Before there was New Years Eve, before there was prom night, before there was the all nighter in advance of college exams, before there was the electricity that allowed night jobs, before red eye air flights, before teenage retreats and pre-teenage sleepovers but probably not before insomnia or childbirth there was…the first night of Shavuos.
When people loved the Torah so much they stayed up all night studying.
This all nighter is so much nicer than to study for an exam, so much more meaningful than to get drunk, so much more rewarding than to have to work (however rewarding one’s work might be), so much more comfortable than to float through the skies though not easy to do. But le-fum tzaara agra, according to the painis the gain. Happy Shavuos! Visit the IJN’s Community Calendar for Shavuos events.
