In Judaism, prayer is an introspective process. It is the process of discovering what one is, what one should be, and how to achieve the transformation. Prayer is described in Torah as a service of the heart, not of the mouth (Talmud Bavli, Ta'anit 2a). By improving ourselves with prayer, we become capable of absorbing G-d's blessing.

The Hebrew word for prayer is tefila, based on the words 'to judge' or 'to differentiate.' The exercise of judgments is called 'pilelah,' whose roots mean 'a clear separation.' Prayer is viewed as a means to define what truly matters, to ignore the trivialities.