Ahavat Olam (evening)

Almost every phrase is a quote

Abudarham (a commentary on the prayers, Spain, about 1340) goes through this blessing phrase by phrase and names the verse behind almost every one. "When we lie down and when we get up" is Devarim 6:7. "We will talk about Your laws" is Tehillim 119:23. "We will think about them by day and by night" is Yehoshua 1:8. The blessing is a chain of verses, stitched into one thank-you.

"Therefore": the blessing is an argument

Notice the two small words "al ken," therefore. The blessing says: You loved us and taught us Torah, therefore we will talk about it and be glad in it. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) reads the first lines as a chain: because God loves us forever, He gave us the Torah so that by its light we would live. That is why the next words say, "for they are our life."

Was night made for sleep, or for study?

Two sages in the Gemara sound like they disagree (Eruvin 65a). Rav Yehuda: night was made only for sleep. Reish Lakish (Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish): the moon was made only for study. Tosafot (medieval commentators on the Gemara) say the sleep line is about the short nights of summer. In Avodah Zarah 3b, Reish Lakish adds that whoever learns Torah at night has a thread of God's kindness drawn over him the next day. The Rambam (Maimonides, 1100s) writes that most of a person's wisdom is gained at night.

At night, the old argument goes quiet

In the morning, communities differ on how this blessing opens (the morning Ahavat Olam prayer tells the story). At night, the codes agree. The Tur (a law code from the 1300s) says the Geonim (heads of the Babylonian academies) split it: Ahavah Rabbah by day, Ahavat Olam at night. Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law), notes in his Beit Yosef that the Rambam has Ahavat Olam at both times, and so do the Jews of Spain. Nusach Sefard says it in the morning too.

The word for Yitzchak at dusk

"We will talk" is nasiach, from the word sicha. In Bereishit 24:63, Yitzchak goes out "lasuach" in the field "toward evening." Rashi says that word means prayer, and compares it to "sicho" (his plea) in Tehillim 102:1. The Gemara (Berakhot 26b) says this verse is where Yitzchak's afternoon prayer, Mincha, comes from.

Four terms from a king's courtroom

"Torah, commandments, decrees and judgments" is a list that also appears in Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles) II 19:10. King Yehoshafat of Judah appoints judges and tells them how to handle disputes, including cases about "Torah, commandment, decrees and judgments." Abudarham ties the blessing's words to other verses (Devarim 6:1 and 33:4), so we cannot say the writers had this verse in mind. It is the same four terms, in the same order.

Someone is listening when you learn at night

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) says God takes joy only in a person who works at Torah. All the more, it says, in a person who wakes at night to learn, because all the righteous in Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) listen to his voice, and God is found among them. It quotes Shir HaShirim (the Song of Songs): "You who sit in the gardens, friends are listening to your voice. Let me hear it." Now read "when we lie down and when we get up" again.

דלית חדו לקב"ה אלא מאן דאשתדל באורייתא, כ"ש ב"נ דמתער בליליא לאשתדלא באורייתא, דהא כל צדיקייא דבגנתא דעדן, צייתין לקליה

Why night is the time for Torah

The Gemara says that whoever learns Torah at night, God draws a "thread of kindness" over him during the day. The Maharal (Rabbi Yehudah Loew of Prague, who died in 1609) explains why night. The world is mainly run by day, in the light. At night, in the dark, all of that stops, so night is the right time for Torah. And Torah is kindness at its core: "the Torah of kindness is on her tongue." Day, which is all light, is the right time for kindness to show. Now read "day and night" again.

הלילה שהוא חושך, הכל בטל, ולכך ראוי הלילה לתורה

Why be Jewish? One word.

Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel (a Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1953) writes that people ask "Why are we Jews?" and look for answers from outside, and even the people giving the answers are not convinced. It is as hard to answer as "Why do I live?" But the believer has one word, he says: love. Loving God means loving His Torah and His people, every man and woman, even every boy and girl. Now read "You have loved the house of Israel" again.

אבל המאמין משיב מלה אחת והיא: האהבה

Love is a gift, so we ask for it

In a teaching about Aharon (Moshe's brother, the first Kohen), the Sefat Emet (Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger, a Chassidic leader in Poland who died in 1905) lists what effort can win: wisdom, strength over your impulses, and giving all you have. But clinging to God in love is not on that list. It is a gift from God, as the verse says, "I will love them freely." That, he says, is why we ask: "Do not take Your love away from us."

וע"ז מבקשין ואהבתך אל תסיר ממנו כו'. שא"י לבוא לזה רק בכח המתנה

I got to shul late and the minyan is starting the Amidah. Do I say this first?

At night, no. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) rules that you pray the Amidah with them, then say Shema with its blessings. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) says praying with a minyan comes first, unless you expect to catch another minyan later. In the morning it is the opposite. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary) says that by the teaching of the Arizal (the Tzfat kabbalist, 1500s), Shema comes first even at night.

Why doesn't it start with "Blessed are You"? Is it still a blessing?

Yes. The Shulchan Aruch says it does not open with "Baruch" because it comes right after the blessing before it. For the evening, the Tur (a law code from the 1300s) says the same. The Magen Avraham (a 1600s commentary on the Shulchan Aruch) adds that this holds even if you say it on its own or out of order, since it was set up to follow another blessing. It still ends with "Blessed are You, Hashem."

It's night. Do I still need to be wearing tzitzit?

Night is not the time of tzitzit, the Shulchan Aruch rules, from the words "and you shall see it" (Bamidbar 15:39). The Rambam (Maimonides, 1100s) and the Rosh (Rabbeinu Asher, a medieval law authority) disagree on whether this goes by when you wear a garment or by what kind of garment it is. Because of that doubt, the Mishnah Berurah says it is still forbidden to wear a daytime garment with four corners at night without tzitzit. The Rema adds: no blessing on a tallit put on after Maariv, even if it is still day.

The blessing says "day and night." Do I have to learn Torah at night too?

The Shulchan Aruch says every Jewish man must set a time for Torah by day and by night, from Yehoshua 1:8, which has the same words "day and night." A note there adds that under pressure, even Shema morning and evening counts. That comes from the Gemara (Menachot 99b): Rabbi Ami says one chapter in the morning and one at night keeps that verse, and Rabbi Yochanan, quoting Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, says even Shema does.