Day 2 - Part I

So, one thing I hadn't really thought about until just now when it is getting a bit late in the day for it is how will my new schedule affect my Jewish observance. There are several ways in which is may be relevant, some of which I have sorted out, the others, still not sure about.

1) there are halachos about whether or not a person who has not slept in the past 24 hours is obligated/permitted to recite the "morning" blessings which are part of Shacharis. To the best of my knowledge there is no paticular psak halacha as to how much sleep qualifies as sleep. Fortunately, being sephardic, my minhag is that I say those brachos once every 24 hours in the morning, sleep or lack thereof not withstanding. Another question though, do I need to wash my hands upon waking up from every 20 minute nap? I suspect that perhaps I do. I will need to check and see what the shulchan aruch says regarding such things.

2) Shabbos starts in several hours. Normally, my shabbat outine is: go to shul, go to dinner, hang out until about midnight, or stay up reading, fall asleep whenever I fall asleep sleep until about noon, then daven, have lunch, go for a walk, take a nap, harass the cats until tzeis. On a good shabbos, I likely sleep 10 out of the 25 hours. Last night, i put my extra waking hours to very good use: I watched a movie, started my blog, did some chores, wrote some articles, did some work for a client, practiced violin until my fingers were numb... This mornign I went and bought some ingredients that I needed for making cat food (one of my boys needs a very particular diet and going through the trouble of grinding chicken necks beats cleaning up his accidents that come from eating standard kibble any day) thinking, oh great, here is a pjoect that will take a good 2.5 hours, requires no other people around, is quiet and other than grinding the meat grinder requires very little active effot on my part. Perfect for that 2am-6am block! Unfortunately, grinding food ( as well as cooking the quinoa) and almost all my other on my own night time activities involve activities that are prohibited on Shabbat. Tonight may prove to be a challenge, as I'm going to need to find some things to do with my time and, worst of all, I have scarcely any books here as they are all still in my lift and the book stores have already closed for the day! I may take a walk or two, maybe down to the kotel and see what is going on there? Going to need to be creative.

Other than these two particular concerns though, things are for the most part going well. I've had company for much of the day (my friend that came by last night only went to run her own errands while I was napping). I've certainly felt groggy for much of the day, with a sort of nagging feeling in the back of my head that really I should be getting some sleep. Also, it's rather a bizarre thought, still taking some wrapping my head around it, I sleep for very short stretches. normally I think of sleep as something that makes time go by faster. Not so much anymore. 20 minutes later just isn't a huge stretch of time. In some ways sleep is becoming one of the least significant things that I do anymore. Steve P. at one point discusses the urge to nap as take on a similar sense as that of going to the bathroom. The simile works here as well: much in teh same way that very few of us really think of going to the bathroom as a part of our waking schedule, it's something that the need comes we take care f it and keep going, similarly, sleep is taking on the status of just one more bodily function.

During the morning, as I posted earlier I was definately feeling groggy, now I feel a calm sense of peace. I know I'll be getting a nap in two hours, it will be short but it will help and then I'll get back to doing whatever I had been doing before. Yes, I'm tired but it's not an urgent tiredness. Incidentally, it sturck me that when I began napping I was having very vivid dreams during my naps, today though, none at all. in fact it hasn't been even all that clear to me that I've been actually asleep during my naps at all. The only reason I suspect that I have been is that if I hadn't been I jsut don't think I'd be anywhere near as functioning as I appear to be. Part II will follow tomorrow evening after shabbat is over.