Mishmar (Thursday Night Learning) משמר (דאנערשטאג ביינאכט)

What is mishmar

In yeshiva the day is divided into "sedarim", each with its chavrusa and shiur ^[1]. Thursday night is different: in many yeshivos bochurim stay learning late, sometimes past midnight, sometimes until dawn. This is "mishmar", from "shmira", like a watchman guarding the night.

The cholent

What keeps a bochur awake at 2 a.m.? The Gemara, of course, and also the smell of cholent from the kitchen. At mishmar big pots of cholent come out, a kugel, in some yeshivos herring and a l'chaim; the bochurim eat, sing a niggun, and go back to learning.

A Chasidish view

Chasidim know Thursday-night cholent from preparing for Shabbos. The Litvaks took the same idea and added a blatt Gemara. Both sides agree that cholent at 2 a.m. is a mitzvah; the proof is that nobody has ever asked why.