איתא בזהר שהסידים הראשונים היו נעורים כל הלילה ועוסקים בתורה
It is written in the Zohar that the early pious ones would be awake the entire night and engage in Torah Study. (Magen Avraham 494:1)


נוהגים הרבה להיות נעורים כל הלילה לעסוק בתורה ועיקר העסק יהיה בתורה שבעל פה
Many have a custom to be awake the entire night to study Torah, the main study should be in the Oral Torah. (Shulchan Aruch HaRav 494:3)

QUESTION: What is the reason for staying awake the entire night of Shavuot?

ANSWER: The Zohar (Bereishit 8a, Vayikra 98a) is the original source for the custom of being awake the night of Shavuot to study Torah. According to the Zohar the Torah studied then is compared to ornaments which the chatan sends to the kallah prior to her wedding. The Zohar also compares studying Torah Shavuot night to the mother of the bride preparations for her daughter who is going to her chuppah the next day.

The Magen Avraham (494:1) explains the custom of being awake with a Midrash Rabbah (Shir HaShirim 1:12(2)) that states the following oddity:

“When G‑d came to give the Jews the Torah, He found them in a deep slumber, and had to rouse them. This is alluded to in the pasuk ‘Why did I come when no one was there? I called, and there was no answer’ (Isaiah 50:2).

‘Thus,’ the Magen Avraham says “to compensate for the nation’s slumber on the night before the giving of the Torah, it is customary to remain awake on the first night of Shavuot, studying Torah.”


ישנו להם ישראל כל אותו הלילה ...
The Jews slept the entire night of Shavuot and Hashem came and had to rouse them. (Midrash Rabbah, Shir HaShirim 1:12)

QUESTION: The promise that they would receive the Torah fifty days after their exodus from Egypt awakened a strong desire within the Jews. With great anticipation, they counted the days until the Torah would be given. This is the source for the mitzvah of counting the omer (see Ran end of Pesachim).

Now, if seven weeks beforehand the Jewish could hardly wait to receive the Torah, we can assume that their desire increased as they approached the actual date. They knew G‑d was going to give the Torah on the next day. How then was it possible for them to sleep?

ANSWER: Obviously, going to sleep was not, G‑d forbid, an expression of lack of interest or an inadvertent oversight. Rather, the Jews did not take their minds off the giving of the Torah, and on the contrary they went to sleep in preparation for the lofty event.

What they sought to achieve through sleeping can be understood with what Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe and founder of Chabad Chassidut, writes in his classic work, Likkutei Amarim, Tanya ch. 37: “No matter how high a level of understanding a person achieves, or how deep an attachment to G‑dliness, since each soul exists within a body, there is no way that a mortal can attain the kind of connection to G‑d that the soul enjoyed in its incorporeal state. The human body simply cannot bear that degree of connection.”

When a person sleeps, the soul disengages itself from the body to a certain degree and “ascends” to the spiritual realms, leaving only a trace of vitality in the body (Zohar, Vol. I, p. 83a). Therefore the sleeper’s soul can grasp a higher level of G‑dliness than it can while it is awake and functioning within the body.

For this reason, those people who devote themselves arduously to the study of Torah during the day receive revelations regarding their study at night. At times, matters left unresolved during the day become clear by morning, based on the revelation experienced by the soul while the body was asleep.

This is why the Jews went to sleep before the giving of the Torah. They wanted their souls to become disengaged from the realm of corporeal experience and thus attain even higher spiritual levels. This, they thought, would better prepare them for the revelations to be experienced at the giving of the Torah.

(לקוטי שיחות ח"ד ע' 1024)


זהו שמקנטרן על ידי ישעיהו שנאמר מדוע באתי ואין איש
It was for this that He taunted them through the mouth of Isaiah, saying why when I come there was no man. (Midrash Shir HaShirim 1:12)

QUESTION: According to the explanation that their sleeping was intended as a means to grasp higher spiritual levels (see above), why was Hashem so upset about this behavior, to the extent that it has become incumbent upon us to rectify this wrongdoing?

ANSWER: Hashem was not pleased with the sleep of the Jewish people before their receipt of the Torah since this was not the proper manner in which to approach the event.

