The Morning Service

Shacharit is the morning prayer service of Judaism, the longest and most elaborate of the three daily services, recited each day from dawn onward. Its name derives from the Hebrew for dawn, and the rabbinic tradition connects the fixed times of the daily prayers both to the daily sacrifices of the ancient Temple, which Shacharit is understood to replace, and to the patriarchs, Abraham being credited with instituting morning prayer. Since the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the ordered words of prayer have stood in place of the offerings, and Shacharit corresponds to the morning sacrifice.

The service is built around two liturgical pillars: the Shema, the declaration of God's oneness with its surrounding blessings, and the Amidah, the "standing prayer" of nineteen benedictions recited silently while facing Jerusalem. These are framed by preliminary blessings, psalms of praise known as the Pesukei Dezimra, and concluding prayers. On Sabbaths, festivals and Mondays and Thursdays it also includes the public reading of the Torah from the scroll.