There are three nights a year Jews pull all-nighters: Slichot, the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah, Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, and the Passover Seder. The late night element adds a measure of danger and fun to traditional rituals. On Passover it also delays the meal, in some households it’s after midnight by the time you are sipping matzah ball soup. We are meant to be reminded of the tenth plague, where, according to the Torah, the Angel of Death came in the dead of night to take the lives of the first born of Egypt. This harkens back to the original meaning of Passover, a celebration not of the entire Exodus from Egypt, but exclusively of having our lives spared in the final plague.
In this week’s Torah portion, Tzav, we read about the roasting of the burnt offering which we are told must “burn upon the altar all night until the morning” (Leviticus 6:2). Like slow cooked meat at a BBQ, we can imagine the savory nature of the ancient gift to God. But for the priests in charge this was hard work, that required dedication and focus in a way their daytime activities might have lacked.
For me, I had my lifetime share of all-nighters before my children began to walk. I remember the many, many nights without sleep when our oldest suffered from colic during the first four months of her life. During that time, I learned the limits of my endurance, as well as the true joy of a good night’s sleep. Needless to say, our family Passover seders happily conclude way before midnight, allowing us to digest our scrumptious seder meal while we sleep.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy Passover,
Rabbi Alex