- Q. I wonder if I have the opportunity to learn before davening in the morning, or to do it by attending a shiur at night when I’m already a bit tired, which is preferable?
I usually do so in the morning since I’m rested and it is for me altogether much better. Yet I hear and see in Torah articles and tapes that Tu Beav is a great Yom Tov because then the nights get longer and you have a greater opportunity to learn at night, and learning then is better and more important. So really which is it?
A. The Talmud at the end of Ta’anis (31a), teaches that: From the fifteenth of Av onward, when the days begin to shorten, one who adds to his nightly Torah study will add years to his life, and he who does not add [mosif] will be gathered [ye’asef].
The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the phrase: He will be gathered? Rav Yosef said: It means that his mother will bury him, as he will be gathered to his grave (see Genesis 49:33). We do realize the importance of learning at night and adding to it.
Indeed, as you mentioned, it is better to learn when a person is rested and his mind is clear. However, to comply with the above he should learn some Torah at night also.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit'a
Important Numbers
