YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions
Answer: Personal concerns can significantly affect the best choice for you. These include the impact on your wife’s morning, your sleep needs, and the subjective quality of your tefilla. Since you do not raise these issues, we will focus on the generic halachic issues, starting with the issue of davening before netz (sunrise).
The optimal time to daven Shacharit is "as vatikin" – starting Shemoneh Esrei as the sun rises (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 89:1). One can fulfill the mitzva as early as alot hashachar (72 minutes or more before sunrise), but this is on the level of b’di’eved and is recommended only for those in extenuating circumstances, e.g., they must be on the road at the optimal time (ibid. 8). Soon after alot hashachar, there is also a problem that it is, under normal circumstance, too early to recite Kri’at Shema and its berachot (ibid. 58:1,3), which is to precede Shemoneh Esrei. The starting time for Kri’at Shema is called misheyakir, some 50 minutes before netz (with variations due to various opinions and geographical adjustments). What is less clear (see Igrot Moshe, OC IV, 6; Minchat Yitzchak IX, 10) is whether davening at any time before netz is only b’di’eved (see Yalkut Yosef, OC 89:14) or is after misheyakir fine, and it is just less preferable than vatikin (Shut Pri Yitzchak I, 2). "Fine" can come in different gradations (see Ishei Yisrael 13:2).
The next question is whether and/or to what degree it is objectionable to get involved in an activity like taking children to daycare before Shacharit. Among the things that are forbidden before Shacharit is "involvement in one’s affairs" and traveling (Berachot 14a; Shulchan Aruch, OC 89:3). Arguably, taking children to daycare is both. However, there are possible leniencies.
Taking care of children, intrinsically, and as help to one’s wife, is likely an involvement of mitzva (see Halichot Shlomo, Tefilla 2:5; Living the Halachic Process, VII, H-1), which is permitted before davening (see Mishna Berura 89:36). This may apply to taking to good daycare. Also, there are indications that short trips are not considered traveling (see Living the Halachic Process VI, A-1). On the other hand, while simple help in the house with children might not be involved enough to qualify as involvement in affairs, presumably taking children to daycare is usually a formal and serious enough chore to be considered involvement. The Rama OC 89:3) cites an opinion that if one recites Birchot Hashachar beforehand, it is permitted to do tasks and travel. While we avoid relying on this alone (ibid.), poskim factor in reciting Birchot Hashachar first regarding borderline cases of activity (see Ishei Yisrael 13:23-24). There is also a possibility that if one has a set time for a minyan, then fitting in tasks before that time is permitted (Halichot Shlomo, Tefilla 2:(8)).
Putting our findings into perspective, neither davening between misheyakir and netz nor taking kids to daycare before davening is ideal, nor highly objectionable. It is often difficult to find sources and decide between two b’di’eved situations. (That said, if one must do real work early, he should first daven even before netz (Tefilla K’hilchata 3:(63)).) It is logical to consider subjective factors to help decide, and you can change schedules from day to day according to need. It may be worthwhile to consider how likely you are to come late to minyan if you take the kids first, or have to leave a little early if you take them later.
After weighing the factors, we suggest the following. If your community is like many, where main minyanim are in the pre-netz time slot (but Shemoneh Esrei is after misheyakir), at least during much of the year, and you sometimes attend such a minyan for convenience, it seems better to start the day by davening first with a clear mind. If you have set as a priority not to daven before netz, then take the kids first.
Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions (655)
Rabbi Daniel Mann
651 - Ask the Rabbi: Forgot to Remove Tefillin Before Musaf of Rosh Chodesh
652 - Ask the Rabbi: Transporting Children before or after Shacharit?
653 - Ask the Rabbi: Beracha when Lighting for a Neighbor
Load More
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Complaints about Contractor’s Work – part II
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Chemdat Yamim Moreshet Shaul: Twin Foundations
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 690
D'varim Judaism’s Social Vision
Re’eh
Giving is more than an act of generosity—it is an essential part of human dignity that belongs to everyone, rich and poor alike. The ultimate goal of help is to empower others to stand on their own.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
