At night, the evening service is recited. This prayer corresponds to the burning of the limbs and fats of the sacrifices upon the altar in the Temple, which continued throughout the night. At the center of this prayer is the nighttime recitation of Shema, which is a commandment from the Torah, and the Amida.

The Sages instituted two blessings to be recited before the nighttime recitation of Shema and two blessings to be recited afterward. These are followed by the silent Amida prayer. Unlike in the morning and afternoon services, in the evening service the prayer leader does not repeat the Amida aloud. The service concludes with the recitation of Aleinu.

The time for the nighttime recitation of Shema begins when at least three stars appear in the sky. In Israel, this takes place approximately twenty minutes after sunset; in other parts of the world this may vary greatly. The proper time for reciting Shema continues until halakhic midnight. One who missed this deadline and did not recite Shema before the middle of the night may do so until the morning.

While the time frame for the evening service is similar to that for Shema, there is a difference between them: When necessary, one may pray the evening service earlier, before the emergence of the stars. If one does so, he must recite Shema again later, after the emergence of the stars. It is common to schedule the evening service a bit early in many communities, especially among Sephardim, because it is difficult for people to assemble for the afternoon service, go their separate ways, and then reconvene a short while later for the evening service. For this and other reasons, these communities hold the afternoon service shortly before sunset and immediately afterward pray the evening service. However, since at that point it is still too early to fulfill the commandment of reciting Shema, they recite these three paragraphs again after the emergence of the stars. This additional Shema is recited individually by each person, without the blessings before or after.