People say you cannot eat anything before davening shacharis. What is the actual source, and how far does it go?
The Gemara (Berachos 10b) learns it from the pasuk “you shall not eat with the blood” (Vayikra 19:26), read as do not eat before you pray for your blood, and it says one who eats and drinks and only then prays is like casting Hashem behind his back. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 89:3-4) paskens no eating or drinking before davening, but plain water is fine even on shabbos, and anything medicinal is fine. And then it says something people seem to skip: someone who is hungry or thirsty is in the category of someone sick, so if he cannot concentrate he should eat or drink first and then daven.
So the questions:
1. If the Shulchan Aruch itself says a hungry person who cannot concentrate should eat first, why is “no food before davening” treated like an absolute rule? Is the heter only for someone literally shaky, or does it cover anyone who davens better after eating?
2. Where is the line between water and everything else? On this site, coffee with milk before shacharis was answered “certainly”. Does that extend to juice, a protein shake, a full breakfast?
3. Does it matter what part of davening? Is eating before birchas hashachar or korbanos different from eating before shemoneh esrei?
4. Bottom line: for someone who genuinely davens with more kavana after breakfast, is eating first the right thing to do, or a bedieved, or still assur?
Basically, what is the real rule here, and how does the concentration side actually work?
Thank you Rabbi, thank you very much.
The basic Halachah is in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 89:3-4. The Gemara says not to eat before praying, based on לא תאכלו על הדם, and describes eating first as putting one’s physical needs before accepting מלכות שמים. (Berachot 10b.)
But then the Shulchan Aruch immediately says:
הצמא והרעב הרי הם בכלל החולים. אם יש בו יכולת לכוין דעתו יתפלל, ואם לאו… אל יתפלל עד שיאכל וישתה.
Someone who is hungry or thirsty is considered like someone who is ill. If he can concentrate, he should daven first. If he cannot, he may eat or drink and then daven. (O.C. 89:4.)
So the practical question is very simple:
How will you daven better?
If you wake up feeling perfectly fine and can daven properly, daven and then eat breakfast. But if you are hungry enough that you will spend Shemoneh Esrei thinking about breakfast, or you are weak, distracted, headachy, or simply know yourself and know that you daven properly after eating something, then eat something and daven properly. The purpose cannot be to preserve the rule while ruining the tefillah.
As far as drinks, I am comfortable with ordinary non-alcoholic drinks before davening. The Shulchan Aruch explicitly permits water. Later Poskim already expanded the practical application considerably. The Aruch HaShulchan permits tea with sugar, notes that people commonly permitted milk in it, permits coffee, and says he sees no reason to distinguish ordinary water from seltzer or lemonade. (Aruch HaShulchan, O.C. 89:23.)
So coffee with milk, tea, juice and similar drinks are not something I would worry about. If you are drinking something that is really functioning as your breakfast, such as a substantial protein shake, then I would simply apply the same rule as food: will eating or drinking it help you daven better?
And the relevant tefillah here is Shemoneh Esrei. O.C. 89 speaks about eating or drinking before תפילה, meaning the morning Amidah. Saying Birchot HaShachar or Korbanot does not itself turn breakfast into “after davening.”
So the bottom line is not complicated. Don’t eat a leisurely breakfast before Shacharit simply because you feel like eating first. But don’t stand before Hashem hungry, miserable and unable to concentrate merely so that you can say you never ate before davening.
If you daven better before breakfast, daven first.
If you genuinely daven better after eating, eat what you need and then daven.
Kavanah is part of the Halachah too.
Shalom Rabbi,
What about any kind of work before Tefillah?
The Rambam mentions that you shouldn’t do any Melacha before Davening and the S”A mentions activities in general.
I usually cannot pray properly until later because I have to help at home to prepare the breakfast, help my wife with the children before school and then drive them to schoo, work, etc. So I put on Tefillin and pray when I finish this morning routine. I tried before to pray earlier but it became quite chaotic, we wake up very early to be ready.
What I do is to wake up, do Netilat Yadayim, say the Birkhot Hashachar until the Birkot HaTorah, do what I have to do at home and when I come recite the Shema, Tefillin, Tefillah, etc. Is this OK for my situation?
What you are doing sounds perfectly fine to me. In fact, I would say, well done.
The Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 89:3, says אסור לו להתעסק בצרכיו, a person should not become involved in his own affairs before Shemoneh Esrei. The idea is that you should not get up in the morning, put Hashem aside, and begin your business day or your personal activities first.
But that is not how I would describe what you are doing. You are getting your children ready for school, preparing breakfast, helping your wife, driving the children where they need to go, and making the household function. Those are responsibilities and acts of chesed toward your family, not simply deciding that your business is more important than davening.
And there is a second important point. You already tried davening earlier and found that the house was chaotic and you could not daven properly. So instead, you take care of what has to be done and then put on your Tefillin and daven when you can actually have concentration. That makes sense to me. As we discussed regarding eating before Shacharit, the purpose of these halachot is not to preserve a technical rule while destroying the tefillah.
I would make only one addition to your routine. After Birchot HaTorah, say the first paragraph of Shema, שמע through ובשעריך, with the intention of fulfilling Kriat Shema if necessary. That way, if the morning routine ever runs late and you pass the zman Kriat Shema before reaching the regular Shema in davening, you have already taken care of it. The Shulchan Aruch itself discusses saying Shema early when there is concern that the regular recitation may be after its proper time.
Then when everything settles down, put on your Tefillin and daven normally.
So I would not feel guilty about this routine. You are helping your wife and children, which is exactly what you should be doing, and you are arranging your morning so that when you stand before Hashem, you can actually daven.
That is a much healthier application of the Halachah than rushing through Shacharit while the entire house is falling apart around you.