The afternoon prayer service was instituted to correspond to the daily afternoon sacrifice that was brought in the Temple. It is called Minha due to the fact that immediately after the daily sacrifice was offered every day, a meal offering [minha] of flour and oil was also brought. The hour of the minha offering is a time of special closeness between God and the Jewish people. Even nowadays, after the destruction of the Temple, the afternoon service is a favorable time, during which prayers are accepted more readily. The Talmud states, “One must always be vigilant with regard to the afternoon prayer, as Elijah’s prayer [during his confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel] was answered only at the afternoon service, as it is stated (I Kings 18:36–37): ‘And it was at the time of the afternoon offering that Elijah the prophet came near, and he said…Answer me, Lord, answer me’” (Berakhot 6b).

Further reading: For more on the destruction of the Temple and the historical processes that led to this tragedy, see A Concise Guide to the Sages, p. 322ff.

The time for the afternoon service begins half an hour after midday and ends at sunset. It is preferable to pray the afternoon service within the final two and a half hours before sunset. This timeframe is called minha ketana, “the small minha,” whereas the earliest time to recite the afternoon prayer is known as minha gedola, “the large minha.” Note that as in the case of the morning service, the hours referred to here are not the standard hours in general use, but “halakhic hours,” calculated as one-twelfth of the daylight period. This means that during the summer, when the day is long, these “hours” will be longer than sixty regular minutes, whereas in the winter, when the day is shorter, each “hour” will be less than sixty minutes. Similarly, halakhic midday is not 12:00 but rather the midpoint between sunrise and sunset. These times for any particular day can be found in special calendars or online.

The main part of the afternoon service is the silent Amida prayer. Before the Amida it is customary to recite Ashrei, which consists primarily of Psalms 145. Some recite beforehand the passages detailing the daily sacrifice and the incense offering in the Temple (some also add the Patah Eliyahu passage from the introduction to Tikkunei Zohar).

When praying in a minyan, the prayer leader repeats the Amida [Hazarat Hashatz] after the silent Amida prayer. At the end of the prayer, Tahanun and Aleinu are recited (see above with regard to the morning service).