The Divine Cannot Sleep
The Divine Cannot Sleep
The concept of sleep is first mentioned in the Torah in Parashat BeReshit 2:21:
And HaShem Elokim cast a slumber on the man, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and sealed flesh under it.
The Sages explain in the Midrash BeReshit Rabbah, Parashat BeReshit 8:10 why HaShem did this to man:
Rabbi Hoshaya said: When HaKadosh Baruch Hu created Adam HaRishon, the ministering angels erred and sought to say “Holy” before him. This is comparable to a king and a duke who were in the royal carriage, and the townsfolk sought to call the king “Lord,” but they didn’t know which one he was. What did the king do? He shoved him out of the carriage, and everyone knew that he was the duke. So too, when HaKadosh Baruch Hu created Adam HaRishon, the angels erred and sought to say “Holy” before him. What did HaKadosh Baruch Hu do? He cast a slumber upon him, and everyone knew that he was Adam. This is what is written (Yeshayahu 2:22): “Desist from the man who has breath in his nostrils, for what is his importance?”
Sleep is one sixtieth of death, as is stated in the Gemara Berachot 57b:
Five things are one sixtieth: fire, honey, Shabbat, sleep and a dream. Fire is one sixtieth of gehinnom, honey is one sixtieth of man, Shabbat is one sixtieth of the world to come, sleep is one sixtieth of death, and a dream is one sixtieth of prophecy.
The same is stated in the Zohar, Parashat Pinechas 3:234b:
The stomach is one sixtieth of the level of death, and this is called slumber. Deep sleep is the sixth level of the angel of death. And since it comes from afar, it is from the side of death, but not death. And a hint is one sixtieth of death.
Thus sleep belongs exclusively to the created, and it is the concept of death, which is inapplicable to HaShem, because He is eternal and beyond time. Thus King David said in Tehillim 121:4: “Behold, the guardian of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers.” That is, HaShem – the guardian of Israel – doesn’t sleep or slumber.
This harmonizes well with what we have already proven above, that ze’er anpin has no existence without chochmah and binah, that it is complete in chochmah and binah always. And since the concept of sleep is a removal of the mochin of chochmah and binah, it’s understandable why sleep is impossible for HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
But if you bring up a challenge from the verse in Tehillim 44:23, “Wake up, why do You sleep, my Lord? Awaken, don’t abandon forever,” this is no problem at all, for David spoke in human language and nothing more, as Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai explained in Tosefta, Tractate Sotah 13:9:
“The awakeners” are the Levites who would say on the duchan, “Wake up, why do You sleep, my Lord?” Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said to them: Is there sleep before Him? Is it not already written, “Behold, the guardian of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers”? Rather, whenever Israel are in pain and the nations of the world are in peace, then so to speak, “Wake up, why do You sleep?”
However, in the Arizal’s writings, it is stated in many places that HaKadosh Baruch Hu sleeps. Such as is found in the book Sha’ar HaKavvanot, Derushei Tefillat Arvit, exposition 2:
But the tallit katan has already been explained to be of the aspect of the time of katnut, when ze’er anpin is in the aspect of pregnancy of three comprised of three, and therefore it applies during the night as well, because at night ze’er anpin sleeps in the secret of pregnancy, that it goes back to gestate in the supreme imma.
He continues:
And since we mentioned it, we will explain the concept of the slumber. … He cast a slumber on ze’er anpin. And slumber is that the mochin that entered him left him again, for they are his vitality, and he remained asleep and slumbering.
And in the book Sha’ar HaKavvanot, Derushei Rosh HaShanah, introduction, it is stated that HaShem sleeps on Rosh HaShanah, and we awaken Him by the sound of the shofar. It says as follows:
Regarding sleep on the day of Rosh HaShanah, in my humble opinion which I heard from my teacher of blessed memory, one should not sleep on the day of Rosh HaShanah, for ze’er anpin sleeps above until it wakes up by the blowing of the shofar, as is explained below in its place. This is the secret meaning of what the Sages say that blowing the shofar means “Awaken, sleepers, from your slumber.”
He adds in Derushei Rosh HaShanah, exposition 3 that ze’er anpin sleeps so strongly that we don’t succeed in waking him up by the shofar blows of the first day, and therefore we blow on the second day for him to finally wake up. He writes as follows:
The matter of blowing the shofar on the second day of Rosh HaShanah as well is that although ze’er anpin woke up from his sleep on the first day by the blowing of the shofar, nevertheless, since the moach of chochmah in it was not cut off, but only the keter in it, as mentioned above, therefore this is still not a total awakening, and he goes back to sleep until the second day, when the chochmah in it is cut off, as mentioned above, and the gevurot of the chochmah that are in it descend there. And once the gevurot of chochmah that are in it descend, then we again blow the shofar on the second day, and the mochin wake up, and ze’er anpin doesn’t need to go back to sleep again, since when that moach that is called chochmah is woken up, there is no more sleep and no need to blow the shofar on the rest of the ten days.
And further on in Sha’ar HaKavvanot, Derushei Chag HaPurim, exposition 1, he justifies Haman’s opinion that HaKadosh Baruch Hu was sleeping, as it were, and therefore cannot save the nation of Israel. He writes as follows:
And this is the secret of the debate between Haman and Achashverosh whether their plan would succeed. And Haman answered him, “There is (yeshno) a nation,” and the Rabbis expounded, “Their God is sleeping (yashen),” and understand this. And since that sleep is for Israel’s benefit, for the female to be cut off from behind him, for them to go back to be face to face, for Israel to be redeemed and the Temple to be built, therefore the two of them planned that during that time that their god is sleeping, they would take the initiative to destroy and annihilate Israel, God forbid, so that not even a few of them remain to be worthy of redemption, and as a consequence the Temple would not be rebuilt.
Is there sleep in the divine world? Is it possible for HaKadosh Baruch Hu to sleep? And above all, how can we, puny human beings, wake Him up with the shofar? Of course not, God forbid!
Thus we have proven that the Arizal’s kabbalah posits the concept of sleep in the divinity.
This is a further proof that the Arizal’s kabbalah deals with fake divinity, and is therefore considered idol worship.