I give many shiurim throughout the week and speak on multiple occasions. My most challenging time slot to give a shiur is Friday night between Kabbalas Shabbos and Maariv. Everyone is tired from a long week and people are struggling to keep their eyes open. My consolation in seeing people dozing off is that I am helping their shalom bayis, as they will come home rested and refreshed and will be focused to enjoy their Shabbos meal!
Dozing off while listening to a shiur is nothing new. The midrash records that the great Rebbe Akiva was giving a shiur and his students started to doze off. Rebbe Akiva posed the following question, seemingly unrelated to his shiur: “Why did Queen Esther merit to rule over 127 provinces?” Rebbe Akiva proceeded to answer that it was because she was the great-great-granddaughter of Sarah, who lived to the age of 127.
Why did Rebbe Akiva ask this random question? How did the above answer reawaken his students? The Chasam Sofer offers a beautiful insight: The Gemara tells that in the future in the days of the Moshiach, Hashem will go to the Avos (patriarchs) and tell them, “Your children have sinned to Me; what shall I do with them?” Avraham will say that they should be destroyed. Yaakov will say the same. Then Hashem will approach Yitzchak. Yitzchak will respond, “Hashem, they’re not just my children, they’re also Your children.” Yitzchak will proceed to negotiate: “Let’s make a calculation: the average person lives 70 years, and for the first 20 years he is not culpable from heaven for his sins. That leaves 50 years of actions for which he may be culpable. Half that time is spent sleeping, leaving 25 years, and half of those are spent praying, eating and tending to one’s bodily needs—so they can’t be included when computing the time of potential sinning. If possible, Hashem, You should consider overlooking their misdeeds, and if they are too great, then I will split their accountability with You.” Hashem accepted the rationale of Yitzchak.
The above sheds light on Rebbe Akiva’s question and answer to his students, and we can see why this would awaken his students. Based on Yitzchak’s calculation, the time a person spends sleeping can’t be considered in the calculation for reward or punishment. So why was Sarah rewarded for the entire 127 years of her life? Sarah should have been rewarded for only half the time, as the time spent sleeping should be deducted!
After the pasuk mentions the number of years Sarah lived, it repeats the words “shnei chayei Sarah, these were the years of Sarah.” Rashi explains that the Torah is teaching us “kulan shavin l’tovah”: Sarah did not just live for 127 years; all of those years were used for a good purpose—not just her daytime hours, but even the other half spent sleeping. Why? Since she was always ready to get up in the middle of the night—be it to take care of her guests or to take care of Yitzchak when he was a baby—she was rewarded for that time as well. Therefore, she was worthy of reward for her entire life, whether awake or asleep. She was always “on call.” As Rebbe Akiva’s students were dozing off, the message he was telling them was that sleeping (even now in his shiur!) can also be rewarded, if their days are otherwise full and focused. Every hour counts.
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto explains that one can transform all their daily mundane activities into mitzvos. Our eating and sleeping—if done to give oneself strength to perform the will of Hashem—become mitzvos.
A close friend of mine told me, “I envy people who can survive on fewer hours of sleep. If I was able to sleep less, I would be able to do so many more good things!” The reality is that a person needs to sleep as much as their body requires. Still, the focus of the purpose of our sleep time is up to us. If we sleep in order to be refreshed for the next day to follow the Torah’s ways, we will receive reward for the entire time we slept.
And all the more so with regard to our daytime activities! If our wakeful hours are spent with the intent of fulfilling Hashem’s will, then everything we do—24/7—is credited for the good.
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the associate rosh yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch, where he leads a multi-level Gemara-learning program. PTI has attracted adult Jews of all ages from all over northern New Jersey for its learning programs. Fees are not charged but any contributions are always welcome. Beyond PTI, Rabbi Bodenheim conducts a weekly beis midrash program with chavrusa learning in Livingston plus a monthly group in West Caldwell. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its Torah classes, visit pti.shulcloud.com.
