Birkot hashachar or Birkot haShachar ("morning blessings' or "blessings [of] the dawn") are a series of blessing

Blessing

A blessing, is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval.- Etymology and Germanic paganism :...

s that are recited at the beginning of Jewish morning services

Shacharit

Shacharit is the the daily morning Tefillah of the Jewish people, one of the three times there is prayer each day.Shacharit is said to have been established by the patriarch Abraham when he prayed in the morning...

. The blessings represent thanks to God

Names of God in Judaism

In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...

 for a renewal of the day.

The order of the blessings is not defined by halakha

Halakha

Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

 and may vary in each siddur

Siddur

A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed...

, but is generally based on the order of activities customary upon arising.

Al netilat yadayim

This blessing represents the cleanliness of one's hands following ritual defilement.

Asher yatzar

This is a blessing regarding the works of one's body. It is also recited each time following one's urination

Urination

Urination, also known as micturition, voiding, peeing, weeing, pissing, and more rarely, emiction, is the ejection of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. In healthy humans the process of urination is under voluntary control...

 or defecation

Defecation

Defecation is the final act of digestion by which organisms eliminate solid, semisolid or liquid waste material from the digestive tract via the anus. Waves of muscular contraction known as peristalsis in the walls of the colon move fecal matter through the digestive tract towards the rectum...

.

Elohai neshama

This paragraph represents thanks to God for the return of one's soul. When one sleeps, the soul departs the body. This state is referred to as a "semi-death." Upon awakening, the body is reunited with the soul.

Blessings of Torah study

The Birkot hashachar includes some blessings pertaining to Torah study. It is forbidden for one to study any Torah prior to reciting these blessings. One of the blessings is identical to the one that is recited by a person called for an aliyah

Aliyah (Torah)

An aliyah is the calling of a member of a Jewish congregation to the bimah for a segment of reading from the Torah. The person who receives the aliyah goes up to the bimah before the reading and recites a blessing. After the reading, the recipient then recites another concluding blessing...

.

Since one is required to fulfill a mitzvah

Mitzvah

The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...

 immediately after reciting a blessing on that mitzvah without interruption, some verses from the oral

Oral Torah

The Oral Torah comprises the legal and interpretative traditions that, according to tradition, were transmitted orally from Mount Sinai, and were not written in the Torah...

 and written Torah are recited immediately following this blessing. These include Numbers

Book of Numbers

The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....

 6:24-26 (known as the Priestly Blessing

Priestly Blessing

The Priestly Blessing, , also known in Hebrew as Nesiat Kapayim, , or Dukhanen , is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services...

), the Mishnah Peah 1:1, and Talmud Shabbat

Shabbat (Talmud)

Shabbat is first tractate in the Order of Moed, of the Mishnah and Talmud. The tractate consists of 24 chapters.The tractate primarily deals with laws relating to Shabbat , and the activities prohibited on Shabbat and distinguishes between Biblical prohibitions and Rabbinic prohibitions...

127a.