Three times a day. Only the morning prayers involve the “accoutrements” of a talis and tefillin, although on a public fast day there is a torah reading (reading from the scroll) as well.
The morning prayer is done from slightly before sunrise to a few hours later; the afternoon prayer is done from midday until just after sunset; and the evening prayer is done any time after that. The afternoon and evening prayers take 10 minutes or less, and the morning prayer can take about 40 minutes. They all are best done in a minyan (a group of at least 10 men) but can be prayed alone as well.
If you want to learn more, you may want to check with Chabad (www.chabad.org) for a traditional Orthodox minyan led by people who are eager to bring in absolute beginners. There are thousands of Chabad synagogues throughout the US and worldwide.
Thanks for that! My 10-yr-old is home sick, today, and I’m passing on your lesson to him (he’s over my shoulder, hehe). He was asking me about the history because he saw the news story, earlier. We’ll check out the link! Cheers!
Old age eyes, here. I thought it said minivan which made no sense to me. I was thinking, so, it's best to pray while carpooling? Thanks for the explanations, btw.