The Bais Yosef begins his magnum opus, the Shulchan Aruch, with the words: “He should strengthen himself like a lion to rise in the morning to serve his Creator, and he should rise with the dawn.” This halachah is the basis for the fulfillment of mitzvos and avodas Hashem of a Jew, as the Pele Yoetz wrote that “all of Yahadus hinges on this” (Chessed L’alafim 1 1). Because when a person begins his day by overcoming and rising quickly, he will merit to continue to overcome his yetzer throughout the day. But if immediately at dawn, he capitulates to his yetzer hara, and continues to sleep, then how will he be able to withstand the temptations of the yetzer during the day? Don’t Chazal say (Avos 4:2): “aveirah goreres aveirah”?
Rav Mordechai Dovid Levin, author of Darkei Dovid, wrote:
“And experience shows us that someone who rises and davens properly, then his learning in Torah all day is worthy, because one strengthens the other, and his spirit is ready inside him to engage and to delve into Torah properly. And if chas vechalilah, his tefillah is lax at the beginning of the day and it is not proper, chalilah, then the day is dragged after the beginning, and he will not be pleased with himself. Therefore, a person needs to strengthen himself and make the effort on both together - in tefillah and in Torah.” (Darkei Dovid Kesubos 110b)
Hashkamah Kills the Yetzer Hara
Rav Avraham Azulai, author of Chessed L’Avraham, wrote that rising in the morning is a wonderful segulah “to kill the yetzer hara and to submit it,” and he brings an allusion to this from the words of the Gemara (Brachos 58a): “Haba lehorgecha – hashkem lehorgo.” The way to overpower the yetzer hara that “comes to kill you” is by hashkamah, rising early – “hashkem lehorgo.” (Hagahos Mahar”a Azulai on the Levush 1 1)
The Baal Hafla’ah writes that overcoming to and rising in the morning to serve Hashem is a “shemirah for the whole day to help him overcome and prevail over his yetzer.” (Pischa Ze’ira at the beginning of sefer Hamakneh 38)
The Last Day Full of Mitzvos
In sefer Yisgaber K’Ari (Sha’ar Aleph, 3) the author shares a poignant understanding about the virtue of rising early in the morning, which he reached following a story that happened:
One of his acquaintances suddenly collapsed at eight o’clock in the morning and passed away within a few hours.
That day, this Jew had woken up with alacrity, as he usually did, recited Krias Shema with kavanah, put on his tallis, donned tefillin, answered amen after Birchos Hashachar, davened betzibbur k’vasikin, answered amen after Kaddish and chazaras hasha”tz, and even had an aliyah. Then he still managed to attend his regular shiur after davening, and elevated his soul with another daf of Gemara.
So, although he returned his soul to Hashem at the early hour of the morning, he still managed on his final day to do many mitzvos that accompanied him when he returned his soul to its Creator.
Imagine if that Yid would have gotten up late that day, how regretful he would have been at having missed these great mitzvos on the last day of his life?
A living person should take heart, and immediately in the morning, should worry that perhaps these are his final hours, and if he doesn’t hurry to wake up he will lose the mitzvos that he can fulfill as soon as it is morning. (Yisgaber K’Ari, Sha’ar Aleph, 3)
