Bathroom Telegram
My Email chavruta, Sara Debbie, and I just started learning the book Rav Schwab on Prayer (Artscroll). This tome of a book is 596 pages long, and we are only reading 2 pages a day, so this is going to take a while…But we’re already really getting a lot out of it.
We just read something fascinating yesterday about “Asher Yatsar”–the prayer recited after going to the bathroom to thank Hashem for the miracle of a well-functioning body.
Rabbi Schwab wrote:”Most people take the normal functioning of their bodies for granted. Unless one has pain, or is informed by a physician after an examination that G-d forbid “all is not well,” one tends to ignore the crucial life-sustaining systems of the body…
“My Rebbe, the Mirrer Mashgiach, R’ Yerucham Levovitz, would humorously illustrate this idea by saying that students really ought to send a telegram to their parents after each use of their bodily functions, to tell them that, thank G-d, they are well.”
Love that:)
Something else I once read about Asher Yatzhar. At the end – ‘rofei chol basar umafli la’asos’. It’s a good thing to have in mind someone who is sick at that line. It’s like a special prayer for them. I’ve found the results pretty amazing.
never heard that, thanks for sharing
Having UTI last week really made me appreciate the way our bodies work, and I said the asher yatzar with special kavana. What did women do before antibiotics?