Three shout-outs: happy anniversary to Marc & Lily and Joel & Lisa, and happy birthday Elliott!
Received a thoughtful email this week from a reader of the new book.
In the next email, he suggested that he might have to ask his rabbi what to do.
This is a great question for the Shabbat table: What would you tell him?
Here's what I said:
It seems to me that first and foremost, this is a question for your doctor, not your rabbi. Your rabbi is going to tell you, "Get as much sleep as you need." If pages 233-235 don't clearly answer your question, I have failed. It's absolutely a matter of health.
One of the main points of life is to learn self-control. So overcoming the desire to stay up too late is also a religious duty, just like overcoming the desire to eat too much sugar. Saying, “I’m staying up past my healthy bedtime in order to do an extra mizvah" is a “frum (pious) yetzer hara."
That, as my grandfather would have said, is my two bits.
Here's wishing you a good, healthy night's sleep!
Shabbat Shalom
PS - Please visit the new Torah Health and Fitness landing page.
Sunrise is at its earliest at this time of year. It can be hard to get out of bed so early, especially when you are just getting out of bed for the advantage of praying by haneitz (and not because you have to get to work super early). For me, the struggle is between what my body wants to do (stay in bed) by what my neshama wants to do (pray at the ideal time).
But is being so tired harmful, as you write in the chapter on sleep? Is it really a matter of health or just tiredness? Shouldn't the body be a servant to do mitzvos in the ideal fashion? Maybe the answer is: Yes, if we were malachim (angels), but as humans, the answer is No as we have to deal with an imperfect match between the guf and neshamah. What do you think?
But is being so tired harmful, as you write in the chapter on sleep? Is it really a matter of health or just tiredness? Shouldn't the body be a servant to do mitzvos in the ideal fashion? Maybe the answer is: Yes, if we were malachim (angels), but as humans, the answer is No as we have to deal with an imperfect match between the guf and neshamah. What do you think?
In the next email, he suggested that he might have to ask his rabbi what to do.
This is a great question for the Shabbat table: What would you tell him?
Here's what I said:
It seems to me that first and foremost, this is a question for your doctor, not your rabbi. Your rabbi is going to tell you, "Get as much sleep as you need." If pages 233-235 don't clearly answer your question, I have failed. It's absolutely a matter of health.
One of the main points of life is to learn self-control. So overcoming the desire to stay up too late is also a religious duty, just like overcoming the desire to eat too much sugar. Saying, “I’m staying up past my healthy bedtime in order to do an extra mizvah" is a “frum (pious) yetzer hara."
That, as my grandfather would have said, is my two bits.
Here's wishing you a good, healthy night's sleep!
Shabbat Shalom
PS - Please visit the new Torah Health and Fitness landing page.
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