The giving of the Torah was a new development in comparison to the observance of the mitzvot by the Patriarchs. After the giving of the Torah, the mitzvot would have a permanent effect on the physical substances with which they were performed, imbuing them with holiness.

The peak of our Divine service is achieved, not by abandoning the body, but by involving it. It is through such efforts that a connection is established with G‑d’s essence; this cannot be achieved by a non-corporeal soul.

Since the purpose of the giving of the Torah was to accentuate the advantage of the Divine service performed while the soul is enclothed within the body, the preparatory service must parallel that objective: not to sleep and rise above the body, but to work with it.

This is the reason we do not sleep on Shavuot, the night before we receive the Torah. It is not merely to compensate for the shortcoming of our ancestors. It is because staying awake is part of the preparation for receiving the Torah.

The proper approach is to involve ourselves with the body, the animal soul, and one’s portion in the world. In this manner, one prepares oneself to receive the Torah with a joy that continues throughout the year.

(לקוטי שיחות ח"ד ע' 1024)


Tikkun Leil Shavuot

QUESTION: What is Tikkun Leil Shavuot and who authored it?

ANSWER: Tikkun Leil Shavuot, literally means “rectifying the Night of Shavuot.” The Jewish people went to sleep the night prior to the giving of the Torah and had to be awakened by Hashem. To rectify the behavior of our parents we have a custom of staying awake and studying Torah on the night of Shavuot.

The text of the Tikkun was formulated by the Arizal — the famous Kabbalist, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria. It was conveyed to us through his disciple Rabbi Chaim Vital in his sefer Sha’ar Hakavanot (Chag HaShavuot p. 89).

Subsequently, it was enhanced by Rabbi Yeshaya Ha’Levi Horowitz — in his sefer, Shelah, (Vol. I, Tractate Shavuot, p. 179b). The Shelah also based himself on a letter from the famous Kabbalist Rabbi Shlomo Alkavitz who merited to spend the night of Shavuot in the company of the Beit Yosef (Rabbi Yosef Karo) and his colleagues (see ibid.).

The Tikkun consists of compilations of the beginning and end of every Parshah of the Torah and also of every book of Tanach. It also has the first and last Mishnah of every tractate of Mishnayot. Included as well are selections from the Sefer Yetzirah (a work accredited to Avraham Avinu) and the Zohar. At the end is a listing of all the 613 mitzvot. In addition, sections of Torah, particularly those relating to the giving of the Torah and the Festival of Shavuot, are elaborated.

* * *

Tikkun vs. Torah Study

QUESTION: What takes priority, staying awake and studying Torah or reciting the Tikkun?

ANSWER: There is an opinion that the main thing is to be awake the entire night to study Torah. Those who are capable of it, should immerse themselves in deep Torah study. The Tikkun was made for the unlearned and young who are not capable to study the entire night on their own (see Chak Yaakov 494:1).

Nevertheless, the majority disagree and reciting the Tikkun has become the universally accepted practice for the night of Shavuot not only for the unlearned, but also for Torah scholars and righteous people as well.

Although Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe and founder of Chabad Chassidut writes in his Shulchan Aruch that the major involvement should be in the Oral Torah, nevertheless, the prevalent Chabad custom is to recite the Tikun Leil Shavuot.

(המלך במסיבו ח"א ע' ק"ע, רי"ח)

* * *

Advantage of Saying Tikkun

QUESTION: What is the significance of the Tikkun, that it was given such priority?

ANSWER: As explained (above) Tikkun Leil Shavuot means to rectify the [wrongdoing of] the night of Shavuot. At that time the uniqueness of the Jews was the unparalleled unity they experienced. In describing their encampment at Sinai the Torah says “vayichan sham Yisrael” — “The Jews rested there.” Since it says vayichan — “and he rested” in singular and not “vayachanu” — and they rested, in plural, it is derived that they were all “like one person with one heart” (Shemot 19:2, Rashi).

For us to rectify their inactivity on the night of Shavuot while being in this exalted state of unity, we spend the night of Shavuot united in a Torah study in which all are equal. In other words, immersing in deep Torah scholarship is something that is subject to different levels; however, the recital of oti’ot haTorah — words (letters) of Torah — is something in which all Jews are equal.

The practice of all Jews being united through a common Torah study on the night prior to the giving of the Torah, in a sense, emulates the unity of Klal Yisrael at Sinai and prepares us to be worthy to receive the Torah.

