Skipping Pesukei DeZimrah in Order to Daven Vasikin or to Recite Krias Shema on Time

I was davening in a minyan that was davening Vasikin. The problem was that I came late to davening, and I realized that if I would not skip parts of Pesukei DeZimrah, I would miss the time of neitz. May I skip parts of the davening in order to daven Vasikin, or is it preferable to daven in the regular order without skipping?

Thank you for your question.

The answer depends on whether a person generally davens Vasikin on a regular basis or not.

If a person does not generally daven Vasikin, and on this occasion he came late, then he should only skip according to what is Halachically permitted to skip in Pesukei DeZimrah in order to catch up with the tzibur. HaGaon Rav Amrom Fried shlit”a discusses in detail in Azamrah L’Shmecho (issue 327) which sections may be skipped in such a situation in order to reach Krias Shema and Shemoneh Esrei on time with the minyan.

However, if a person regularly davens Vasikin, then the halacha is more lenient and one may skip Birchos Netilas Yadayim, Elokai Neshamah, Birchos HaTorah, and even putting on tefillin, in order to reach tefillah at neitz.

Furthermore, as we will bring later on in the Teshuvah, me’ikar hadin, according to the strict halacha, one could even skip Baruch She’amar, Ashrei, and Yishtabach, and proceed directly to Yotzer Or in order to daven Vasikin.

The basis for this halacha comes from the Gemara in Mesechet Brachos 22b . The Gemara discusses a person who immersed in a mikveh and must recite Krias Shema before neitz hachamah. The Gemara states that if he can come out, cover himself, and recite Krias Shema before neitz, then he should do so. If not, he should recite Krias Shema while still in the water. The Gemara explains that this refers to the time of Vasikin which they would finish Krait Shema with the neits hachama.

From here we see that in order to recite Krias Shema at the proper Vasikin, one must do so even without tefillin, without tefillah b’tzibur, and without Pesukei DeZimrah.

The Biur Halacha writes that from this Gemara we see that tefillah Vasikin is considered even greater than davening with a minyan and even greater than davening with tefillin. However, this halacha only applies to those who always daven Vasikin.

This is a quote of the Biur Halacha;

ביאור הלכה סימן נח סעיף א

ומצוה מן המובחר וכו' - דע דהזהירים לקרות כוותיקין מותר לקרות ולהתפלל ביחידי אם אין להם מנין וגדולה מזה מוכח במשנה ברכות דף כ"ב ירד לטבול וכו' עיין שם דאפילו אם אין לו תפילין בעת ההיא ג"כ אפ"ה יזהר לקרותה בזמנה סמוך להנץ ומשנה זו איירי בוותיקין כדמסקינן בגמ' שם:

The Biur Halacha writes:

….One should know that those who are particular to daven Vasikin, are permitted to recite Krias Shema and daven even without a minyan if no minyan is available.

Even more than this is learned from the Mishnah in Talmud Bavli regarding one who went to immerse in a mikveh. The Mishnah implies that even if he does not have tefillin at that time, nevertheless he should still be careful to recite Krias Shema at its proper time, close to sunrise.

And this Mishnah is discussing the time of Vasikin, as the Gemara concludes there.

Therefore, in practice:

A person who does not usually daven Vasikin should only skip according to the halachos of skipping in Pesukei DeZimrah. 

However, a person who generally davens Tefillah Vasikin, and sees that he will not be able to daven Vasikin without skipping parts of Pesukei DeZimrah, and even Baruch She’amar, Ashrei, and Yishtabach, as well as Birchos Netilas Yadayim, Elokai Neshamah, Birchos HaTorah, and even putting on tefillin, is permitted to skip all of these in order to daven Tefillah Vasikin.

Nevertheless, in practice, it is uncommon that one would need to skip even Baruch She’amar, Ashrei, and Yishtabach, for this.

I would like to add an important point.

There are situations where a person is close to the time of sof zman Krias Shema, and he has two options:

One option is to recite Krias Shema before davening in order not to miss the Zman of Kriat Shema, and then afterwards daven normally in the correct order. However, by doing so, he loses the advantage of reciting Krias Shema together with the Birchos Krias Shema before sof zman.

The second option is to skip parts of Pesukei DeZimrah, in a way that is halachically permitted, in order to reach Krias Shema and be able to recite it together with its brachos before sof zman Krias Shema.

HaGaon Rav Amrom Fried shlit”a writes in Azamrah L’Shmecho (issue 328) that according to Halacha, it seems that it would be preferable to skip parts of Pesukei DeZimrah, in the way that is halachically permitted, in order to recite Krias Shema together with Birchos Krias Shema before sof zeman.

This ruling is based on the Afikei Maginim Siman 52 seif katan 2, and the Shaar HaTzion Siman 90 Seif Katan 41.

(See further discussion on this topic in Azamrah L’Shmecho issue 188).

Wishing you well.

• Talmud Bavli 
• Biur Halacha 
• Azamrah L’Shmecho, issues 188, 327, 328 
• Afikei Maginim siman 52 seif katan 2
• Shaar HaTzion Siman 90 seif Katan 41