“Rabbi, I am used to praying informally to God, like talking to a good friend. It seems like Jewish prayer is more structured, and more focused on listening to Torah than listening to God. Can I still pray the way I used to? “
Judaism teaches us lots of specific prayers to say in every situation: when we wake up, go to bead, eat, drink, are in danger, are out of danger, and more. It makes it seem as if Judaism does not believe in spontaneous prayer, and that we don’t have a personal relationship with God, but only with the Torah.
The truth is, we absolutely encourage spontaneous conversation with God as with a parent (since God is our spiritual parent). The structure prayers train us to talk to God, and are ‘conversation starters.’ The Talmud actually says we should add something new each time we pray; some spiritual teachers (such as Rebbe Nahman of Breslav and Rebbe kalomymous kalman Shapira) even encourage us to set aside specific times for hitbodedut, alone time with God.
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