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The Short Vort- -“ The Most Precious Brocha in the World” (8/3/10)
The Short Vort
Good Morning!
Today is Tuesday the 23rd of Menachem Av 5770 and August 3, 2010
The Most Precious Brocha in the World
Dovid HaMelech proclaims:
“For this let every pious man pray to You -that ‘the thing’ that should be found- (be found) in its proper time…” (Tehillim 32:6)
What is the passuk referring to when it says that ‘the thing which should be found- be found- in its proper time?
What is the ‘thing’ which needs to be found in its proper time?
The Gemara understands the passuk in many different ways.
One opinion is that the ‘thing which has to be found’ refers to a wife.
Another opinion is that the ‘thing which has to be found’ is Torah.
Another opinion is that one should daven that they should ‘find’ a proper way to die.
However, the final opinion in the Gemara, the one quoted in the name of Mar Zutra, and the one which in Eretz Yisroel was considered the best interpretation of the verse- is that ‘the thing’ which a person should daven for that they ‘find’ it when they need it, is a bathroom.
Indeed, all of us are no doubt nodding in approval. There is nothing more needed and necessary to have in the ‘proper time’ than a bathroom.
The physical act of relieving oneself of one’s impurities did not go unnoticed by our sages.
Our Sages instituted The Brocha of Asher Yatzar:
"Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, Who formed man with wisdom and created within him many openings and many hollows (cavities).
It is obvious and known before Your Throne of Glory that if but one of them were to be ruptured or if one of them were to be blocked it would be impossible to survive and to stand before You.
Blessed are You, Hashem, Who heals all flesh and acts wondrously."
One might have thought that such a commonplace and almost coarse act of relieving oneself would not be the ‘thing’ which Dovid HaMelech admonishes us to daven for. One might have thought that the sages would not have instituted a long and detailed brocha for going to the bathroom; however, Chazal understood just how precious the act of voiding oneself indeed is.
In keeping with the teachings of Chazal who never attempted to repress and or muffle the realities of life and the fact that we are human, please allow me to relate to you how I came to appreciate this most precious of all Brochus.
The other day I was feeling fluish.
My throat was aching and a nasty cough kept me from sleeping most of the night.
I saw a physician on Sunday and they prescribed an assortment of medications and anti-biotics.
One of the medications was a codeine laced cough suppressant in liquid form.
After taking my medications, I was groggy and lethargic. I began my medication regimen at about 12 noon.
As the day progressed, although I was tired and in pain, I also noticed that the opportunity for me to say the brocha of Asher Yatzar had been precluded from me.
As the hours passed and the day became evening, I became somewhat concerned at my inability to make the precious brocha.
Night set in and although I was exhausted beyond description, the pain and the coughing prevented the therapeutic and needed sleep from overtaking me.
One A.M., two A.M. three A.M.
I roam the house seeking relief and respite from the ever encroaching mental distress as the reality is setting in that I have not been privileged to recite Asher Yatzar for over twelve hours.
My mind begins to rum rampant with hysterical scenarios of being taken to the hospital by Hatzalah and of the medical procedures which would follow.
At three thirty in the morning, after over a twelve hour hiatus an exhausted and aching body is finally relieved of its physically debilitating and emotionally draining burden as I am finally able to recite my beloved Brocha.
The house is dark and silent. All members of the household are safely in their beds in restful sleep. One member of the household is singing the praises of the One above.
An Asher Yatzar in the darkness of the night from the depths of the heart exploded from my lips: “It is obvious and known before Your Throne of Glory … if one of them were to be blocked it would be impossible to survive and to stand before You”.
At three thirty in the morning, in the stillness of the night, I am not alone, I have not been forgotten; not everyone has retired for the night. You are with me.
I never returned to bed after that.
I was still in pain, still drained and still exhausted; far from healed.
However, the realization that my beloved Asher Yatzar has been restored to me, allows me to face the day and its challenges.
Thank you Hashem.