R’ Yoni Schwartz related a story. Some time ago in Eretz Yisroel, Rav Elya Lopian, zt”l, was traveling with his Talmidim on a train. Due to security threats, police were stationed in every booth of train. In the middle of the ride, Rav Elya excused himself from his Talmidim and went to use the restroom.
The Rav loved to bless Hashem, so when he came back, he told the police man next to him in the booth, with great excitement, that he was about to say the Brachah of Asher Yatzar. He explained that this Brachah praises Hashem for the health He gives us, and for all of His wondrous deeds. He also asked the guard to respond with “Amein” after he said the Brachah. The secular guard liked this idea, and he called all the other guards over to answer “Amein” together with him. Rav Elya began to say the Brachah with the greatest Kavanah and enthusiasm, and when he finished, all the guards screamed “Amein” in unison so loudly, that it could be heard on the other side of the train.
This loud sound startled the conductor so much, that when he heard it, it caused him to pull the breaks on the train. The train stopped on its tracks, and the conductor came out asking if everything was okay. He was told that everybody was fine, and they were just saying “Amein” to the Rabbi’s Brachah.
When the conductor got back in front to start driving the train again, he looked at the tracks just in front of him, and his face turned white. Right in front of where the train had stopped, a bomb was placed on the tracks, and it was big enough to blow up the entire train. If it were not for the Brachah of Rav Elya and the Amein of the guards, many people would have been harmed. Indeed, as the Brachah of Asher Yatzar concludes, Hashem is “Mafli La’asos,” the One who acts wondrously!
Reprinted from the Parshas Kedoshim 5784 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
