Why Daily Personal Prayer to God is Important (Hitbodidut taught by Rebbe Nachman)

he highest path of them all is personal prayer, "Hitbodidut" in Hebrew. Our sages teach that the entire reason the Creator created the world was for us to know Him. How does one get to know Him?

Yes, we learn priceless wisdom through the holy books of the Torah. Thousands of years of wisdom were passed down from our ancestors to us. They elaborated and explained the Creator's wisdom in great detail, ranging from the realms of practical Torah law to the spiritual heights of Kabbalah that described worlds above our own.

We can learn so much about the Creator, and the Divine Law of this fantastic creation through the wisdom in the books we inherited from our ancestors. But does learning alone provide the catalyst necessary to truly KNOW Him?

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches that prayer, particularly personal prayer, or Hitbodidut as he calls it in Hebrew, is integral with Torah learning, and the best path for complete devotion to the Creator. He calls personal prayer, the "Highest path of them all", in other words, the most direct path and powerful path for developing and uncovering the soul's connection to Infinity, which is most often covered and concealed by the distractions and physicality of this world. Rebbe Nachman's advice about this path is to: "Take it!"

Personal prayer is the method to "shed the layers of physicality" and reveal the soul's sublime connection with the Creator. And how does one pray properly? The answer is very simple, pray honestly from the heart, "as you would speak to a best friend."