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  • Night and Sleep

napping during the day and tumah- impure forces

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Rabbi Ari Shvat

Tammuz 16, 5782
Question
shalom Rav, i have a question about the forces of impurity. You know how they say at night, the soul leaves and then the external impure forces affect the body? Is there a way to prevent those forces from affecting someone’s body at all? What happens if someone sleeps or naps during the daylight/daytime? Does their soul ascend and their body is then Not affected by the impure external forces at all? Thanks
Answer
Judaism is generally much more preoccupied, with God, Torah, our character traits, family, Israel, mankind, society, history, nature, ecology, etc., and such mystical issues are not only secondary, but at most, tertiary. These are kabbalistic concepts which, should not be what preoccupies you, compared to the aforementioned topics, and almost every other issue in life. Nevertheless, we'll answer regarding the practical ramifications: Saying the Shema Yisrael and HaMapil prayers before going to sleep at night "protects" us from impure forces. On the other hand, during the day, these negative forces are not "activated", and that's why we don't say Shema before resting during then, and also why, even though we wash our hands after day-naps, it's mainly for cleanliness, and accordingly we don't say a bracha "Al netilat yadayim" then.
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