Is it Worth Losing Sleep Over?
Mistakes we can correct on Shavuot.

by Rabbi Aron Moss

Question
I am looking forward to your all-night learning program for the festival of Shavuot. But I don't know if I will make it to the end. Will studying Torah keep me awake?

Answer
What does keep you awake? There are so many things we lose sleep over. We lie awake worrying about what tomorrow is going to bring. We spend sleepless nights fretting about our job, our kids, our parents. We lose sleep over regrets, mistakes, missed opportunities and events of the past.

There is a Jewish saying, "There are two things you should never worry about - a problem you can't fix, because you can't fix it, and a problem you can fix, because you can fix it." And yet, how many hours have we wasted losing sleep for no good reason?

We correct this mistake on Shavuot. If we have lost sleep over things we can't change, then we must counterbalance this by losing sleep over something meaningful. If we have wasted nights on needless worries, we must make up for it by staying up all night doing something productive. So, once a year we conquer fatigue and study Torah all night. We spend an entire night being absorbed in Divine wisdom. Think of it as insomnia with a cause.

The great Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria, made a bold promise: "Anyone who stays awake the whole night of Shavuot studying Torah, is guaranteed that no harm will befall them in the coming year." Spend one sleepless night preoccupied with matters of the soul and you will be spared the worries that cause sleepless nights for an entire year.

Stay up studying the Torah. It's not worth losing sleep over anything else.

Rabbi Aron Moss works to bring searching souls back to Judaism in Sydney, Australia.