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The following is from the Artscroll Shavuous Machzor pages 68 - 69. I
have placed these pages at
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/shavuous_as_night.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/shavuous_as_night.pdf<br><br>
</a><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><b>Widespread Acceptance
</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Although the custom of
remaining awake the entire night of Shavuous was first recorded almost
two millennia ago, it was observed only by small groups of scholars.
Widespread acceptance of this custom was not realized until about four
hundred years ago, when it was popularized by the scholars and kabbalists
of Tzefas, who were inspired by the following incident that involved at
least two of them, R' Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz (Salonika, Turkey, 1505
Tzefas, Eretz Yisrael 1584) was a <i>paytan (Lechah Dodi),
</i>commentator, a leading kabbalist, and member of the circle of R'
Yosef Karo, author of the <i>Shulhan Aruch. </i>The two had first met in
Turkey, where R' Shlomo became a disciple of R' Yosef. R' Shlomo's
account of a Shavuos night Torah study session while he and R' Yosef were
together in Turkey, is recorded by the <i>Sh'la (Maseches Shavuos):
<br><br>
</i><x-tab> </x-tab>Let it
be known that the <i>Chassid </i>[pious man - R' Shlomo called R' Yosef
Karo <br>
</font>by this title] and I, his servant, along with some of our
colleagues, decided to <br>
remain awake the entire night of
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Shavuos. </i>Thanks to <i>Hashem
</i>we were able to do <br>
</font>so. We did not cease [our studies] for a moment ...<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>R'
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Shlomo then lists the
portions of Scriptures that they studied. After that, they began learning
<i>Mishnayos. </i>They had completed the first two tractates exactly at
midnight, and </font>the following took place: <br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>[You may see the rest on the above
link.]<br>
_______________________________________________________<br><br>
Now let's assume that they waited 72 minutes after Shkia to daven
Maariv. (The calculations below are for this year, but I
assume that things were not all that different when it comes to zemanim
for the year in which the above event took place.) <br><br>
From
<a href="http://www.chabad.org/calendar/zmanim.asp?tDate=5/29/2009&c=614" eudora="autourl">
http://www.chabad.org/calendar/zmanim.asp?tDate=5/29/2009&c=614</a>
Shkia on 6 Sivan this year in Istanbul is 8:27 PM and Chatzos is 1:01
AM. (I am not really sure were the event described above took
place, except that it says that it happened in Turkey.) Assuming that R'
Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz and R' Yosef Karo waited 72 minutes before
starting to daven Maariv means that they started Maariv at about 9:40
PM. They certainly did not daven Maariv quickly, so let's say it took
them a half hour to daven Maariv and then about 10 minutes to go home to
eat. This means that they began to eat about 10:20. Let's give them an
hour for their Yom Tov Seudah and the return to shul. This means they
began to learn at about 11:20 PM. Could they in reality have studied
"portions of" the Scriptures and "the first two tractates
of Mishnayos" by "midnight" (Chatzos) which was about 1
AM? <br><br>
Unless they "davened" through their learning, I have to
assume that it would have taken them longer than an hour and 40 minutes
to study this body of material. If so, then I must conclude that they did
not wait 72 minutes to daven Maariv on the first night of Shavuous!! They
must have davened Maariv early!!!! Only by doing so could they have
finished davening, eaten and learned what they did by Chatzos. <br><br>
All of the above is, of course, speculation on my part. <br><br>
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