Ha-ni'or ba-layla, ni'or ba-layla literally means somebody that stays awake at night. We don't know why he's staying awake at night; the Mishnah will tell us. Maybe he or she has insomnia. Maybe they have some type of sleep disorder. But we'll see that that's not the case. ve-hamehalech ba-derech yechidi. That's somebody that travels alone on the road. The Mishnah then says, ve-hamefaneh libo levatalah: And they turn their heart to idleness. ve-hamehalech ba-derech yechidi. So the Mishnah is actually saying two things that are very dangerous. People who stay up at night don't sleep; it's unhealthy. ve-hamehalech ba-derech yechidi. People who travel alone—sakana—especially today, when all the roads are dangerous. So the Mishnah says that there is something you can do at night to protect you from the dangers of the night. And there's something you can do when you're traveling alone that will bring you protection. And that is study Torah. But if somebody is awake at night and he's mefaneh libo levatalah, he just remains idle. So the nights are very long. And if you don't fulfill them with Torah, you're depriving yourself of sleep, which is not a healthy thing and, God forbid, could be unhealthy. So the Mishnah says, furthermore, if a person is traveling alone on the roads, how is he going to be protected? Chachamim (Sages) tell us that if you're thinking of the Torah and your mind is on religious teachings, that could protect you as well.
Today we're very fortunate. Today we have access to the Torah in our cars. So you don't have to walk around in the street with a book anymore. Today everybody has access to the internet in the car, where you can turn on a shiur (class). I think that's a very good idea, especially when one is driving at night, when it's double danger. It's night, and he's alone on the road. Listening to the Torah would be very protective.
Somebody recently told me a story about a shiur that he listened to while he was driving at night. A shiur of ours saved his life. I was very happy to hear that. So I asked him, "What exactly did I say on the shiur when you were driving that saved your life, and how is that possible?" So he blushed and said, "Well, it really wasn't something you said." That makes me feel better. Than exactly what? Most of my class is what I said. So if it wasn't what I said, then what else was it? He said, "Actually, I was driving at night, the Rabbi's shiur was on, and I was passing a rail crossing, and I was dozing off. The gates were closed, and I was coming down, and I was still dozing off. Then it seems that during your class, an ambulance came by in the background, and all of a sudden I heard the sirens of the ambulance, and I woke up. So you saved my life."
Now I'm sure at the time that I was giving that class, I probably questioned, "Why is Hashem doing this, interrupting the Torah class with an ambulance in the background?" I was right in front of the Torah center when I gave the class. I was in, somebody next door to the Torah center; there's an old age home on 37th Street, and it seems the Hatzalah came, and they kept the sirens going. I probably said to myself, "Why is this happening over here? Why would Hashem interrupt this class?"
Little did I know that one day, it was this part of the class. Little did I know, it was this part of the class that actually saved somebody's life. I don't know what the Hatzalah guys did that night, if they saved the old lady's life next door, but they saved somebody else's life next door, unbeknownst to them. So you never know how the Torah is able to save the person.