Search results for: ""Elohai neshama""

Women: Minimum to Pray
The minimum amount of prayer that women and girls 12 years old and up must say varies according to several opinions:
  • Opinion that RMH approves of:
    • Birchot ha'shachar (from al netilat yadaim--to u'maflee la'asot)
    • Birchot haTorah (from la'asok b'divrei Torah--to notein haTorah)
    • Yevarechecha/Eilu divarim she'ein/Eilu divarim she'adam
    • Elohai neshama
    • Asher natan 'sechvi... gomel chasadim tovim l'amo Yisrael
    • Shema (first line of shema plus Baruch shem kevod malchuto l'olam va'ed)
    • If they choose to say the morning amida, they should precede it with emet, v'yatziv until ga'al yisrael.
  • Ramban: Women should say at least the amida of shacharit and of mincha.
  • Another opinion: Women must say some prayer every day (but it may be any type of prayer, not only the fixed prayer services).
  • Another opinion: Women do not need to say the amida and emet v'yatziv on Shabbat and Jewish festivals (that is, whenever we are not asking for anything). 
  • Women who have small children who require the mother's constant attention should not say any prayers except for birchot ha'shachar and birchot haTorah.
For more on women and the shema, see Women and Shema in Shacharit.
Shacharit: Might Return To Sleep and Miss Latest Time To Say Shema
SITUATION You wake up after daybreak, but you might go back to sleep and thereby miss the time for saying mekadeish et shimcha ba'rabim and shema (both of which must be said by the third halachic hour of the day).
WHAT TO DOYou should say at least the:
  • Blessing on washing your hands,
  • Blessings on studying Torah, including Elohai neshama and all other related sayings, and
  • Complete shema--with the condition that:
    • If you sleep past the latest time for shema (sof zman kriat shema), this shema fulfills your obligation; but
    • If you do not go back to sleep, this shema does not fulfill your obligation.
    Then, whether you go back to sleep or not, having made the condition allows you to say the full blessing of mekadeish et shimcha ba'rabim, including God's name, if you get to l'olam yihei adam... before the third hour of the day.
    NOTE If you said the shema when you woke up but did not made the condition, you would not be able to say the concluding blessing mekadeish et shimcha ba'rabim with God's name when repeating the shema (but you may say it without using God's name: see When To Say Mekadeish et Shimcha BaRabim).
    NOTE If you go back to sleep, don't repeat the blessings on washing hands and studying Torah when you wake up.