On Thursday night, throngs of non-baseball fans descended upon Yankee Stadium. They were not there to watch the Yankees take on the hated Red Sox. No, they wanted to be among the first 18,000 people to receive a highly coveted giveaway: the "George Costanza Sleeping Under His Desk Bobblehead Doll," this year's commemorative souvenir from "Seinfeld Night." 

The figurine, which will undoubtedly displace pictures of children and grandchildren atop mantles and credenzas across the city, depicts George Costanza sleeping on the job during the Season 8 episode "The Nap." Inept Costanza, in his non-athletic position of Assistant to the Traveling Secretary for the Yankees ("Ruth. Gehrig. DiMaggio. Mantle. Costanza?"), expends an enormous amount of effort to not work, and hires a carpenter to build a sleeping nook under his desk in which clandestine power naps can be taken. Above Bobblehead Costanza sleeping is one of his quotes from the episode: "I love a good nap. That's the only thing getting me out of bed in the morning."

I am very impressed that the Yankees promotional department was savvy enough about the Jewish calendar to schedule this giveaway for the week of Parshas Re'eh, in which the mitzvah of sleeping in and sleeping over is presented to Bnei Yisrael. Clearly the Yankees recognize that it is the Torah that empowered the power nap and venerated it as an essential component of divine service. 

After traveling to the Beis Hamikdash for Pesach and offering the Korban Pesach, we are taught:

וּבִשַּׁלְתָּ֙ וְאָ֣כַלְתָּ֔ בַּמָּק֕וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִבְחַ֛ר יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ בּ֑וֹ וּפָנִ֣יתָ בַבֹּ֔קֶר וְהָלַכְתָּ֖ לְאֹהָלֶֽיךָ׃

You shall cook and eat it at the place that your God will choose;

and in the morning you may start back on your journey home.

On what morning should this journey home commence?

לְבָקְרוֹ שֶׁל שֵׁנִי, מְלַמֵּד שֶׁטָּעוּן לִינָה לֵיל שֶׁל מוֹצָאֵי י"ט (ספרי; פסחים צ"ה; חגיגה י"ז)

On the morning of the second day of Pesach — It teaches us that he is required to stay in Yerushalayim during the night when the holiday terminates (Sifrei Devarim 134:2; Pesachim 95b; Chagigah 17).

Yom Tov is over, but we are not permitted to zoom out of town. The mitzvah of לינה, sleeping over, demands that we spend one more night. This is true not only during עליה לרגל on Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos (Rosh Hashanah 5a); לינה applies any time one brings an offering to the Mikdash. For example, when performing the mitzvah of Bikkurim, first fruits, the Mishnah (Bikkurim 2:4) insists that:

שֶׁהַבִּכּוּרִים נִקְנִין בִּמְחֻבָּר לַקַּרְקַע, וְעוֹשֶׂה אָדָם כָּל שָׂדֵהוּ בִּכּוּרִים, וְחַיָּב בְּאַחֲרָיוּתָם, וּטְעוּנִים קָרְבָּן וְשִׁיר וּתְנוּפָה וְלִינָה

For bikkurim can become acquired while still attached [to the soil]. And a man may make his entire field bikkurim; He is responsible for them; And they require a sacrifice, a song, waving and sleeping over. 

When it comes to kedushah, there's no such thing as being a "pop-in person." Brief day-trips to Yerushalayim for the purpose of serving Hashem are forbidden. When you show up with your offering and experience the grandeur of the Mikdash and the city, you have get a hotel room or an Airbnb, or crash on someone's couch, or under their desk. And then the next morning, you can make your return trip. וּפָנִ֣יתָ בַבֹּ֔קֶר וְהָלַכְתָּ֖ לְאֹהָלֶֽיךָ. 

It was our forefather Yaakov who modeled this behavior for us:

וַיִּפְגַּ֨ע בַּמָּק֜וֹם וַיָּ֤לֶן שָׁם֙ כִּי־בָ֣א הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁ וַיִּקַּח֙ מֵאַבְנֵ֣י הַמָּק֔וֹם וַיָּ֖שֶׂם מְרַֽאֲשֹׁתָ֑יו וַיִּשְׁכַּ֖ב בַּמָּק֥וֹם הַהֽוּא׃

He reached the place and slept over there, for the sun had set.

Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.

Our tradition teaches that Yaakov had just issued a fervent prayer (אין פגיעה אלא תפילה), the precedent for the tefillah of Maariv. at a very significant place: Har HaMoriah (בַּמָּק֜וֹם). And he prayed in the darkness because God wanted to ensure that Yaakov sleep over in this special place: 

הָיָה לוֹ לִכְתֹּב וַיָּבֹא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וַיָּלֶן שָׁם

כִּי בָא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ מַשְׁמַע שֶׁשָּׁקְעָה לוֹ חַמָּה פִּתְאוֹם, שֶׁלֹּא בְּעוֹנָתָהּ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיָּלִין שָׁם

It should have written, “The sun set and he tarried there all night”, but the words “he slept there all night because the sun set”, imply that the sun set unexpectedly — not at its proper time — just in order that he should sleep there overnight).

And it was only because Yaakov did לינה that he was able to experience his epic prophetic dream with angels ascending and descending a ladder. 

Moments of connection with Hashem are precious. If we run in and out, our communion with God is reduced to yet another item on our voluminous to-do lists:

__ Pick up dry cleaning

__ Buy milk

__ Order one Q-tip on Amazon (free shipping for Prime members!)

__ Talk to God

The check-list approach that overwhelms our busy lives has sadly infected our mitzvah observance, as we ricochet from one activity to another and accomplish the next item, and then the next one, and then the next. Think about how quickly shul empties out the second davening is over; its almost as if someone pulled the fire alarm. We want to fulfill our responsibilities to God and man, but perhaps our drive to be יוצא this and יוצא that has unwittingly turned us into perpetual יוצאים, people who exit, always hurtling to do something else, failing to linger in appreciation of what we have just experienced. And Hashem tells us, קשה אלי פרידתכם, your hasty departure is difficult for Me. Sleep over. Stay in the moment for just a little while, for that tells me you truly value it. 

The House that Ruth Built, our Davidic dynasty and the future Mashiach, was created because of a sleepover. In the Book of Ruth, Perek 3, Naami tells Ruth that her would-be redeemer Boaz would be winnowing barley at night by himself, and that would be a good time to approach him and hint to her desire for marriage. And indeed:

וַיֹּ֨אכַל בֹּ֤עַז וַיֵּשְׁתְּ֙ וַיִּיטַ֣ב לִבּ֔וֹ וַיָּבֹ֕א לִשְׁכַּ֖ב בִּקְצֵ֣ה הָעֲרֵמָ֑ה וַתָּבֹ֣א בַלָּ֔ט וַתְּגַ֥ל מַרְגְּלֹתָ֖יו וַתִּשְׁכָּֽב׃

Boaz ate and drank, and in a cheerful mood went to lie down beside the grainpile. Then she went over stealthily and uncovered his feet and lay down.

וַֽיְהִי֙ בַּחֲצִ֣י הַלַּ֔יְלָה וַיֶּחֱרַ֥ד הָאִ֖ישׁ וַיִּלָּפֵ֑ת וְהִנֵּ֣ה אִשָּׁ֔ה שֹׁכֶ֖בֶת מַרְגְּלֹתָֽיו׃

In the middle of the night, the man gave a start and pulled back—there was a woman lying at his feet!

Why was Boaz in such a good mood, וַיִּיטַ֣ב לִבּ֔וֹ? The Midrashim offer several explanations: Boaz was cheerful because he had just studied Torah. Boaz was cheerful because he had just did the mitzvah of Birkas Hamazon. Boaz was cheerful because he was also anticipating marriage. And he decided to sleep over in the barn in his state of bliss. But Rav Moshe Alshich asks the obvious question: Why did Chazal insist on these deeper connotations and depart from the simple meaning of the pasuk, that Boaz had a hearty meal and fell asleep from it ("What's that stuff in turkey that makes you sleepy?" "Tryptophan!")?

The Alshich synergizes all the midrashim in order to insist that Boaz did not want to leave the granary in his elevated spiritual state. He needed to linger and appreciate the heights to which he had climbed. He stayed in that place and basked in his connection with Hashem. Had he rushed out of there, Ruth never would have caught him, and history would be forever altered. The gravity of this consequential moment! It makes you want to just curl up under your desk.