Question:
BS”D
Shalom dear Rabbi,
Question: What is the earliest time to do Shmoneh Esrei, because one has to get up early to go to work? can you do Shmoneh Esrei before the sun rises?
Answer:
In the winter months many men are challenged with the fact that the sun rises late, and they must be at work at work at a certain time. The earliest optimal time to daven is from the time that we may put on tefillin, called “misheyakir” (check your local calendar as this time will change from day to day and from city to city), which can be anywhere from 50 to 35 minutes before sunrise.) Although normally it is preferred not to daven Shemona Esrei before sunrise, a person that has to be at work on time may daven from the earlier time without a problem.) You can put your tallis and tefillin on even earlier then this time, without saying the bracha, daven until after Yistabach, then at “misheyakir” move the tallis a little bit, say the bracha, move the tefillin a little bit, say its brachos, and then continue davening from there. When someone is the chazan, he should not say the brachos between Yistabach and kaddish because kaddish has to be said adjacent to saying pesukim, therefore the chazzan will do this before saying Yishtabach. Note: there are poskim who say that it one can daven until after Oz Yoshir, put their tallis and teffilin on before Yistabach, and say the brachos then.
If even this is too late, and you are really stuck, you can say Shema and daven Shemona Esrei (after alos hashachar) even before misheyakir, but make sure that before you finish davening it is already misheyakir. Then when it gets misheyakir, move the tallis and tefillin and say their correct brachos, and also say Kriyas Shema again, because the first time you were not yotza, as it was too early.
If even this is too late for you, then you should speak to your Rov to see what can be done.
Sources:
Shulchan Aruch O:CH 89-1, M:B ibid 4, Igros Moshe O:CH 4-6, Ohr L’ztion 2 Chap. 6-3, Piskei Teshuvos 89-4.
