Activities Forbidden Before Davening

Activities that Should Wait until after Davening 

 

The halachah is that one may not get involved bitzrachav (in their personal affairs) half an hour before the time of davening arrives until they have davened, lest they get caught up in what they are doing and forget to daven. This applies to all three tefilos (prayers), Shacharis, Minchah, and Maariv. Moerover, there is an additional reason not to do work before Shacharis: one’s personal needs and wants should not come before doing Hashem’s affairs. One should not get involved in any activity before Shacharis once the time of davening has arrived (break of dawn), even if it’s insignificant and does not take much time, and even if one has a shomer—someone  who will remind him to daven. However, things that are done matter-of-factly, such as throwing out the garbage, may be done before davening Shacharis. Cheftzei Shamayim (mitzvah-related matters), such as buying food for Shabbos in case one will be unable to buy it later, or feeding children before they go to school, may also be done before Shacharis. In any case, one should say Birchos haTorah and Shema before doing any of those things. The halachah is different regarding Minchah and Maariv: one may take care of personal matters before davening those tefilos if they have a shomer who will remind them to daven, or if those activities do not take much time and don’t involve concentration. #336?1

https://halacha2go.com?number=336

Practical Halacha: One minute a day. By Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D'asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights.