...Prayer, what does it matter

Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits, God, Man and History (1959)
The conditioning of the body towards the will of God is the result of continuous conscious suggestion. Through the Mitzvah, man is one; as a whole he relates himself to the one God.
The most revealing example in this connection is, perhaps, the case of prayer. No doubt, it is possible to pray “in one’s heart,” without words and without any movement of the body. One may pray in silent meditation. However, while such prayer may be appropriate for a being that is pure mind or soul, it is certainly not the adequate prayer for a being like man. The perfect prayer on earth is the one prayed not only by the soul
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of man but by the whole of the human being, body and soul. As the psalmist exclaims: “All of my bones shall say: Eternal who is like You?” Man’s situation requires that his very bones should be capable of “prayer”. But this is only possible if prayer too becomes a mitzvah, unifying body and soul.
Prayer therefore, cannot be only silent meditation; it has to be a spoken word. It has to be a physical action, informed by intention. Physical prostration before God is no less essential for prayer than is spiritual concentration. The prayer of man should be human and not angelic.

To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living.

Redemption, purity of mind and tongue or willingness to help may hover as ideas before our mind, but the idea becomes a concern, something to long for, a goal to be reached when we pray.

What is the Jewish way to God?

It is not a way of ascending the ladder of speculation. Our understanding of God is not the triumphant outcome of an assault upon the riddles of the universe nor a donation we receive in return for intellectual surrender. Our understanding comes by the way of Mitzvah (religious act). By living as Jews, we attain our faith as Jews. We do not have faith in deeds, we attain faith through deeds.

We are often inclined to define the essence of religion as a state of the soul, as inwardness, as an absolute feeling…Now to Judaism, religion is not a feeling for something that is but an answer to Him who is asking us to live in a certain way. In its very origin, a consciousness of duty, of being committed to higher ends, a realization that life is not only man's but also God's sphere of interest.

Judaism stands and falls with the idea of the absolute relevance of human deeds. Even to God we ascribe the deed. Imitatio Dei is in deeds. The deed is the source of holiness.