Why does God ask us to pray if He already knows what is in our hearts?

This Torah study examines the question: Why does God ask us to pray if He already knows what is in our hearts? The canonical Hebrew discussion develops the issue through the weekly Torah portion and the sources cited there, preserving the distinctions, tensions and practical implications that belong to the source itself. This localized layer is designed for study and discovery; it does not add a new halakhic, medical, legal, historical or empirical ruling beyond the canonical Hebrew source.