Honoring Parents: Is It Permissible to Wake Them from Sleep?

Do Not Disturb Their Sleep

When parents are sleeping, one must be very careful not to speak loudly or make noise that might wake them from their sleep. (498)

In Case of Financial Loss - It is forbidden to wake parents from their sleep, even if it will cause financial loss to the child. For example, if the key to the child's store is in the room where the father is sleeping, and the child cannot retrieve the key without waking his father, he should forgo the profit and rejoice that such a precious mitzvah with such a great test has come his way, and that he is fulfilling Hashem's will who commanded him about this. (498, 499)

However, if the child knows that his father would be distressed upon hearing that his son suffered a financial loss because he didn't want to wake him, then it is permitted to wake him, since that is the father's wish. (499)

For Shema and Prayer - If a father has fallen asleep, and if not awakened now will continue sleeping and miss the time for prayer or the time for reciting Shema, one should try to have someone else wake him, but if no one else is available, the child himself may wake his father. (499)

To Complete a Minyan - If the father is sleeping and people come to ask him to complete a minyan in the synagogue, the child should not wake his father, even though completing a minyan is a great mitzvah, unless he knows his father would be happy to be awakened for this purpose. The reason is that completing a minyan is not an obligatory mitzvah for the father, unlike reciting Shema and prayer which are obligatory. (502)

To Give Charity - If the father is sleeping and someone comes to ask for charity, the child should not wake his father, even though charity is a great mitzvah, unless he knows his father would be happy about this. The reason, as mentioned above, is that it's not at all clear that the father is obligated to give charity to this particular person, since there is an order of priority for charity recipients, with closer relatives taking precedence. Also, it's possible the father has already fulfilled his charity obligation to others. Additionally, when the father is sleeping, he is not considered to be ignoring charity. Therefore, this is not comparable to Shema and prayer which he is currently obligated to perform. (503)

For a Phone Call - If someone is asking for the father on the phone, or people have come to the house to speak with him, and the father is sleeping, the child should not wake him unless he knows that the father would be happy to speak with these people and would be distressed if not awakened. In such cases, it is permissible to rely on these people if they say they know the father would be distressed if not awakened to speak with them. (502)