I. A Hard Day’s Night
The Wall Street Journal recently published an expose on Bank of America for overworking employees. One investment banker recently died from a blood clot after working three all-nighters in a row. In response to the article, the bank communicated to employees and managers that people are only allowed to work up to 100 hours a week and must have Saturday off. While investment bankers are notorious for having to pull all-nighters, they are not the only professionals who do so. Law firms also have a reputation for requiring all-nighters. I’m neither a lawyer nor an investment banker, but I have had to work all night in the office and on many occasions well past midnight. This raises many halachic questions, some discussed in the context of all night learning on Shavuos but some only addressed separately. In halachic literature, this issue is discussed particularly regarding soldiers who often have to engage in missions or work guard duty through the night. In the IDF, they call a full night duty a “white night (laylah lavan).”
There seems to be a Talmudic precedent for pulling an all-nighter. The Gemara (Zevachim 19b-20b) discusses whether linah (sleep) invalidates the sanctification of hands and feet. Meaning, if a kohen works in the Temple all night, when the sun rises does he have to once again perform the ceremonial washing of his hands and feet (kiddush yadayim ve-raglayim) or does the washing from the previous day still apply? However, this seems to be only a theoretical discussion. On a biblical level, sacrificial work in the Temple can continue throughout the night. The remaining animals can be placed on the altar and the sacrificial meat can be eaten all night. In practice, though, the sages prohibited work in the Temple after midnight in order to prevent slippage into the morning (Berachos 2a). While this was instituted for the sake of the work and not the workers, the net effect is that sages enacted protection for the priestly workers that generally prevents all-nighters.
II. Prayers
I’d like to discuss here a few halachic issues related to working all night. Even when you work, you still have to pray. Once you realize that you will not return home in time for Maariv, you should pray Maariv at work. If there is a minyan nearby that you can attend, obviously you should make every effort to do so. Sometimes you are so busy that you cannot leave for a minyan. However, you should be able to excuse yourself for a few minutes to find some place quiet to pray. If you cannot attend a minyan, you should pray at the same time as a minyan. If you cannot do that, you should pray as soon as possible. If not, you should choose a time and set an alarm for it. The sages decreed that the latest you can say Shema is midnight (or 1am in Daylight Savings Time) but if you miss that deadline, you can pray all night (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 235:3). A soldier involved in security actions can say a minimal prayer (detailed by Rav Yosef Tzvi Rimon in Halacha Mi-Mkorah: Tzava, vol. 1, p. 116), but an office worker is obligated in full prayer (Rav Yitzchak Fuchs, Tefillah Ke-Hilchasah 27:23).
When morning comes, you have to pray Shacharis. A woman who normally recites a brief statement of prayer should do that after dawn. If she normally says full prayers, which is the standard halachic view, then like a man she must pray at or after sunrise. Some business districts have morning minyanim. If you can attend one of those, that is best. If not, the ideal is to start prayers before sunrise so you reach the Amidah at sunrise. If you cannot do this, you should try to pray at the same time as a minyan. If none of these options are available given your circumstances, you should try to pray as soon as possible after sunrise (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 89:1). If you have a tallis and tefillin with you, you should put them on for prayer. If not, you should pray without them and make sure to put them on later in the day and say Shema while wearing them (Tefillah Ke-Hilchasah 3:18 n. 43). Someone in a profession with occasional or frequent all-nighters should try to keep an extra set of tallis and tefillin in his office. If you are so busy that you cannot spare even 15-30 minutes for a super-quick Shacharis, then you should recite Shema as soon as possible and pray when you have a little more time. This is unlikely in most circumstances because physically people need short breaks for bathroom or coffee. Take a break for prayer.
III. Handwashing and Blessings
When you wake up in the morning, you wash your hands ritually three times from a cup. There is a debate whether someone who did not sleep needs to wash his hands in the morning. Because of this disagreement, the best practice is to wash your hands but not recite the blessing due to doubt. For Ashkenazim, everyone agrees that once you go to the bathroom, you can say the blessing. Therefore, once the sun rises, you should go to the bathroom and ritually wash your hands three times from a cup. Then, when you leave the bathroom, you recite the blessing on handwashing (Mishnah Berurah 4:30). Sephardim should not rely on using the bathroom and should wash without a blessing (Rav Zechariah Ben Shlomo, Hilchos Tzava 10:7).
Every morning, we recite initial blessings that mark the milestones of our awakening and functioning. The first is “Elokai Neshama” and the rest are called Birkos Ha-Shachar. The first and last blessings are specifically about waking up and therefore pose a challenge to someone who did not sleep at night. While some authorities question whether someone who did not sleep may recite these blessings, the consensus is that these are standard blessings that everyone recites every day as part of the prayer services. The Ashkenazic custom is to try to fulfill all opinions by hearing the blessings from someone who slept. If you are in the office or out in the field, this usually is not possible. If so, you can recite all these blessings yourself after dawn (Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, Kovetz Halachos, Sefiras Ha-Omer 11:20; Rav Yosef Tzvi Rimon, Halacha My-Mkorah: Tzava, vol. 1, p. 47). Sephardim may recite them earlier. If you know you will be pulling an all-nighter—whether at work, in the army or on Shavuos—you should recite these specific blessings after midnight (Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, Ma’amar Mordechai, Le-Mo’adim U-Le-Yamim 22:32).
There is likewise a major debate whether the blessings on Torah depend on sleep or were established for each day (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 47:11-12 and commentaries). Sephardim follow the view that you recite the blessing each day regardless of sleep (Rav Ovadiah Yosef, Yabi’a Omer 5:6; Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, op. cit.). Ashkenazim follow both views. Therefore, someone Ashkenazi who was awake all night should preferably hear the blessings on the Torah from someone who slept or from a Sephardi. Absent that, when he recites the blessing before Shema, he should have in mind that it should count as the blessing on the Torah and then after finishing his prayers, he should learn some Torah, e.g. a Mishna in Pirkei Avos (Mishnah Berurah 47:28).
When a couple is first married, the Torah requires the husband to refrain from travel for a year: “he shall be free for his home one year and he shall bring joy to the wife he married” (Deut. 24:5). Rav Moshe Sofer (19th c., Hungary) was asked whether someone recently married can travel on business in order to support his wife and hopefully future family. Rav Sofer replies that a new husband is allowed to travel for a mitzvah. Since earning a living is a mitzvah, he may go on a necessary business trip (Responsa Chasam Sofer, Even Ha-Ezer, vol. 2 no. 155). Sometimes earning a living requires sacrifice and tremendous effort. In such times, we do what we need to do and make sure we still meticulously fulfill the mitzvos to the best of our ability.
Rabbi Gil Student is editor of Torahmusings.com
