Sleep vs. Sleepy "Learning"? Rav Miller Rules

Rav Avigdor Miller זצ"ל was old-fashioned (a term I am using here in a positive sense, as a compliment) in various ways. One of them was in his representation, modeling, and advocacy of classic healthy living, such as non-materialistic lifestyles, and enjoying, appreciating, and giving thanks for things like simple food, walking, fresh air, and the like (along with deep and genuine Torah spirituality, of course). 

Rav Miller was not part of the modern coffee-guzzling, caffeine-fueled, pill-popping "frum" culture practiced by too many (with frequent harried travel often part of the mix). Rather he was far from it. He ate simply, traveled little, liked to walk, breathe fresh air, eat fruit, drink water, enjoy nature.

This occasionally comes into sharp relief in his words, as seen in an important Q & A exchange with him shared recently by Toras Avigdor:

Rav Avigdor Miller on Getting Enough Sleep

Rav Miller's words at the above linked page are very important, but there is even more that can be added to them, which I think he would agree with, for example,

1) Proper sleep is not only important for mental health, it is vital for physical, general health as well.

2) When a person is tired, lacking adequate sleep, their learning is usually quite deficient and inferior in comparison to when they are properly rested, in areas such as comprehension and retention.

It was shared by gedolim that there is an inyan of ביטול תורה באיכות, qualitative bittul Torah, meaning that if someone can learn Torah on a higher level and suffices rather with a lower one, he has not done properly (ביטול תורה - עולמות, see section ט toward bottom, in English some info here). While that expression and idea is usually invoked with regard to something like someone reciting Tehillim simply and seemingly superficially vs. learning תורה שבעל פה with deeper understanding, לענ"ד it could be applied to learning sleepy vs. learning rested too.

Modern research has shown the great importance of good sleep for mental functioning and memory. Even Harvard University, although they may be quite confused in other areas, testifies strongly to that:

Want to improve your memory? Get a good night's sleep! - Harvard Health

Sleep well, and learn better. Recharge yourself with good sleep, and resist the allure of coffee, cigarettes, and other quick "fixes", which don't do the job you need and want long-term (if even short-term).

There are people that push themselves hard to wake up early for a shiur, don't sleep enough, guzzle coffee to keep going, and then wonder why they hardly recall anything from such "learning" sessions. Is that the way to go? הקב"ה wants us to understand, enjoy, and retain our learning. Don't fool yourself. You are surely not fooling Hashem. Learn when you are properly prepared, rested, and alert, and the yields will be something to write home about.

ברכה והצלחה

California Fire Exposes Chabad-Lubavitch Fraud

Followers of the Chabad-Lubavitch faith have been playing a game with people for years, Good Chabad Lubavitch - Bad Chabad Lubavitch (akin to Good Cop - Bad Cop), in which they purport that the lunacy of their sect is of a small, crazy messianic faction, but that the main group (represented by the Krinsky-Kotlarsky-Shemtov establishment Agudas Chasidei Chabad faction, which runs Chabad.org, and more) are not like that. Although they hold the same or basically the same beliefs as the openly messianic group, they make great efforts to hide or obfuscate things which may turn off others (especially potential donors, of course), such as their belief that their late last leader is the messiah, in an attempt to conceal them from outsiders. Of course, that is another scam of the Chabadskers. As we saw in our previous post, we see now again clearly, where a Chabad of the allegedly mainstream faction has Torahs which are covered with mantels (specially designed and inscribed Torah coats/covers) with their messianic mantra of  יחי אדוננו וכו on them, proclaiming their long (over thirty years) dead leader as Messiah.

This can readily be seen here:

 It's a mitzvah: LA fires activate Jewish law of saving Torah scrolls from calamity | The Times of Israel

In the right and left photos on the top showing the Chabad scrolls, one sees clearly at the top of their covers, in a sort of crescent form, the messianic mantra.

