Mishna Brachos 4:1 - Halachic Intricacies

The Talmud explicitly sets the times of religious services. Morning prayers (Shacharit) are from dawn until midday. Afternoon prayers (Minhah) are from a half hour after midday until sunset, but some say until the stars come out. When it comes to the Evening service, the Mishna (Brachos 4:1) declines to give it a fixed time. The time for the additional prayers (musaf) is the whole day. The term prayer (תפִילָה) has several usages and in this case it refers to the series of prayers called the Amida. 

Concerning Ma'ariv the Bartenura explains the language, "it is not fixed", saying its time is the entire night but, the Mishna uses this language to imply that the evening prayers are optional. This is because Ma'ariv corresponds to burning the remains of unconsumed obligatory sacrifices which were brought in the morning and afternoon. He gives as an example sacrifices that became ritually unclean or ruined and therefore were not consumed at the normal time.

The services as we know them today have evolved over time. There is an opinion that praying three times a day started with the patriarchs, however, they were formally instituted by the men of the Great Assembly (אנשי כנסת הגדולה), and were meant to  correspond to the obligatory sacrifices described in the Chumash (see Gemara Brachos 31.). Because there is no evening sacrifice, the evening service was deemed to be optional while the morning and afternoon services were deemed to be obligatory. The Bartenura continues that later on the service was accepted as an obligation. 

The concept of prayer is different from the obligation to recite the Shema in the evening and the two of them are interwoven in today's liturgy. Even so this peculiarity makes it acceptable to conduct Ma'ariv earlier, starting from the middle of the afternoon, and this is done in some congregations on Shabbos in the summer when sunset is late. It is also done when it is felt that it will be difficult to gather a minyan later on. Even so one is still required to recite the Shema later in the evening, albeit without a minyan. 

It comes out that the law is not black and white. Somethings are strong obligations. For example the eating pork or routinely working at one's ordinary profession on Shabbos would be banned by the Chumash. On the other hand food cooked in pots which give a pleasing flavor using unkosher sources are forbidden by the Gemara. The custom today, though is not to use such utensils even if the impart no taste. On Shabbos there are leniencies for people who need an elevator, even though many still will not use them. Other things are considered beautications of the mitzvah like using olive oil to light the Hanuka menorah. Allowances are made for difficult situations or if a large financial loss will be incurred. The important thing is to properly understand the sources and set priorities accordingly.

לע"נ  האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח

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