B'Zchus the Refuah Sheleima of Kayla Rus bas Chaya Rachel
Shavuos: All Night Long?
We know that Shavuos is the holiday when we celebrate Matan Torah (the giving of the Torah). Nowadays (and for the past 500 years or so), we Jews have the minhag (custom) to stay up all night Shavuos night learning Torah. The question I’ve always wondered about is, is that really the smartest idea? Speaking practically for a minute, most people who stay up all night learning are usually spending most of the next day sleeping anyway, so what’s the gain? Additionally, we all know the quality of most of the learning that takes place after the clock strikes 2. At the end of the day, it would seem that one would actually learn more Torah both quantitatively and qualitatively if one would learn for a couple hours at night and then several the next day. So why do we have this seemingly counterproductive minhag of staying up all night learning Torah?
I believe a possible answer is that we do it because we need to make a statement for ourselves. We need to capitalize on our inspiration and make it into something real. We’ve been counting down till Shavuos for 49 days! We’ve been waiting for this moment for seven weeks! We’re so pumped for Shavuos! We’re so inspired! But then what happens? The same thing that happens a little after every time we get inspired. The inspiration fades away. So how do you make the inspiration into something real, something that will last? You have to immediately get on that train at the inspiration station and ride it until the end of the track. That’s why I believe we learn all Shavuos night! It’s not about the hours of learning. Perhaps it’s not even about the quality of learning. It’s about not letting the moments of inspiration just come and pass. It’s about taking advantage of those inspiring feelings and doing something real with them. May we all be able to do this and have a truly elevating Shavuos!
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