Maharal says “Duh.” What are you, a golem?

Maharal says: Some people ask, “If G-d was ready to hook up whatever you were gonna ask for anyway, why should you have to ask? And if you aren’t on the level, why would your prayer make a difference? And why do you need to actually speak your prayers – doesn’t G-d know what’s in your heart?” And the Maharal says: “Duh. People who ask these questions are really confused. They might even be possessed.” The obvious answer is that speech is what makes humans human. That’s why the different levels of reality are called silent (mineral), growing, (plant) alive (animal) and speaking (human). And since humans are speakers, our goal and destiny is to become fully human through speech. So, even if something occurs to us on the level of body – like, “my back hurts” – the goal is not just to take care of it, but to take care of it humanly. If we just take Tylenol and call it a day, then we haven’t taken a step toward our ultimate completeness. So when we speak it, we bring our back pain into our journey as humans. So, that’s why we need to speak our prayers. And that’s why G-d doesn’t just hook it up, simply because we are feeling it. G-d wants us to bring all problems, needs, and concerns into our human journey. And this way, even if “the answer is no”, and our back still hurts, we have still fulfilled our destiny by bringing it into the speech realm.

Duh.