Tefilah- Structured or Fluid? Prescribed or heartfelt?

(26) Lot’s wife looked back, and she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt. (27) Next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before the LORD, (28) and, looking down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the Plain, he saw the smoke of the land rising like the smoke of a kiln.

(1) וישכם...אל המקום אשר עמד שם: ...Our sages (Berachot 26) state that Avraham initiated the morning prayer shacharit, as whenever the word עומד is used it refers to the amidah, the principal prayer. David makes reference to this in Psalms 106,30 where he said ויעמוד פנחס ויפלל, that Pinchas stood and prayed, meaning that it behooves man to recite prayers in the morning in which he gratefully acknowledges the daylight in the universe which was provided for him before he set out to go to work. They also add (on folio 6) that it is appropriate for a person to select a specific place where he offers up his prayers on a regular basis.

(62) Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi, for he was settled in the region of the Negeb. (63) And Isaac went out walking in the field toward evening and, looking up, he saw camels approaching. (64) Raising her eyes, Rebekah saw Isaac. She alighted from the camel

And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening tide (when evening is coming in). By meditation prayer is meant, as it says A prayer of the afflicted man when he faints and pours out his meditation before Hashem(Psalms 102:1). and thus too it says, evening and morning at noonday, I will pray (Psalms 55:18).

(10) Jacob left Beer-sheba, and set out for Haran. (11) He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. (12) He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it.

(2) ויפגע AND HE LIGHTED — similar are (Joshua 16:7) “and it reached (ופגע) unto Jericho”, and (Joshua 19:11) “and reached (ופגע) to Dabesheth”. Our Rabbis explained it in the sense of “praying”, just as (Jeremiah 7:16) “Neither make intercession (תפגע) to me”. Thus we may learn that Jacob originated the custom of Evening Prayer. Scripture purposely changed the usual word for “praying”, not writing יתפלל, “And he prayed” (which would have been the more appropriate word, but ויפגע which means to hit upon a place unexpectedly), to teach you also that the ground shrunk before him (the journey was miraculously shortened) as it is explained in the Chapter גיד הנשה (Chullin 91b).

(1) It is a positive commandment to pray every day, as it is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God" (Ex. 23:25). By tradition, they learned that this worship is prayer, as it says: "and to worship God with all of your heart" (Deut. 11:13)...

(8) In conclusion, we now have three daily prayers, Aravit, Shacharit and Mincha, and on Shabbat and festivals we have four - the three daily prayers and the additional Mussaf prayer. On Yom Kippur we have five - the four aforementioned prayers and the concluding Ne'ila.

(12) Rabbi Yosi says: The money of your friend should be as dear to you as your own. Prepare yourself to study Torah, for it is not an inheritance for you. All of your actions should be for the sake of Heaven.

(6) In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths smooth.

(3) If one is accustomed/fluent, he increases in supplications and petitions, and if one has uncircumcised lips, he speaks according to his ability and anytime he likes. And so, the number of prayers is as each to their own abilities. There are some who pray once a day, and there are those who pray many times. And everyone would pray facing the Temple. And this was the way of things from the time of Moses to Ezra.

(2) “A positive commandment” – So wrote the Rambam, who thinks that tefillah is a positive biblical commandment, as it is written, “and to serve God with all of your heart…” But biblically, it is sufficient to recite one prayer a day, in any formulation that one wishes. Therefore, most women have the practice of not praying regularly, because immediately after washing their hands in the morning they say some request, and this is biblically sufficient, and it is possible that the sages did not extend their obligation any further. But the Ramban thinks that tefillah is rabbinic, and this is the opinion of most decisors.