Does it matter what you do in the middle of the night? And is it anyone else’s business? To any Jew who subscribes to the all-pervasive effect of Torah law and guidelines for Jewish ethics, the answer can only be a resounding “Yes!” The binding force of Torah and the cultivation of good middot are not subject to such random considerations as whether the sky is sunny or starry, or on the direction in which the hands of the clock are pointing.
At Avot 3:5 Rabbi Chanina ben Chachinai teaches:
הַנֵּעוֹר
בַּלַּֽיְלָה, וְהַמְהַלֵּךְ בַּדֶּֽרֶךְ יְחִידִי, וּמְפַנֶּה לִבּוֹ לְבַטָּלָה,
הֲרֵי זֶה מִתְחַיֵּב בְּנַפְשׁוֹ
One who stays awake at
night, travels alone on the road and turns his heart to idleness is liable for
his soul.
The position of many traditional commentators can easily be
guessed: night-time, for one who is not fast asleep, is the perfect time for
learning Torah (see eg Rabbenu Yonah, Sefat Emet)—but this is plainly
not what the person described by Rabbi Chanina has in mind: a sly and furtive
dodger who uses the cover of night to exploit his solo mischief.
Chasidic commentators offer their own original takes on this
mishnah. Thus Rabbi Tzvi Chanoch of Bendin sees the real warning of this
teaching as to make sure that you are not a yechidi—doing your own thing
by yourself. For as long as you are in
the company of others, being up at night is no great problem and you are less
likely to lead yourself into a life of abandonment.
As usual, contemporary commentators may not actually explain
what the mishnah means, but they use it as a springboard for valuable thoughts
and insights of their own. This R’ Yisrael Miller (The Wisdom of Avos)
writes:
“If the sin here is bitul
Torah, it would not be confined to nighttime or travel. Instead, it refers to
thinking about the great questions in life we must ask ourselves, but seldom
do. “Why am I here in this world? What will happen to me when I die? What
does Hashem want of me? What should I change, and how should I go about it?””.
So far, R’ Miller looks as though he is basically
paraphrasing the three things that Akavya ben Mahalalel lists for a person to contemplate
in order to avoid sin (Avot 3:1). But then he makes his real point:
“Solitude gives us the
opportunity to think about these things and, more importantly, to meditate, to
turn the ideas over and over in our minds, and to try to internalize them as
realities. Most people will not take the trouble to set aside times for serious
thought, but when an effortless opportunity presents itself, e.g. alone on the
road or late at night, to ignore it is truly a sin against one’s own soul”
A lovely thought, and a great way to put a positive slant on
what might easily be taken as a negative teaching.
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