Musing – Do Jews really have a prayer for everything?

Hebraic Musing – Do Jews really have a prayer for everything?

Yes, they even have a prayer for your frequent daily activity, visiting the toilet.  I’d seen it in Siddurs, Jewish prayer books, and found this exceptional explanation from a Jew, Dr. Kenneth M.Prager, M.D:

“When I was an elementary school student in yeshiva (Jewish parochial school) … I used to find amusing a sign that was posted just outside the bathroom. It was an ancient Jewish blessing, commonly referred to as the Asher Yatzar benediction, to be recited after one relieved oneself. For grade school children, there could be nothing more strange or ridiculous than to link to acts of micturition and defecation with holy words that mentioned God's name.  Blessings were reserved for prayers, for holy days, or for thanking God for food or for some act of deliverance, but surely not for a bodily function that evoked smirks and giggles.

“It took me several decades to realize the wisdom that lay behind this blessing that was composed by Abayei, a fourth-century Babylonian rabbi. … Abayei said, when one comes out of a privy he should say:

“Blessed is He who has formed man in wisdom and created in him many orifices and many cavities. It is obvious and known before Your throne of glory that if one of them were to be ruptured or one of them blocked, it would be impossible for a man to survive and stand before You. Blessed are You that heals all flesh and does wonders.”

… “It was not until my second year of medical school that I first began to understand the appropriateness of this short prayer. Pathophysiology brought home to me the terrible consequences of even minor aberrations in the structure and function of the human body.  … I began to no longer take for granted the normalcy of my trips to the bathroom. Instead, I started to realize how many things had to operate just right for these minor interruptions of my daily routine to run smoothly. …  after seeing patients whose lives revolved around their dialysis machines and others with colostomies and urinary catheters, I realized how wise the rabbi had been.  …  Over the years, reciting the Asher Yatzarhas become for me and opportunity to offer thanks not just for the proper functioning of my excretory organs, but for my overall good health. … Could Abayei … have foreseen that "blockage" of the "cavity," or lumen, of the coronary artery would lead to the commonest cause of death in industrialized countries …

“There was one unforgettable patient whose story reinforced the truth and beauty of the Asher Yatzar for me forever.  Josh was a 20-year-old student who sustained an unstable fracture of his third and fourth cervical vertebrae in a motor vehicle crash. He nearly died from his injury and required emergency intubation and ventilatory support. He was initially totally quadriplegic but for weak flexion of his right biceps.

“A long and difficult period of stabilization and rehabilitation followed. There were promising signs of neurological recovery over the first few months that came suddenly and unexpectedly: movement of a finger here, flexion of a toe there, return of sensation here, adduction of a muscle group there. With incredible courage, hard work, and an excellent physical therapist, Josh improved day by day. In time, …  he was able to walk slowly with a leg brace and a cane. But Josh continued to require intermittent catheterization. I know only too well the problems and perils this young man would face for the rest of his life because of a neurogenic bladder. The urologists were very pessimistic about his chances for not requiring catheterization. They had not seen this occur after a spinal cord injury of this severity.

“Then the impossible happened. I was there the day Josh no longer required a urinary catheter. I thought of Abayei's Asher Yatzar  prayer. Pointing out that I could not imagine a more meaningful scenario for its recitation, I suggested to Josh, who was also a yeshiva graduate, that he say the prayer. He agreed. As he recited the ancient bracha, tears welled in my eyes.  …    Josh is my son.”

Thank you Dr. Kenneth M. Prager for sharing.

Point to ponder

Do you yearn for some way to express gratitude for your good health?

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                 December 30, 2014
Books author “Hebraic Insights”; “Biblical Marriage”; “Musings v.1 – A Victorious Life”
Weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings”
Yosef1@cox.net   or   www.InsightsByYosef.com
Source:  http://www.torah.org/features/firstperson/everythingablessing.html