Zmanim · The prayers of the day
What are the three daily prayers?
The three prayers of the day are Shacharit in the morning, Minchah in the afternoon, and Arvit — also called Maariv — in the evening. Each has its own window in the day, set by the zmanim.
Three prayers, three times of day
The day of prayer has three anchors. Shacharit (שחרית, the morning service) opens the day; Minchah (מנחה, the afternoon service) turns it; and Arvit or Maariv (ערבית, the evening service) closes it. Each one has its own window in the day — its own set of zmanim, the halachic times of day — so that prayer is woven into the movement of the light itself.
Where the sages taught it
The Talmud, in tractate Berachot 26b, gives two roots for these three prayers. It links them to the patriarchs — the ones who, tradition teaches, first stood before Heaven at morning, afternoon, and evening — and it links them to the daily offerings of the Temple, whose rhythm the prayers now carry forward.
What to do
Keep the three appointments of the day: Shacharit in its morning window, Minchah in the afternoon, Arvit in the evening. Since each window opens and closes with the sun, and shifts across the seasons and from place to place, lean on your local times to know when each one has come.
Source: Talmud, Berachot 26b.
When you want the three windows marked for your own day and city, My Jewish Day (siddur, zmanim, the Hebrew calendar) can carry the whole rhythm with you.
Open My Jewish Day