A woman should be careful to pray evening, morning and afternoon.

It is known and made public in Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim and more explicit in the words of our sages the great value of prayer, which is called the service of the heart. It is an obligation on every Jewish person, man and woman, young and old, to pray three times a day, evening, morning, and afternoon, which are the prayers shacharit, mincha, and ma’ariv.

And in any case, women are not obligated in ma’ariv, since the basic halacha is that the evening prayer is non-obligatory…and in any case it is good for a woman to pray three [daily] prayers like men, and it is good for her to say that she does not accept the evening prayer upon herself as an obligation.

Nevertheless, I have an uncertainty about Rambam. Why did he [Rambam] not write that women are obligated in three [daily] prayers? Perhaps he relied on what that he wrote at the end of Chapter Six of the Laws of Prayer, “women and slaves are obligated in prayer…” The simple reading of his words there appears to be that the obligation under discussion is [that of] the three [daily] prayers and that is because they are seeking mercy, and note it well.

Women are obligated in one prayer a day…they should pray Shemoneh Esrei. If they were busy and preoccupied until the time of shacharit passed, they should pray Shemoneh Esrei at mincha. If women want to pray three prayers each day, a blessing should come upon them [for doing so]. Thus it is fitting for them to conduct themselves [reciting Shemoneh Esrei thrice daily] whenever they have availability to do so…

My mother of blessed memory almost did not pray the entire time that we remained under her supervision. For she said to me that my father exempted her from this because she was busy with raising her children.

I heard in the name of the Chazon Ish that when he was asked regarding the obligation of women in prayer, he responded that women who care for children are included among those about whom it is explained inEruvin that “one whose mind is not settled should not pray.” So too, [for] women whose minds are unsettled, there is great room to be lenient and allow them to discharge [their prayer obligation] with a short prayer…for even without this, there is the opinion of Magen Avraham that one can le-lamed zechut [view women who do not recite Shemoneh Esrei meritoriously]…

For each and every utterance is a full world, and when a person stands to pray and says words of tefilla, then he gathers blossoms and flowers and pretty lilies. Like a person who walks in a field, and gathers lilies and beautiful flowers one at a time, until he makes one bouquet.

In any case a woman who is caring for children and is busy with that all day and does not have free time in the course of the day to pray, is fully exempt from prayer, for behold she is like one occupied with a mitzva who is exempt from [another] mitzva…and this is [also] the law for a man, that if the wife is not at home, e.g., she has gone to give birth, and the husband needs to care for the children and does not find time to pray, that he is exempt from prayer because he is occupied with a mitzva…

Indeed it appears that the obligation is in accordance with her ability…but if possible, she should pray shacharit, mincha and ma’ariv daily, in accordance with the view that women are obligated in all the prayers like men. So too, prayer connects a person to his Creator, and therefore she should make an effort to pray according to her capability, as I wrote.

A few years ago, I discovered that there is halachic permission for a woman busy with raising her children not to pray. This did not jibe with the education I received at home and at school. But beyond the contradiction and the halachic dance-off, I wanted to contact the rabbis who permit it and ask them, in tears, “So, I don’t have to pray? Now what? How will I bring God into my daily life?” …If for years we don’t speak with Him, it is hard to reconnect. But if every day we [at least] send Him our regards, speak to Him even a bit, on a small scale, even if it’s without a lot of concentration, then when one day we have the free time to really pray—the channel is open. There’s a connection.