Q & A - WITH RABBI RISKIN

Question: It is difficult for me to be up all night learning on Shavuot and then to pray with concentration at sunrise. Am I not better off going to sleep regular time and davening properly in the morning?

Answer: If the main mitzvah of Pesach is eating matzot, and the main mitzvah of Sukkot is eating in the Sukkah and taking the four species, the mitzvah of Shavuot is studying Torah. And since we generally do not study Torah throughout the night, and since the Gemara suggests and the Rambam rules that there is special efficacy to the study of Torah at night (when most people sleep and do not study), and since many Jews at Sinai missed the revelation because they slept through it, I believe that it would be
quite important to spend the night - or at least past midnight and into as much of the wee hours of the morning as possible - in the study of Torah. Learning all night or most of the night and then going to sleep in order to wake up for a 9:00 minyan is also a possibility. At any rate if all of this is difficult, then go to sleep regular time, daven according to your usual custom but spend extra time learning Torah during the Shavuot day.