Jesus grew up as a Jew, and the impact of prayers and Scripture reading practices in the synagogues should not be ignored. Although specific details of these are not obtainable, there were many practices at the time that included daily prayer at different times of the day (e.g. Shema and Tefillah). Repetitive daily prayer is a simple but common style that has been maintained by many spiritual traditions. Lamm promotes the Shema, arguing that “professing the unity of God and love for God is an affirmation of life.” It could be argued that the content of this prayer influenced Jesus, who regularly disappears to pray, only to return energetic, focused, and undeniably full of life. It must be recognized that this is a speculative and almost unfounded hypothesis. Critics of the Shema may argue that its style is archaic and does not engage the participants, Lamm discusses the possibility that reciting the Shema easily becomes part of the law and not spirituality; Lamm concludes that this prayer requires a spiritual intention. This style of prayer is certainly at odds with the free-form prayers encouraged by the Charismatic and Pentecostal traditions, to the detriment of neither. Perhaps it is an example of personal preference, some people prefer and benefit from strict repetition and others prefer to experiment outside of well-known structures. Jesus, whose