Don't just wait for the mood to strike. Prayer is subordinate to study, but taken together, Jewish Prayer and Torah study are the yin and yang of religious life. But the unique Jewish experience of prayer does not come as easily as studying Torah. Jewish prayer is designed to become second nature, a part of a person, a daily diet.
Jewish prayer is designed to become second nature, a part of a person, a daily diet.
In that way, one comes to be on comfortable speaking terms with God, who, in turn, becomes accessible, almost a conversation partner. Not only is an intermediary between man and God undesirable, it is unnecessary. And God can be found at home as readily as in the synagogue. Perhaps only improvised stammering, well-intentioned simplistic words that last one minute. Improvised prayer is acclaimed today for its spontaneity and subjectivity, but the fixed liturgy of the ages is the foundation of the religious life, and provides the tools with which one may build one's own prayers.