Q&A: Sedating Medications and Prayer Times
Sedating Medications and Prayer Times
Question
In honor of Rabbi Michael, hello.
I have a halakhic question that I would be glad to receive an answer to, and to understand the halakhic logic behind it.
I am not looking for leniencies.
I take sedating medications (for a mental illness) that require me to sleep about 10 hours a night. This makes it hard for me to coordinate my sleep so that I can get up by the time for reciting Shema, and sometimes even by the time for prayer.
A. I am a university student, and like many busy people whose lives are tied to the daily time cycle, I make very full use of my time and do not really waste time, thank God.
B. The daily schedule often requires social meetings in the evening and into late hours. Among the constraints that shape the day are also classes at the university.
C. It is almost impossible for me to live and sleep at different times every day—to go to sleep at a different hour each day—and that is also not really healthy for my condition, which requires calm and mental hygiene.
D. The highest-quality time for me to study is at night. I succeed most in concentrating in the evening hours, and especially at night.
Am I obligated to go to sleep every day at ten in order to get up in time for Shema and prayer?
A rabbi told me that I am under compulsion, but I do not understand why. I want to observe Jewish law and not look for leniencies. But observing Jewish law in a stringent way would pretty much ruin my day. (In practice, I barely manage to say Shema within the proper time, and I usually manage to pray only the Amidah on time.)
I have a line of thought that is not really halakhic, which says that whoever formulated these laws in the Mishnah intended to give a healthy daily routine for a person, like "princes," who represent a person with a normal sleep system, and that he meant a healthy person who can sleep six hours a night, not a person whose sleep is disrupted. But I do not know how far one can rely on that kind of thinking.
I am very concerned, since the commandment of reciting Shema is Torah-level.
Thank you, and have a good week!
Answer
Hello.
I too am inclined to think that you are under compulsion. You live in your normal way, according to your needs and considerations, and then it turns out that you cannot get up on time. That is compulsion. The question of someone who puts himself into a state of compulsion is disputed among the medieval authorities (Rishonim) and later authorities (Acharonim) (that infant whose hot water spilled out, and more), but here the issue is not that you put yourself into compulsion, but that you did not make sure to get out of it. There is reason to say that here, according to everyone, you are under compulsion. All the more so since taking such precautions would require you to change your whole way of life, all just so that you would not be under compulsion. By reasoning, it seems to me that you are exempt from this. You should try to get up, but it seems to me that you are not obligated to go to sleep at an hour that does not suit you and harms your studies.
Discussion on Answer
If that brings you to such thoughts, that is another reason not to go to sleep before you need to.
I forgot to mention one more thing—
What is the Jewish law when I am not tired because the pills have not yet taken effect, and I have to force myself to try to fall asleep, and then while I am trying to fall asleep difficult thoughts come over me?
My problem here is another somewhat unusual one, because in my heart I have intense longing for a woman who is married (there was never any physical relationship between us at all), and it awakens especially when I try to fall asleep (even to the point of crying), and the question is whether it is better not to try to fall asleep and miss Shema—and perhaps there is in this an issue of "you shall not commit adultery"? The thoughts are not mainly erotic, but there is a longing for emotional closeness that sometimes slips into erotic thoughts (because we identified such a slide, we cut off the relationship).
I suffer so much from this longing that I am afraid to lie in bed just trying to fall asleep, and only do so when I am really tired. And if I give this longing room at night, it can definitely take up room during the day as well.
Thanks again,