opinion
Staying Up All Night on Shavuot
Is About Going All in
Rabbi Shlomo Zuckier
T 14
MAY 25, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
In the book of Exodus, we find this description of
what transpired as God descended on the mountain:
And the entire people saw the thunder and
lightning and the sound of the shofar and the
mountain in smoke. The nation saw, they trembled
with fear and they stayed at a distance. They
said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we
will listen. But do not have God speak to us or
we will die.”
In the Torah’s telling, the encounter with God was an
immersive experience. As if attending a concert with
overwhelming audiovisual components, the people
are at first entranced and then overwhelmed by
what they’re experiencing, backtracking in fear. They
are so overpowered they are unable to distinguish
between the senses — hence they “saw” the “sound
of the shofar.” Overawed by all of this, they beg
off, asking to have Moses serve as an intermediary
rather than encounter God directly again.

This should not be surprising — it makes sense that
an encounter with God should be overwhelming,
an experience that scrambles the senses and shifts
one’s consciousness. And that’s what we’re looking
for on Shavuot. Tikkun Leil Shavuot isn’t primarily
an opportunity to learn, nor a chance to fix some
millennia-old mishap. It is meant precisely to simulate
that total immersive experience.

We do that by occupying ourselves entirely
with Torah — and nothing else (OK, maybe some
cheesecake, too). We learn until it hurts, going at
it until we just can’t anymore. Depriving ourselves
of sleep brings our bodies into the experience
and inevitably affects a shift in consciousness.

Taken together, this practice creates an intense
experience, an all-encompassing engagement with
God and Torah — just as the Israelites experienced
at Mount Sinai.

Yes, you might have a headache in the morning,
but some hangovers are worth it. ■
Rabbi Shlomo Zuckier is a scholar of ancient
Judaism and a research associate at the Institute
for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. This
originally appeared on My Jewish Learning.

Getty Images
he holiday of Shavuot, which begins at
sundown this year on Thursday, May 25, is
understood by Jewish tradition to be the time
when God gave the Israelites the Torah at Mount
Sinai. It is traditionally celebrated with dairy foods
and intensive Torah study, with some staying up all
night to learn (a practice likely fueled by the advent
of coffee in the 16th century).

These all-night study sessions, known as Tikkun
Leil Shavuot, are held by Jewish communities of
different denominations and geographies and are
the only widely observed Jewish ritual involving
staying up all night.

Though the custom is widespread, there are few
classical sources to support it. So why do we do it?
On its face, the connection is obvious. Shavuot
celebrates receiving the Torah so, of course, we
would honor Shavuot with abundant Torah study.

But upon reflection, this reason seems less than
convincing. How high is the quality of Torah study
in the middle of the night? As the hours tick by, is
anyone even paying attention to the teacher? Many
people load up on sugar and caffeine, perhaps
ill-advisedly, just to get through it. This wouldn’t
seem like the best way to pay tribute to Torah.

A more common explanation is that Tikkun
Leil Shavuot is precisely that — a tikkun (literally
“rectification”) for what went wrong on that original
Shavuot at Sinai. The Israelites, according to this
theory, slept in on the day they were meant to
receive the Torah. In a sort of penance for that failing,
we make sure not to miss Shavuot morning by pulling
an all-nighter the night before.

But this seems potentially counterproductive. If
you’re worried about sleeping in and missing a
morning meeting, staying up all night doesn’t quite
do the trick. It’s overkill and may actually undermine
your goal. You might manage to be physically where
you need to be but at the cost of any sort of mental
presence. What is the value of being present for the
giving of the Torah if you’re incapacitated from sleep
deprivation? I would like to suggest an alternate explanation,
one focused less on learning and preparedness and
more on the experience of receiving the Torah. The
goal of Shavuot night is not Torah learning — one
can study Torah any day of the year. The goal is to
experience something of the radical encounter with
God at Sinai.




nation / world
London Firefighters Scold British
Synagogue for Lighting Holiday Bonfire
Indoors | Investments | Asset Management |
| Capital Markets |
London’s fire and rescue service reminded Jewish
congregations to keep holiday bonfires outdoors
after the city’s Jewish News outlet shared video of
a synagogue celebrating Lag B’Omer on May 9 with
an indoor fire, JTA.org reported.

The video showed a fire raging inside Beis Medrash
Beis Shmuel, a haredi Orthodox synagogue in Golders
Green, a heavily Jewish neighborhood of London.

An indoor fire at Beis
The congregation purportedly started the fire
Medrash Beis Shmuel
indoors because of rainy local conditions on the
holiday. Under traditional Jewish law, Lag B’Omer is the one day in the mourning period
between Passover and Shavuot on which observant Jews are permitted to do
certain things such as get a haircut or hold weddings. Bonfires often mark the
celebratory day.

“Though we are keen to see communities enjoying the festival of Lag B’Omer,
we don’t want to see anyone harmed as a result. You should never build a bonfire
indoors,” the London Fire Brigade told the Jewish News.

Financial advice from a
knowledgeable neighbor.

Israel to Invest $40M in North American Jewish Day Schools
Citing “a major crisis in Jewish education,” Israel’s Diaspora ministry plans to pour
about $40 million into training educators at Jewish schools in the United States and
Canada, JTA.org reported.

Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of Diaspora affairs, announced the initiative, called
“Aleph Bet” after the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, on May 15. He hopes
enrollment will increase at Jewish day schools, fearing that “we are losing large parts
of the Jewish people,” and said the initiative would “focus on training teachers for
Jewish education and Israel studies as well as principals for Jewish day schools,”
according to The Jerusalem Post.

Chikli did not elaborate on how his ministry would spend the allocation, nor did he
detail when funds could start making their way into North American Jewish schools.

His office did not respond to a request for comment. Israel’s governing coalition
plans to approve a state budget next week, ahead of a May 29 deadline.

North American Jewish schools have received varying levels of Israeli government
support for years, according to Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah, a nonprofit support-
ing Jewish day schools. He said staff members of day schools were optimistic about
the additional funding despite lacking details about where it would go.

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Endangered Seal Became a Celebrity on an Israeli Beach
For nearly a week, Israel’s latest unlikely celebrity lounged on the Jaffa beach, draw-
ing throngs of onlookers, constant media attention and round-the-clock protection
from the government as she sunbathed and slept the day away, JTA.org reported.

Then on May 16, the unwitting star named Yulia — a rare 6-foot species of seal
weighing hundreds of pounds who has traveled the eastern Mediterranean — waded
into the water and swam away. She left no sign of whether she would ever return.

Her departure has left some residents bereft and others hopeful that she may find
a safer home than a bare beach with little shelter, other animals and litter. News of
her departure spread quickly through the area’s social media and WhatsApp groups,
one of which had even changed its name from “Friends of Jaffa” to “Friends of Yulia.”
“Of course, I know she’s not smiling, but her lips are formed in a way that makes
her look like she is. She’s so utterly calm — even while a million people are watching
her,” said Aya Zaken, a resident of the ancient city adjacent to Tel Aviv, who added
that she was “deeply sad” that Yulia had returned to the sea. ■
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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