Jewish devotion is structured by three daily services — morning, afternoon, and evening — built around the Shema and the Amidah.
Tagged: Daily Prayer Prayer Sacred time Jewish
How It Is Practiced
The day is framed by Shacharit in the morning, Minchah in the afternoon, and Maariv in the evening. At the center of the morning and evening services stands the Shema, the declaration 'Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one,' with its blessings; at the center of all three stands the Amidah, the standing prayer of praise, petition, and thanksgiving, prayed silently and then repeated aloud in the synagogue. A fourth element closes the day for many: the Shema said before sleep, entrusting the soul to God for the night.
Purpose and Meaning
The pattern is ascribed to the patriarchs and to the Temple's daily offerings, whose hours the prayers keep. Devotion here is not spontaneous overflow but covenant kept on schedule: three times a day the worshipper stands before God at set hours, so that gratitude, repentance, and trust are practiced whether felt or not — and the feelings, the rabbis taught, follow the deeds of the heart.
References
- Jewish prayer — Wikipedia Free / open access
- Shema Yisrael — Wikipedia Free / open access
Related Practices
- Wearing Tefillin — On weekday mornings, leather boxes containing Scripture are bound to the arm and the head for the morning prayer.
- The Sabbath Table — Friday night's table — candles, wine, two loaves, blessings, and song — is the home liturgy at the center of Jewish devotion.
- The Angelus — The Angelus is a short prayer on the Incarnation, prayed at morning, noon, and evening at the sound of a bell.
Related Across the Site
- The Obligatory Prayers Devotion — Each day the Bahá'í chooses one of three revealed obligatory prayers — short, medium, or long — the fixed point of Bahá'í devotion.
- Ṣalāh — The Five Daily Prayers Devotion — Five times a day, at hours set by the sun, Muslims stop and pray: the standing, bowing, and prostration that structure the Islamic day.
- Amidah Prayer or Creed — The standing prayer at the center of every Jewish prayer service, recited silently while standing.
- Jesus Prayer Prayer or Creed — A short, repeated invocation of Jesus asking for mercy, central to the Orthodox hesychast tradition.
- Kaddish Prayer or Creed — An Aramaic prayer sanctifying God's name, best known in its form recited by mourners.
- Shema Prayer or Creed — Judaism's central affirmation of the one God, drawn from Deuteronomy 6:4 and recited morning and evening.
- The Angelus Prayer or Creed — A thrice-daily prayer of versicles and Hail Marys commemorating the Annunciation and the Incarnation.
- The Lord's Prayer (Our Father) Prayer or Creed — The prayer Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 6 and Luke 11, shared by Christians of every tradition.