In the third chapter of Shaar Habitachon, Rabbenu Bachyai writes that one must take care to fulfill Hashem’s requests, and then Hashem will agree to fulfill one’s desires.
We know of rare mitzvos that come around every couple of years. But there is a daily mitzvah that exists, which we do thousands of times each year. And we will focus on it, and try to do it as Hashem asks of us.
Harav Hatzaddik Rav Eliyahu Rot zt”l was zocheh to serve several of the Rebbes of Zhvil. When he would recite the brachah of Asher Yatzar, once could sense his seriousness and kavanah. He would relate the following:
Reb Shlomo of Zhvil zy”a would always make sure to wear his hat and kapoteh to recite this brachah, reciting each word slowly and deliberately. Once he saw me watching him while he was reciting the brachah, and afterward he told me, “You’re surprised that I’m wearing a kapoteh?! It would be fitting to put on Shabbos clothing, for the sheer joy and amazement at the wonders of Hashem!”
And Reb Shlomo of Zhvil would always say: The gratitude I feel when I recite this brachah is for a tremendously huge favor that Hashem performed for me just a moment ago. I underwent a complex surgical procedure to cleanse my body of waste, and this was without anesthesia! I avoided all the complications caused by anesthesia, and without the haziness and inability to function that it causes, and without the whole tiring procedure it usually entails. Aside from this, I was treated by a private Doctor, the greatest One in the world, Who is the Healer of all flesh, and all this for free, without paying a cent!
Anyone who has, unfortunately, experienced intestinal ailments knows how this brachah should be recited. Anyone who needs dialysis needs no commentaries on this brachah. But why wait to come to the hospital, chalilah?! Let us recite the brachah from inside the siddur, with patience and kavanah, right now, while all is well and we are healthy, with Hashem’s mercy. Let us think deeply about His goodness, and thank His great Name joyfully and willingly!
Harav Hechassid Reb Shmuel Brichta zt”l once related that when he was hosted by a Yid in Germany, his host told him: When I was a young boy, I wanted to travel to Galicia in order to see the Rebbe of Sanz, the Divrei Chaim zy”a. It was a long journey, very tiring, under difficult conditions, and my father z”l agreed for me to go on condition that I would stay there for only one day and then return home immediately.
I agreed to his condition. When I arrived in Sanz, I went in to see the Rebbe. His gabbaim stopped me and told me that the line to get in to see him was very long, and if I wanted to get in to him, I was invited to the adjacent beis medrash to wait there for a week.
I could not accept this advice, because I had promised my father I would return immediately. Therefore, I stood close to the door of the Rebbe’s room in the hope that maybe when the door opened I would be lucky and I’d get a chance to at least see the face of the tzaddik. And then I heard a loud voice from inside the room, speaking with great enthusiasm and at length. I strained my ears in order to understand what the Rebbe was saying there, and that’s how I discovered that he was saying the brachah of Asher Yatzar for long moments, for as long as it could take someone else to finish saying the entire Shemoneh Esrei.
At the conclusion of the brachah, while I was still moved to the depth of my soul, the Rebbe opened the door of the room and told me: “Shalom Aleichem to a Yid from Germany! It was worthwhile for you to come only in order to hear how a Yid needs to make the brachah of Asher Yatzar. Pass these things on and tell others that a Yid needs to have kavanah when making this brachah more than for the piyut we say on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, ‘Unesaneh Tokef kedushas Hayom.’ Unesaneh Tokef is a minhag, while in contrast, this brachah was instituted by Chazal.”
If we were to say Unesaneh Tokef three times a day, and the brachah of Asher Yatzar only in the middle of Mussaf on the Yamim Nora’im, when the Aron Kodesh is open, then everyone would tremble with awe at each and every word.
Similarly, the gaon and tzaddik Reb Avraham Chaim Brim zt”l related that he heard from a reliable witness that the Divrei Chaim of Sanz would say the brachah of Asher Yatzar with great energy and dveikus. Once the author of the sefer Kol Aryeh, the Av Beis Din of Bershagz, traveled a long way to get to the Divrei Chaim. When he heard the Rebbe reciting Asher Yatzar, he announced, “The expenses and the effort of traveling have already paid off for me, just from hearing the Rebbe recite this brachah.”
It is known from great tzaddikim throughout the generations, and they said it explicitly as well, that with this brachah one can bring about yeshuos beyond nature: health, healing, yeshuah, and long life.
May it be Hashem’s will that the chizuk in this matter be a zechus for the avreich Reb Yitzchak ben Basha, and may he be zocheh to also bless and thank Hashem, in good health and simchah and in good spirits; amen.
Please daven and plead for mercy for the avreich Reb Yitzchak ben Basha (Kletzkin).
Tehillim line: 077-482-2963
