Late Morning Prayer - What You Need To Know?

Question: I woke up late. Until when am I allowed to pray the morning prayer?

Answer: In the Mishnah of Brachot, and in the Gemara (page 27a), it is stated that the time for the morning prayer is until the end of the fourth hour of the day. That is, from sunrise, which is the time of sunrise that appears in calendars, count four hours, which is one-third of the day, and after four hours have passed, it is forbidden to pray the morning prayer initially.

How to count four hours

And the four hours we said to count are not regular hours, but seasonal hours. And how do we calculate seasonal hours? The duration of the day, from sunrise to sunset, should be divided into twelve equal parts, and each part is one hour. Therefore, in summer, when the days are long, a seasonal hour lasts about an hour and ten minutes, and in winter, when the days are short, a seasonal hour is shortened.

After four hours

One who is late and has not prayed until four hours have passed from sunrise can still pray until midday (in these days around 12:40).

However, one should not intentionally wait until such a late hour to pray the morning prayer, but should be careful to always pray within four hours of sunrise. Some say that if one delays until after four hours intentionally, although one is allowed to pray until midday, one should only pray on condition of "donation," saying that if one is still entitled to pray, the prayer will be for the morning prayer, and if one is not entitled to pray, it will be a voluntary prayer.

Morning prayer after midday

And if the time of midday has passed, one is no longer allowed to pray the morning prayer. And if it was unintentional or due to complete circumstances beyond one's control, one should pray a compensation prayer (an additional Amidah during Mincha). And although immediately after midday, the time for the afternoon prayer has not yet arrived, until another half hour passes, nevertheless, one should not pray the morning prayer after midday, even if it is immediately after midday.

In summary: One should pray the morning prayer within four hours from sunrise. In retrospect, if one was late and did not pray, one may pray until midday.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's rulings courtesy of "Daily Halacha" website