While normally hidden, they are now out in the open for all to see.

נתגלה קלונם וחרפתם, השקר של חב"ד-ליובאוויטש

Don't be fooled by them, don't support them.

Of course, this is a big part of their general playbook, taking advantage of disasters to promote themselves, and to fundraise, whether it involves cases of flooding, hurricanes, fires, or otherwise, they offer free publicity and fundraising opportunities, so Chabad-Lubavitch PR Inc. is there to take advantage and monetize the situations for their benefit.

Even the so-called "Yeshiva World News" falls for their fraud, promoting them against the true Yeshiva world's traditional stance. For shame. 

ושומר נפשו ירחק מהם, וכ"ש שלא לתמוך בהם, וילך בטח בעזרת השי"ת

Chabad-Lubavitch Defiling of Chanukah (ר"ל)

Chanukah is one of the great ימים טובים (holidays) of the Jewish people. It is identified, connected, infused, suffused with holiness, the fight to maintain our sanctity in a hostile, impure world. Who does not know about the פך השמן הטהור, the flask of pure oil, that played such a vital role in it.

מתתיהו כהן גדול and the חשמונאים stood up for the קדושה וטהרה of כלל ישראל, their holiness and purity.

But now, millennia afterward, there is a group that has hijacked Chanukah for its own motives, defiling it in the process, R"L. An aggressive, dangerous Messianic sect that uses Chanukah as a giant platform to promote themselves and their late leader, which they hold to be the Messiah, despite his passing away over three decades ago. In their zeal to promote themselves and their events, they engage in various questionable activities along the way.

The other day I saw some egregious examples of this when I took a look at a video of a very recent Chanukah event in NYC put on by Chabad-Lubavitch (a branch of, that is part of the allegedly "non-messianist" faction, led by a grandson of a close associate of their late leader) with their ex-follower, the singer Matisyahu.

In the course of it, Chabad-Lubavitch had a young child shout out yechi...three times, promoting their long deceased leader as Messiah, from the stage. Additionally, the performer, Matisyahu, used improper vulgar language in his performance.

Is this what Chanukah is about? Such things are antithetical to the true meaning of the great Yom Tov.

And this is by no means the only way or instance of Chabad-Lubavitch playing (improper) games with it. In Washington, DC, less than a month ago, a prominent Chabad-Lubavitch agent, sang "brachos" (albeit using "Hashem") at a Capitol Congressional event over a menorah which was lit there, the thing is, however, that it was over a week before the holiday then. A Chabad-Lubavitch faux Chanukah. A different example related to the same fellow: at their "National Menorah" lighting" near the White House in the beginning of the Yom tov, a chazan they had there sang the bracha of להדליק נר without saying shem Hashem. Those are just a few prominent examples that we became aware of, who knows what may have happened elsewhere. Such shenanigans cheapen the holy Yomtov.

The גדולי ישראל that warned us against Chabad-Lubavitch (even when they seem on the surface to be doing something right), like Rav Schach zt"l, the Brisker Rav zt"l, and many others, were very wise, understanding, foresighted, and prescient, and have been proven correct on the matter many times over. We need to take a lesson from this in general, with regard to Chabad-Lubavitch, to not fall for their loud, flashy, and glitzy, and gaudy lures even if they seem at first to be kosher, as they have a חזקה, a presumption, based on a long record, to corrupt things with their messianism and mistaken theology, and not to be deceived by their deceptive massive propaganda apparatus.

In the זכות of following our great leaders, our Torah sages and elders, may we be zoche to true holiness and purity, leading the way to the true Moshiach, במהרה בימינו אמן.

Update: Chabad-Lubavitch subsequently released their PR piece on the event described in the beginning of the post, in which the attendance was exaggerated (thousands claimed, though from the photographs it looked like hundreds to me), and the messianic part was not reported. Typical of the deceptive propaganda of the dangerous sect of the false messiah of our time.