Is it right to avoid sleeping on Rosh Hashanah?

Is it right to avoid sleeping on Rosh Hashanah?


A) The Ram (1533,2) writes that “it is customary not to sleep on Rosh Hashanah, and it is a correct custom.” He notes that it originates from the Jerusalem Talmud, where it says, “Where your blood is shed, your blood is shed in abundance.”
And its common translation is: “He who sleeps on Rosh Hashanah sleeps his luck.” Some have renewed the saying that The reason one should not sleep is because of the fear of the Day of Judgment (the Ari and Parach). How can a person sleep when he is being judged above?!

b) Many of the later rabbis mention this custom, including: the Ari, the Vilna Gaon, the Rabbinical Shulchan Aruch, the Taz, the Maga, the Mishnah Berura, the Ben Ish Chai, and more.

c) However, there is reason to doubt the custom of preventing sleep on Rosh Hashanah for several reasons:

1. The source in Yerushalmi is never found… This is a quote from which it is not really known where it was taken, and it may have been compiled from some midrash. In addition, there is no mention of this custom at all among our early rabbis.
2. On the contrary, Rabbi Hezekiah di Silva (Eretz Israel and Italy 1656-1696) states that the Maharam of Rothenburg, the father of Ashkenazi customs, was accustomed to sleeping on Rosh Hashanah as on other days of celebration, and noted, “And so we practice.” And indeed, there is a mitzvah of pleasure on a day of celebration, and Rosh Hashanah is a day of celebration, and therefore it is a mitzvah to enjoy it by sleeping.
3. Rabbi Baruch Epstein (1860-1942, Pinsk) noted that the recent rabbis were not accurate in their translation of the Mimra: “Where did you shed your blood, and where did you shed your blood, and where did you shed your blood?” “Demich” means “death,” not “sleeping,” meaning that the correct translation is: “Whoever dies on Rosh Hashana is a sign that his luck has deteriorated to the point of being condemned immediately” (Torah Tamimah, Ecclesiastes 8:57).
4. “There is no luck for Israel” (Shabbat Kenu.) Therefore, there is really no connection between sleeping on Rosh Hashanah and luck for the rest of the year, because the zodiac signs have no control over a person’s fate. Indeed, Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe (1530 – 1612) omitted this custom in his book “Halbush”, despite being a student of the Rema (since he mentioned this custom favorably).

E) In conclusion: In light of the above reasoning, it seems to the learned that one is permitted to sleep on Rosh Hashanah as usual, as on other holy days, and thereby maintain the joy of a holy day.


Happy and blessed New Year,