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Shavuos Night

Jewboy posts in support of staying up all of Shavuos night to study Torah.

From around 1985 through 1995, I stayed up every year on Shavuos night. The last time I stayed up all night, in '95, I was in Israel for the summer. At around 4:30, thousands of people walked to the Western Wall. As we walked through the Arab shuk in the Moslem Quarter, some made a point of singing and clapping, ensuring that the residents would be unable to sleep. As is usually the case, most of those morons were American or European Jews.

Since then, I have tried to learn as long as I can, get some sleep, and then daven at a late morning minyan. For example, last year, I was in the Upper West Side, stayed up until around 2:30, and then davened at the Vorhand shteibel's 9:30 minyan.

While I don't think it's necessary to stay up all night, and indeed think it's silly for those who aren't really learning to do so, I tend to agree with Jewboy that it is meritorious to learn the entire night. Furthermore, those who learn the entire night make it possible for those of us who stay up late but not all night to have places to learn as long as we wish.
posted on 5/31/2006