During certain times of the year, I have to daven significantly before sunrise. What should I do about putting on tallit and tefillin, as I start davening before the time for those mitzvot?

The starting time for Kriat Shema (Orach Chayim 58), tzitizit/talit (Orach Chayim 18), and tefillin (Orach Chayim 30), is called misheyakir (the time it is light enough to recognize certain things). There are many opinions as to how long before sunrise this is. The extreme opinions are as little as 30 and as much as 60+ minutes before sunrise; the most common opinions range from 40 to 50 minutes before. Because light depends on the angle of the sun under the horizon, many posit that latitude and season affect this time. Therefore, people need to rely on local calendars or some website, which will not represent unanimous truths (most of such resources are close to the general consensus).

Kriat Shema starts at misheyakir apparently, because this is when serious numbers of people start getting up (see Magen Avraham 58:6). Regarding tzitzit, the Gemara (Menachot 43a) exempts “night clothing” from tzitzit because the Torah describes seeing the tzitzit. There are two pertinent machlokot on this matter. According to the Rambam (Tzitzit 3:7-8), the exemption refers to the time of the day, and it begins at misheyakir, which relates to the ability to see. Some (Rosh, Tzitzit 1) say that daytime clothing is obligated in tzitzit even at night, and others (Mordechai, Megillah 801) say that the starting time is alot hashachar (at least 72 minutes before sunrise). Because we view the first question as a safek (doubt), we wear tzitzit at night but without a bracha (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 18:1), and while the Rama (Orach Chayim 18:3) allows making a bracha from alot hashachar, this is not broadly accepted (see Mishna Berura 18:10).

Most Rishonim (see Beit Yosef, Orach Chayim 30; the Rambam, Tefillin 4:10 is an exception) posit that the mitzvah of tefillin—fundamentally—applies at night. However, we must not put on tefillin at night (even without a bracha) out of a concern we may fall asleep and release gas with them on (Rashi, Menachot 36b). One who has already woken up and needs to put them on may do so early, in which case, when the time comes (“misheyakir,” Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 30:1), he handles the tefillin and then makes the bracha (Menachot 36a). We also find the idea of handling before the bracha regarding tzitzit that were put on early (Rama, Orach Chayim 18:3).

There are two valid options: to wait to put on the talit and tefillin until their time comes or to put them both on at the regular juncture and make the bracha later (Mishna Berura 89:40), and the point to do it is between Yishtabach and Kaddish, not during Pesukei D’Zimra (Rama, Orach Chayim 54:3). If misheyakir comes before Baruch Sheamar—which is more likely—if one decides to use (this time of year) the order of nusach Sefard, that is optimal. How many opinions one should satisfy and what to do about a safek with regards to whether misheyakir has come is debatable (see Piskei Teshuvot 30: 4).

The halachic differences between waiting to put on and waiting for the bracha are small. Assuming misheyakir comes before Barchu (or there are other problems—see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 58:3 and Mishna Berura ad loc. 17), the point to put them on and/or make the brachot is between Yishtabach and Kaddish. The main problem at that time, hefsek (an interruption) relates to speaking, and either way, the brachot are said then. There is only a slight advantage of having on talit and tefillin early in tefillah, and it is not much of a problem to have them on before their brachot for a good reason (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 8:10).

Let us examine practicalities… For one davening at home, a deciding factor might be which system is more likely to cause a mistake—forgetting to make the bracha at all or forgetting to put on talit and tefillin at the right time (if he remembered later, see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 66:2). In a shul, friends’ actions may remind others. The rabbi has to decide whether to seek uniformity or have everyone decide for himself. If the former, there are various considerations to weigh.

This column is written by Rabbi Daniel Mann on behalf of the Eretz Hemdah Institute in Jerusalem, which trains dayanim and has many projects on behalf of Klal Yisrael, including its Ask the Rabbi service in conjunction with the OU. Rabbi Mann is a Dayan at Eretz Hemdah, a senior member of the Ask the Rabbi project, and author of its Living the Halachic Process series. He is also a Ram at Yeshiva University’s Gruss Kollel in Israel.