PRAYERS
Prayer brings us closer to God. When we ask for things from God, even though God already knows what we want and need, we get merit (zechut) for the prayer.
Particularly in synagogue, a holy place, we must be always cognizant of God’s presence and take special care to show respect to God in His house. This awareness is even more important than memorizing the halachot of prayer: those who speak in synagogue are showing disrespect to God as well as disturbing others and preventing them from praying with concentration (kavana).
The three daily prayer services--shacharit, mincha, and ma’ariv--are related to the three forefathers who instituted them. They partly take the place of—and are modeled after--the Temple sacrifices.
If you find you have made an error in saying a blessing or prayer, you may correct your error without having to repeat any previous parts if you do so within 2.5 seconds.
Particularly in synagogue, a holy place, we must be always cognizant of God’s presence and take special care to show respect to God in His house. This awareness is even more important than memorizing the halachot of prayer: those who speak in synagogue are showing disrespect to God as well as disturbing others and preventing them from praying with concentration (kavana).
The three daily prayer services--shacharit, mincha, and ma’ariv--are related to the three forefathers who instituted them. They partly take the place of—and are modeled after--the Temple sacrifices.
If you find you have made an error in saying a blessing or prayer, you may correct your error without having to repeat any previous parts if you do so within 2.5 seconds.
Note Prayers (tefilot) are said at set times; blessings (brachot) are said whenever the correct situation occurs for them. Even though prayers contain blessings within them, blessings and prayers are in separate sections in this website.
- Pre-Prayer: Washing Hands
- Washing Hands before Prayer Service with Amida
- Washing Hands after Touching Animal
- With Whom To Pray: Who May Be Counted in a Quorum (Minyan)
- Non-Shomer Shabbat Jew Counted in Minyan
- Boy less than 13 Years Old
- Minyan: Amen: When To Interrupt Your Prayer
- Interrupting Your Prayer To Say Amen
- Interrupting Your Blessing To Say Amen
- Interrupting Your Amida To Say Amen
- Minyan: Amen: When 10 Men Includes Prayer Leader
- Prayer Leader of 10 Men Should Wait
- Amida with Minyan but with less than Nine Men Answering
- When To Pause or Join Minyan
- When To Pause or Join Minyan: Regular Shacharit
- When To Pause or Join Minyan: Shabbat/Jewish Festival Shacharit
- When To Pause or Join Minyan: Mincha
- When To Pause or Join Minyan: Ma'ariv
- When To Pause or Join Minyan: General Prayer Services
- Where To Pray: Synagogue Etiquette: Eating or Sleeping
- Eating or Sleeping in Synagogue
- Eating or Sleeping in Bet Midrash
- How To Pray: Language/Pronunciation/Nusach
- Praying in Own Language
- Ashkenazi Jew, Sefardi Pronunciation
- How To Pray: Actions: Bowing: In Front of Animals and Mirrors
- Bowing If Animal in Front of You
- Mirror or Picture of People in Front of You
- How To Pray: Actions: Bowing-Like Activities
- Bending Down during Amida To Pull Up Socks,...
- When You May Crawl on Stone Floor
- When Kneeling Is Forbidden
- When To Pray: Morning Prayers/Shacharit
- When To Pray: Shacharit: Blessings of Daybreak (Birchot HaShachar)
- When To Say Blessings of Daybreak (Birchot HaShachar)
- Where To Say Blessings of Daybreak (Birchot HaShachar)
- When To Pray: Shacharit: L'Olam Yihei Adam
- When To Say Mekadeish et Shimcha BaRabim
- When To Say Baruch She'Amar
- Shacharit: Might Return To Sleep and Miss Latest Time To Say Shema
- Shacharit: Shema: When To Say Shema Blessings
- When To Say Shema Blessings
- Shacharit: Shema: El Melech Ne'eman
- What To Pray: Praying for Sick Person
- Yehi Ratzon of Refa'einu for a Sick Person
- Praying for a Very Sick Person
- Praying for a Sick Non-Jew
- Shema: What To Say
- Men and Shema in Shacharit
- Women and Shema in Shacharit
- Amen before Shema
- Baruch Hu before Shema
- Starting Shema before Prayer Leader Says
- Shema: How To Say
- Covering Eyes for First Line of Shema
- "Stretching Out" Echad in Shema
- Kissing Tzitziyot in Shema
- Amida: Location: Where To Face
- When To Face Jerusalem
- How To Face Jerusalem
- Where To Face for Wisdom or Wealth
- Amida: Location: Near Someone Praying
- Amida: Someone Praying
- Amida: Someone Blocking the Way while Praying
- What To Pray: Set Prayers: Amida: Volume
- How Loud To Say the Amida
- Amida Phrases That Are Never Said Aloud
- Amida: Actions: Stepping
- Amida Actions: Steps Before and After
- Amida Actions: Stepping Before Kedusha
- Amida Errors: Chonein HaDaat/Yismach Moshe/Tikanta Shabbat/Ata Echad/Rashei Chodashim/Ata Vichartanu
- Amida Errors: Chonein HaDaat/Yismach Moshe/Tikanta Shabbat/Ata Echad/Rashei Chodashim/Ata Vichartanu
- Amida Errors: Tein Bracha/Tein Tal U'Matar L'vracha
- Amida Errors: Tein Bracha/Tein Tal U'Matar L'Vracha
- Amida: Reader's Repetition: Priestly Blessing (Birkat Cohanim)
- Birkat Cohanim: Pausing in Private Amida
- Birkat Cohanim: Seeing Each Other
- Birkat Cohanim: Looking at Priests'/Cohanim's Hands
- Birkat Cohanim: Talit over Child's Head
- Birkat Cohanim: Priest/Cohen in the Room
- Torah Reading: The Bima
- Shortest Route to Bima
- Stand on Bima after Aliya
- Returning to your Seat after Aliya
- Mourner's Kaddish
- Responding to Mourner's Kaddish
- Late in Joining Mourner's Kaddish
- More on Mourner's Kaddish
- Hallel
- Saying Hallel with a Minyan
- Order of Prayers with Hallel
- Timing of Hallel and Musaf
- Hodu in Hallel
- Psalms/Tehilim
- Value of Saying Tehilim
- Concluding Tehilim with Yehi Ratzon of Refa'einu
- Tehilim Additions to Regular Prayers
- When To Say Tehilim
- Set Prayers: Ma'ariv
- Shir HaMa'alot Hinei Bar'chu
- Bar'chu at End of Ma'ariv
- When To Respond to Bar'chu
- Saying HaMelech BiChvodo with Prayer Leader
- Halachot of Ma'ariv Amida
- When To Say Ma'ariv Psalm 27