Q&A from the Bais HaVaad Halacha Hotline

Sleep Study

August 11, 2022

Q  During the summer, I sometimes go to sleep before nightfall. Do I recite hamapil?

A  Although hamapil, which asks for peaceful sleep (O.C. 239:1), would be applicable to any sleep, Chazal instituted the bracha based on the norm. Since sleep is generally a nighttime activity, the bracha is only recited when sleeping at night (Mishnah Brurah ibid. 8).

R’ Betzalel Stern (Betzeil Hachochmah 5:115) concludes that one who goes to bed before nightfall—even during bain hashmashos—though he expects to fall asleep at night, does not make hamapil. Only after tzeis hakochavim is the bracha recited.

The Biur Halacha (239) addresses the opposite question—one who goes to bed minutes before daybreak (alos hashachar, not haneitz hachamah), whose bracha would be made at night but who would fall asleep by day. He makes no conclusive ruling, but he clearly indicates that if the person believes he’ll fall asleep before alos, he should say hamapil.