The morning service starts the day and is the longest of the three daily services. Its central prayer, like the central prayer of the other two services of the day, is the Shemoneh Esrei, also known as the Amida. Shemoneh Esrei means eighteen, and the prayer is so called because it originally had eighteen blessings. Although another blessing was added later, its name remained unchanged. The term Amida means standing, and this prayer must be recited silently while standing.

Further reading: For more on prayer and its meaning, see A Concise Guide to the Sages, p. 457; A Concise Guide to Mahshava, p. 300.

Another fundamental component of the morning service, as well as of the evening service, is the recitation of Shema, which consists of three passages from the Torah that deal with the obligation to love God and fulfill His commandments. The opening verse is, “Hear [Shema], Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4), hence the name Shema.

The Amida of the morning service is to be recited during the period from sunrise until the end of the fourth hour of the day (calculated using “halakhic hours,” which are each one-twelfth of the period of daylight). One who missed this time is permitted, after the fact, to pray until midday. The exact times for sunrise, the fourth hour, midday, and other halakhically significant times of day appear in special timetables produced for this purpose, which are sold in book form and can also be accessed online.

One may recite Shema from about an hour before sunrise until the conclusion of the third hour of the day, calculated using halakhic hours. Here too, these times are listed in daily halakhic timetables. In this regard, there are two methods of calculating the time, with a discrepancy of about forty-five minutes between them. Each person should follow the custom of his community.

Recitation of Shema is an important part of the morning prayer service, but sometimes the service is scheduled such that Shema will be recited by the congregation after the appropriate time. In such a case one must remember that reciting Shema is a mitzva in its own right, with its own schedule, and therefore, in order to fulfill this mitzva one must recite it before the morning service.

The preferred form of prayer is in the synagogue with a quorum [minyan] of ten adult male Jews praying together. Public prayer is preferable to solitary prayer and is heard and accepted with more grace in heaven. In addition, only when praying with a minyan may one recite Kaddish, Kedusha, Barekhu, Selihot, or read the Torah. Nevertheless, one who cannot come to the synagogue and pray with the congregation should pray alone.

Further reading: For more on the significance of praying in a minyan, see A Concise Guide to Mahshava, p. 309.

It is desirable for every person to choose a regular spot where he recites Shemoneh Esrei. This applies both to prayer in the synagogue and to prayer at home.

The Torah exempts women from almost all positive, time-bound mitzvot. This refers to mitzvot which are to be performed at a certain time (e.g., tefillin, Shema, sukka, and lulav), in contrast to mitzvot that are not dependent on a particular time (e.g., mezuza, giving charity, and returning lost property). Therefore, women are exempt from reciting Shema, which must be recited at certain hours of the day and night. Nevertheless, it is proper for every woman to accept the yoke of Heaven every day, by reciting the first verse, “Hear, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”

Women are obligated to recite the Amida prayer of the morning and afternoon services. In certain Sephardic communities, the custom is for women to pray only one Amida prayer every day. If a woman finds it particularly difficult to recite the Amida every day, then reciting the Morning Blessings each morning suffices, as these blessings include the basic components of the entire prayer service.