20 Aug ALL-NIGHTERS IN HALACHAH

I. A Hard Day’s Night
The Wall Street
Journal recently
published an expose on
Bank of America for
overworking employees.
One investment banker
recently died from a
blood clot after working three all-nighters
in a row. In response to the article, the bank
communicated to employees and managers
that people are only allowed to work up to
100 hours a week and must have Saturday
off. While investment bankers are notorious
for having to pull all-nighters, they are not the
only professionals who do so. Law firms also
have a reputation for requiring all-nighters.
I’m neither a lawyer nor an investment banker
but I have had to work all night in the office
and on many occasions well past midnight.
This raises many halachic questions, some
discussed in the context of all night learning on
Shavuos but some only addressed separately.
In halachic literature, this issue is discussed
particularly regarding soldiers who often have
to engage in missions or work guard duty
through the night. In the IDF, they call a full
night duty a “white night (laylah lavan).”
There seems to be a Talmudic precedent for
pulling an all-nighter. The Gemara (Zevachim
19b-20b) discusses whether linah invalidates
the sanctification of hands and feet. Meaning,

if a kohen works in the Temple all night,
when the sun rises does he have to once again
perform the ceremonial washing of his hands
and feet (kiddush yadayim ve-raglayim)
or does the washing from the previous day
still apply? However, this seems to be only
a theoretical discussion. On a biblical level,
sacrificial work in the Temple can continue
throughout the night. The remaining animals
can be placed on the altar and the sacrificial
meat can be eaten all night. In practice,
though, the sages prohibited work in the
Temple after midnight in order to prevent
slippage into the morning (Berachos 2a).
While this was instituted for the sake of the
work and not the workers, the net effect is
that sages enacted protection for the priestly
workers that generally prevents all-nighters.
II. Prayers
I’d like to discuss here a few halachic issues
related to working all night. Even when you
work, you still have to pray. Once you realize
that you will not return home in time for
Ma’ariv, you should pray Ma’ariv at work. If
there is a minyan nearby that you can attend,
obviously you should make every effort to
do so. Sometimes you are so busy that you
cannot leave for a minyan. However, you
should be able to excuse yourself for a few
minutes to find someplace quiet to pray. If you
cannot attend a minyan, you should pray at
the same time as a minyan. If you cannot do

that, you should pray as soon as possible.
If not, you should choose a time and set
an alarm for it. The sages decreed that the
latest you can say Shema is midnight (or
1am in Daylight Savings Time) but if you
miss that deadline, you can pray all night
(Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 235:3). A
soldier involved in security actions can say
a minimal prayer (detailed by Rav Yosef
Tzvi Rimon in Halachah Mi-Mkorah:
Tzava, vol. 1, p. 116) but an office worker
is obligated in full prayer (Rav Yitzchak
Fuchs, Tefillah Ke-Hilchasah 27:23).
When morning comes, you have to pray
Shacharis. A woman who normally recites a
brief statement of prayer should do that after
dawn. If she normally says full prayers, which
is the standard halachic view, then like a
man she must pray at or after sunrise. Some
business districts have morning minyanim. If
you can attend one of those, that is best. If not,
the ideal is to start prayers before sunrise so
you reach the Amidah at sunrise. If you cannot
do this, you should try to pray at the same
time as a minyan. If none of these options
are available given your circumstances, you
should try to pray as soon as possible after
sunrise (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 89:1).
If you have a tallis and tefillin with you, you
should put them on for prayer. If not, you
should pray without them and make sure to
put them on later in the day and say Shema
while wearing them (Tefillah Ke-Hilchasah
3:18 n. 43). Someone in a profession with
occasional or frequent all-nighters should try
to keep an extra set of tallis and tefillin in
his office. If you are so busy that you cannot
spare even 15-30 minutes for a super-quick
Shacharis, then you should recite Shema as
soon as possible and pray when you have
a little more time. This is unlikely in most
circumstances because physically people
need short breaks for bathroom or coffee.
Take a break for prayer.
III. Handwashing and Blessings
When you wake up in the morning, you
wash your hands ritually three times from
a cup. There is a debate whether someone
who did not sleep needs to wash his hands in
the morning. Because of this disagreement,
the best practice is to wash your hands but
not recite the blessing due to doubt. For
Ashkenazim, everyone agrees that once
you go to the bathroom, you can say the
blessing. Therefore, once the sun rises, you
should go to the bathroom and ritually wash
your hands three times from a cup. Then,
when you leave the bathroom, you recite the
blessing on handwashing (Mishnah Berurah
4:30). Sephardim should not rely on using
the bathroom and should wash without
a blessing (Rav Zechariah Ben Shlomo,
Hilchos Tzava 10:7).
Every morning, we recite initial blessings
that mark the milestones of our awakening
and functioning. The first is Elokai
Neshamah and the rest are called Birkos
Ha-Shachar. The first and last blessing are
specifically about waking up and therefore

pose a challenge to someone who did not sleep
at night. While some authorities question
whether someone who did not sleep may
recite these blessings, the consensus is that
these are standards blessings that everyone
recites every day as part of the prayer
services. Ashkenazic custom is to try to fulfill
all opinions by hearing the blessings from
someone who slept. If you are in the office or
out in the field, this usually is not possible. If
so, you can recite all these blessings yourself
after sunrise (Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky,
Kovetz Halachos, Sefiras Ha-Omer 11:20;

Rav Yosef Tzvi Rimon, Halachah Mi-
Mkorah: Tzava, vol. 1, p. 47). Sephardim may

recite them earlier. If you know you will be
pulling an all-nighter — whether at work, in
the army, or on Shavuos — you should recite
these specific blessings after midnight (Rav

Mordechai Eliyahu, Ma’amar Mordechai, Le-
Mo’adim U-Le-Yamim 22:32).

There is likewise a major debate whether the
blessings on Torah depend on sleep or were
established for each day (Shulchan Aruch,
Orach Chaim 47:11-12 and commentaries).
Sephardim follow the view that you recite
the blessing each day regardless of sleep
(Rav Ovadiah Yosef, Yabi’a Omer 5:6; Rav
Mordechai Eliyahu, op. cit.). Ashkenazim
follow both views. Therefore, someone
Ashkenazi who was awake all night should
preferably hear the blessings on the Torah
from someone who slept or from a Sephardi.
Absent that, when he recites the blessing
before Shema, he should have in mind that
it should count as the blessing on the Torah
and then after finishing his prayers, he should
learn some Torah, e.g. a Mishnah in Pirkei
Avos (Mishnah Berurah 47:28).
When a couple is first married, the Torah
requires the husband to refrain from travel
for a year: “he shall be free for his home one
year and he shall bring joy to the wife he
married” (Deut. 24:5). Rav Moshe Sofer (19th
cen., Hungary) was asked whether someone
recently married can travel on business in
order to support his wife and hopefully future
family. Rav Sofer replies that a new husband is
allowed to travel for a mitzvah. Since earning
a living is a mitzvah, he may go on a necessary
business trip (Responsa Chasam Sofer, Even
Ha-Ezer, vol. 2 no. 155). Sometimes earning
a living requires sacrifice and tremendous
effort. In such times, we do what we need to
do and make sure we still meticulously fulfill
the mitzvos to the best of our ability.