Q&A: Evening Prayer
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Evening Prayer
Question
Hello Rabbi, you always say that there is no example of a commandment that is entirely an optional commandment, but what about the evening prayer? It has been ruled in Jewish law that it is optional, but don’t we say that someone who prayed the evening service fulfilled a commandment of the evening prayer, and therefore it falls under the category of an optional commandment?
Answer
First, this is a rabbinic commandment. Beyond that, it is not clear that it is an optional commandment. If we say it is optional, then there is no commandment. If you prayed, you did a good deed.