May One Sleep on Rosh Hashana? By Rabbi Biyomin Radner

by Rabbi Binyomin Radner. The Rema, O.C. 583:2 writes that there is a custom not to sleep during the day on Rosh Hashana and that this is a proper custom. This is based on a Yerushalmi which says that one who sleeps on Rosh Hashana his mazel will sleep.

The Bach, O.C. 597:1 states as follows, “The Yerushalmi which says not to sleep on Rosh Hashana is based on the Pasuk, “Uru yeshainim mishinaschem- Awake oh sleepy ones from your slumber”. Meaning how can someone go to sleep while being judged with his life is hanging in the balance?  Additionally it shows laziness. However the Maharam  MiRutenberg would in fact sleep on Rosh Hashana, like on any other Yom Tov.”

The Mogain Avrohom O.C. 583:6 notes that the AriZal said that it is permitted to sleep in the afternoon after chatzos. However one who is awake but squanders away his time, it is as if he is sleeping.

The Chayei Adam 139:11 says that after the Yom Tov meal one should preferably go to learn. But if it is very hard for him to stay awake, then he may rest a bit if he needs it.

The Shaar Hatziyon 583:10 notes that this is because in extenuating circumstances we can certainly rely on the Maharam who slept on Rosh Hashana.

Remarkable to note on this topic is that although this passage in the Yerushalmi that ‘One who sleeps on Rosh Hashana his mazel will sleep’ is cited by Rema and many Poskim, there are several Achronim who question whether this passage in the Yerushalmi even exists:

The Aruch Hashulchan, O.C. 597:2 cites this custom from the Yerushalmi not to sleep during the day on the first day of Rosh Hashana but says that it is not known where this passage is. Then he writes that the AriZal was not concerned with it and said that one may in fact go to sleep in the afternoon.                                                                                                     It would seem that Aruch Hashulchan understood that the AriZal was not concerned with this passage in the Yerushalmi specifically due to the nature of its questionable authenticity.                                                                                                                                                                 (Interestingly, later on the Aruch Hashulchan, O.C. 583:4 cites this passage from the Yerushalmi again, but for some reason does not dismiss it there or question its authenticity.)                                          

The Maharatz Chiyus, Megillah 12b gives a list of various quotes that are supposedly in the Yerushalmi, and yet maintains that they are nowhere to be found. This passage that ‘One who sleeps on Rosh Hashana his mazel will sleep’ is one of the things he lists as something that cannot be located in the Yerushalmi.                                                                                                                                 

Additionally, the Damesek Eliaezer, 583:14 writes, “The Rema brings this custom not to sleep on Rosh Hashana from the Yerushalmi but I have not been able to find it. Hashem should enlighten me.”   

In contrast, the Elef Lamateh, Mateh Efrayim 598: 1 upholds the custom to refrain from sleeping on Rosh Hashana and advises that after the meal one should either learn or say Tehilim. He also dismisses the proof that some bring from the fact that the AriZal would sleep on Rosh Hashana, exclaiming that the AriZal learned more in his sleep than we do when we’re awake, and therefore to derive a proof from such a holy and Kabbalistic figure like the AriZal, is inconclusive to rule such as a matter of Halacha.

So this brings us to another difference of opinion as to what exactly the proof from the AriZal was. Whereas Mogain Avrohom maintains that the AriZal relayed to others that they may sleep on Rosh Hashana afternoon, the Mateh Efrayim understood that the proof was from that which the AriZal himself went to sleep. At issue seems to be whether the original proof that one may sleep in the afternoon was derived from the actions of the AriZal or from his own ruling.

The Yerushalmi also seems, at first, to be the basis for the custom to daven with vasikin on Rosh Hashana morning in order to avoid sleeping during the day at all. The custom to daven with vasikin on the morning of Rosh Hashana, in order to avoid sleeping on Rosh Hashana, is mentioned in the Ben Ish Chai, Parshas Nitzavim and is brought in the Kaf Hachaim, 583:39 amongst others.

However, the view of Harav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach, Halichos Shlomo, Moadim 1:23 is that one is not required to rise early to daven vasikin on Rosh Hashana in order to avoid sleeping during the day. Furthermore, the minhag to daven vasikin on Rosh Hashana did not originate from the need to refrain from sleep during daylight hours, but because it is always preferable to daven with vasikin and thereby more effective for one’s judgment.

Nonetheless, R’ Moshe Shternbuch, Teshuvas VaHanhagos, 1:339 encourages the practice of arising before sunrise as something which serves as a segula for a positive outcome for one’s judgment. Furthermore, even one who does not daven kevasikin should still awake before sunrise, as a segula for yom hadin.

Yet another intriguing view on this topic is that of R’ Chaim Kanievsky, as brought in the Sefer Taamei Dikra, and mentioned in the recently produced sixth volume of the Dirshu Mishna Berura, that the expression quoted in the Yerushalmi is “Mon didamich beraish shata damich mazlei.”  He argues that upon a careful analysis of the terminology employed to describe sleeping, you will discover that the word ‘damich’ was used, and not the conventional word to describe sleep which is ‘yoshain’.  The word ‘damich’ actually means lying down as well, while one is sleeping.  So one’s mazel only sleeps if he goes to sleep on Rosh Hashana lying down in a horizontal position. Accordingly, one would in fact be allowed to sleep during the day on Rosh Hashana, albeit in an upright position in a chair, just not lying down horizontally.                                                                                                                                              

For a final ruling on this topic a Halachic authority should be consulted.

כתיבה וחתימה טובה!

 Written by: Rabbi Binyomin Radner             

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