When is mincha gedola

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Note: This was penned as an answer to another question and merged hither. For our purposes, let us assume that we consider sunrise to be the beginning, or "zero-hour" of our day, and sunset as the end of the twelfth hour. We now divide our day into twelve equal hours, but the length of each hour will vary throughout the year. When is noon? Calculating this way, the end of the sixth hour is always exactly midday, the point in the day when the sun is at its highest point and closest to being directly overhead.

In reality, the sun is never directly overhead, unless one is located somewhere near the equator, between the two tropics. North of the tropics, the sun is always in the southern half of the sky, rather than directly overhead.

This time of the day is sometimes called "high noon," which is the time of the day when the sun creates no shadow, and halacha calls it chatzos. We should be careful not to confuse this with noon on our clock. Standardized time zones were not formulated until the invention and common use of the railroad.

Until that time, each city created its own time, based on sunrise and sunset in that city, and noon and high noon were identical. However, this system proved difficult to use when trains arrived on a schedule from a different city, where sunrise was earlier or later on a given day. In order that people could anticipate when the trains would arrive in their town, they created a system whereby people in different places would keep the same clock.

Mincha gedolah Returning to the passage of Gemara in Brachos, the question is why the beraisa is telling us about two points of the day, called mincha ketanah and mincha gedolah. The Rambam appears to have understood the beraisa to be explaining when is the earliest time to daven mincha, but provides two times. One, mincha gedolah, is the earliest possible time, whereas the other is the preferred time.

This is because it is ideal to daven mincha later in the day and closer to sunset. Other rishonim appear to have understood this passage somewhat differently from the Rambam see Beis Yosef, Orach Chayim , citing Rosh and Tur , although there is not a significant difference in halacha between the two approaches. The Aruch Hashulchan explains that, even according to the Rambam, waiting until mincha ketanah to daven is not required, but only preferred.

If there is a reason to daven at mincha gedolah, such as if one would like to begin a seudah, one may. Certainly, the exigencies of travel or employment allow one to daven at mincha gedolah, even according to the Rambam.

Clocking minutes? When, on my clock, have we reached mincha gedolah? Assuming that I know when chatzos is, do I add thirty minutes to determine when is mincha gedolah?

Notwithstanding that the Mishnah Berurah accepts this conclusion, in his own notes on his rulings Shaar Hatziyun , he queries that perhaps this should be determined by thirty clock minutes.

As we mentioned above, the time for each prayer is based on a corresponding korban in the Beis Hamikdash. In the case of tefillas mincha, the corresponding korban could have been offered immediately after chatzos see Mishnah Pesachim 61a. We wait an additional half hour to make sure that no one errs and offers it too early.

Since the extra half hour is to make sure that a person does not miscalculate, perhaps its time should be thirty minutes, not dependent on whether the day is longer or shorter see Rashi, Pesachim 93b.

Should the hedge factor to avoid error vary according to season? Therefore, the Mishnah Berurah implies he is uncertain whether this half hour should be zemanis or not. Because of this, the minhag in Yerushalayim, for example, is to be stringent in both directions. Davened earlier What is the halacha if someone davened mincha between halachic midday and mincha gedolah, which is too early to daven? Must he daven again? Therefore, one cannot daven mincha after plag, which works only according to the Chachomim, and then go ahead and daven mariv before night, which works only according to Rebbi Yehuda.

One must be consistent in the opinion of who they are following. To the Shulchan Aruch one should be consistent every day, and not switch from one day to the next, which opinion they are following. How do we define night? There are several factors to consider. This is not according to everyone. Therefore mincha acc. The Geonim maintain, and the Gra paskens like that as well, that bein hashmashos starts immediately by sunsent.

Although we mentioned the opinion of the Mishne Brura not to daven mincha by bein hashmashos, many poskim disagree. The opinion of the Shaagas Aryeh, and many others is that during bein hashmashos one may in fact daven mincha.