashem, keep me secure. 

 

Do you know who doesn’t need sleep?  Hashem.  הִנֵּ֣ה לֹֽא־יָ֭נוּם וְלֹ֣א יִישָׁ֑ן שׁ֝וֹמֵ֗ר יִשְׂרָאֵֽל, The guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.  He is infinite, omnipotent, and perfect.  He has no need for sleep, but we do. For Dovid HaMelech, sleep is not a mundane act, but an act of faith.  Sleep is surrender, submission, it reflects the ability - the necessity - to stop working, solving, thinking, perseverating, worrying.  Sleep is our admission, our concession that we cannot constantly be in motion, be productive, be doing.  When we are awake and active, we are wrestling with Hashem, competing for who is in charge, who is in control.  When we go to sleep, we are giving Him the victory, we are relinquishing control and implicitly admitting that we are passengers along for the ride, He is driving the plane.   Sleep is the ultimate act of bitul, of nullification of the self and a beautiful daily act and demonstration of letting go and letting God with the faith that one will wake up and start again. 


The Mishna (Avos 3:4) teaches, רבי חנינא בן חכינאי אומר הנעור בלילה ... הרי זה מתחייב בנפשו one who stays awake at night "is liable with his life." We need sleep because we need to let go, we need to stop, we need to rest and we need to believe. 


Sleep is a daily reminder we are not Him and He is not like us. Sleep is a gift from Hashem, it is an expression of love and affection.  Sleep is an invitation to let go, put everything down, be at peace. Trust in Him, lay your head on the pillow, close your eyes and for a few hours, let go. 

 

This feels particularly important in a time where too many families, too many of our brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing sleepless night after sleepless night. Has a hostage or one of their loved ones slept a full night in a year? How many soldiers are fighting for our freedom and being deprived of sleep because of the physical, mental, and emotional obligations and pressures of war? How many families can’t sleep because they have loved ones on the front lines, or have to wake up in the middle of the night to run to a shelter?

 

There are times to wake up and times we need to embrace sleep, not only the health value but the spiritual and religious value.  On Rosh Hashana, our job was to stop sleepwalking, to wake up, to become active in transforming ourselves. Indeed, the Rambam describes the Shofar as our alarm clock that aroused us from sleep.  The Rama quotes the custom that it is forbidden to sleep during the day on Rosh Hashana.  Now, on Sukkos, we leave the comfort and protection of our home and move into the Sukkah, the shade and shelter of Hashem. 

 

On Sukkos we don’t just sit under the Schach as a demonstration that our faith is in Him, we lie down there, look up through the cracks in the schach to see the stars and the Heavens, we close our eyes, declare, Hashem you win, You are in charge, I am letting go and letting God and we fall asleep.

Elul, Rosh Hashana, Aseres Ymei Tshuva and Yom Kippur we pushed ourselves to wake up.  May we now merit to enjoy righteous acts of sleep, and may Hashem put an end to the sleepless nights too many are experiencing, through a full, complete victory and salvation.