(שיחת קודש חג השבועות תשי"ח)

Merit Crown of Torah

Regarding staying awake the entire night of Shavuot Rabbi Shalom Dovber Schneerson, the fifth Rebbe in the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty, said the following.

“I have a hand written manuscript from the Mitteler Rebbe (Rabbi Dovber Schneerson, the second Rebbe in the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty) in which he writes that he assures whoever will be awake the entire night of Shavuot will merit the crown of Torah (יזכה לכתר תורה). The Mitteler Rebbe was a posek — Halachah authority. Listen Jews; on Shavuot night it is required to be awake! The meaning of truly being awake is simply not sleeping.

(ספר השיחות תורת שלום ע' 5)


טבילה במקוה לפני עלות
Mikveh before dawn

The Kabbalists who compiled and popularized the Tikkun Leil Shavuot (see p. 135) also stressed the importance of immersing in a mikveh shortly before the break of dawn. Through it, one acquires additional purity and holiness.

Since Shavuot is the day of the wedding of Hashem and Klal Yisrael, this immersion is also analogous to a kallah’s immersing in a mikveh before the wedding.

(This is in addition to immersing in a mikvah on Erev Yom Tov.)

(עי' זהר ויקרא צ"ח ע"ב ועי' ספר פרדס אליעזר על שבועות)


ברכת השחר
Morning Berachot

QUESTION: How should one conduct himself with reciting the berachah of al netialat yadayim, elokai neshamah and birkat haTorah?

ANSWER: Even when one is awake the entire night, nevertheless, he needs to wash his hands in the morning by pouring three times on each hand in alternating sequence.

There are opinions that one should not recite al netilat yadayim and also omit elokai neshamah. However, the Chabad custom is to recite them quietly.

(לקוטי שיחות ח"ט ע' 276 ועי' נטעי גבריאל פי"ח סעי' א' שאם עשה צרכיו או הטיל מים יכול לברך גם ענט"י, ועי' סידור אדמוה"ז))

All the other morning blessings should be recited after dawn when one was awake the entire night.

In regard to Birkat HaTorah there is a dispute among the Rishonim — early halachah codifiers — (Rosh and RabbeinuTam) whether one should recite Birkat HaTorah if he was awake the entire night. It is therefore preferred that such a person should hear the berachot from one who slept during the night and intend to fulfill his obligation in this manner.

On Shavuot, however, when all are awake, the Mishnah Berura (47:28) rules that Birkat HaTorah should be omitted. According to Shulchan Aruch HaRav (47:7), one should recite the berachot himself in such a case.

Chabad follows the opinion of the Siddur HaRav, that when one is awake the entire night he recites Birkat HaTorah himself and need not hear them from one who slept.

(עי' בשו"ת ארץ צבי סי' י"ט בנוגע לשיטת המשנה ברורה, ובנטעי גבריאל פט"ז סעי' י"ד הביא בשם שו"ת מהרש"ג ח"א סי' ס"ב שכ"ז שניעור אפי' עלה עלות השחר אי"צ לפסוק לברך ברכת התורה ויכול להמשיך בלימוד או באמירת התיקון.)


שחרית
Morning Prayers

Following the reading of the Tikkun Leil Shavuot and immersing in the mikveh it is customary in some communities to recite the Yom Tov prayers. This was the practice of the Chatam Sofer and his followers, and also popular in certain Chassidic courts.

(הובא בפמ"ג א"א בס"י תצ"ד ובשער הציון סי' פ"ט אות ה')

The prevalent Chabad custom is to conduct the Yom Tov prayers at the regular time as on any Shabbat and Yom Tov.

When Rebbetzin Rivkah, (wife of the Rebbe Maharash) was ill, her doctor ordered her to eat immediately upon awakening. Not wanting to eat before morning prayers she would rise very early, recite prayers and eat. When her father-in-law the Tzemach Tzedek heard of this he told her, among other things, “Better to eat for the sake of davening than daven for the sake of eating” (HaYom Yom, 10 Shevat).

Perhaps this can be paraphrased “Better to sleep for the sake of davening than davening for the sake of sleeping.”

(עי' בנטעי גבריאל פכ"א סי' א', ובפרדס אליעזר פ"ג)