What Women Should Daven
Women are obligated to daven as a minimum twice a day, Shacharis in the morning, and Minchah in the afternoon, reciting at least the Shemoneh Esrei prayers. There is an opinion among poskim that if a woman davens to Hashem once in the morning she has fulfilled her obligation. Women who are very busy looking after their children have been accustomed to rely on that opinion, but the mainstream opinion, “v’chein ikar”, is that a woman should daven Shemoneh Esrei both at Shacharis and at Minchah. A woman should say the Birchos Hashachar in the morning; she should also recite Parshas HaTamid, the portion of davening that describes the Korban Tamid, the daily sacrifice. There is disagreement among poskim whether women are obligated to say Pesukei D’Zimra, but the Alter Rebbe is of the opinion that a woman is not required to. Women are not obligated to say Shema, but it is nevertheless appropriate for them to say at least the first pasuk of Shema in order to accept upon themselves the yoke of Heaven. Since women have the mitzvah of mentioning yetzias mitzrayim, the exodus from Egypt, morning and night, they should also say the brachah of Emes VeYatziv before Shemoneh Esrei. This brachah should be said directly before Shemoneh Esrei with no interruption between them, in order to join the concept of geulah, redemption, to tfilah, davening Shemoneh Esrei—smichas geulah l’tfilah. Mentioning yetzias mitzrayim at night can be accomplished by saying the brachah of Emes Ve’emunah in the evening, or when reciting the Shema before retiring for the night. Poskim say that a woman who is davening Maariv may daven Mincha and Maariv one after the other with no break in between, if necessary, as long as it is after plag HaMincha.