Mincha is the afternoon prayer service of Judaism, the shortest of the three daily services, recited from the early afternoon until sunset. Its name is that of the grain-offering of the Temple, and the service is understood to correspond to the afternoon sacrifice; the tradition also credits its institution to the patriarch Isaac, who is described in Genesis as going out to meditate in the field toward evening. Because it falls in the middle of the working day, Mincha requires a deliberate pause from labour and commerce to turn to prayer, and the tradition regards prayer offered in the midst of daily occupation, when it would be easy to neglect, as especially meritorious.
The service is brief and centres on the Amidah, the standing prayer of benedictions, usually preceded by a psalm and, on many days, a short penitential passage, and followed by concluding prayers. Its compactness makes it the service most easily fitted into a busy day, and it is common for Mincha and the evening Maariv to be scheduled close together around sunset so that both may be attended in a single gathering, the interval between them marked by the study of a sacred text.