Birchos hashachar k'halachah: Aloud, with kavanah, bechavrusa
Gratitude for a Wondrous Creation
Each morning, when we arise from a night’s sleep and stand on our legs, stable and sure, we remember again the wondrous mechanism that Hashem has granted us so that we can serve Him and do the mitzvos unhindered – and that is the complex and extraordinary body that Hashem in His goodness and compassion granted us.
This system does not have one extra detail. Each and every part is like an entire world, both with regards to the benefit that it brings us, and with regard to the Divine wisdom and complexity with which it is built.
In order for us to be able to thank Him properly for this great favor, Chazal instituted (Brachos 60b) a special brachah – Asher Yatzar – in which we praise Hashem for creating our bodies with such wisdom, and thank Him for the tremendous chessed that He does with us each and every hour, especially when we take care of our bodily needs, when the body’s systems all work normally, in unbelievably precise synchronization, so that we continue to serve Hashem with good health – physical and emotional.
The Yalkut Me’am Loez says on this subject (Bereishis Vol. I, p 88): “Anyone who studies the secret of the creation of the human being his organs will see that the person needs to serve Hashem with his heart and soul, even without receiving a reward, only because of the tremendous chassadim that He did for us – with such perfection. And because HaKadosh Baruch Hu has performed such a huge chessed and created man with everything so perfect, therefore, we are obligated to bless Hashem and praise Him for this goodness that He has done with us.”
A Miracle Like Yetzias Mitzrayim
The sefer Damesek Eliezer (Rav A. Papo of Sarajevo, Letter Aleph, Asher Yatzar 2): If regarding all brachos we are obligated to recite them with yirah and ahavah, how much more so in this brachah, where our eyes see people around us who are distraught to no end about bodily functions that seem to be so simple, and which we can carry out without any pain or discomfort. Therefore, how can we make this brachah without paying attention, as we wipe our hands, or even worse, get distracted and forget to make the brachah at all?
Therefore, one who fears the Word of Hashem will be careful to recite it with great joy, and with awe and love. It is enough for him to concentrate on the simple meaning of the words he is uttering, and surely he will be rewarded by Hashem.
Many of the Chazal expounded especially regarding this brachah, because, as noted, it expresses basic hakaras hatov for the One Who performs tremendous miracles with us each and every day. Therefore, it is so important to say it with the proper kavanah and with yishuv hada’as so that our gratitude will be complete and perfect. The renowned mashpia, Rav Eliyahu Roth, ztz”l, would tell his students: “Do you understand what you committed to in the brachah of Asher Yatzar?! Haven’t you just experienced a complex and difficult ‘operation’ in which the waste has been cleaned from your body, and instead of this operation being carried out under anesthesia, or in pain, the greatest Doctor in the world – the Creator – had compassion for you and did it in the easiest way possible, with no payment. Is it not worth that you should praise for this with kavanah?!” (Hamevarech Yisbarech p. 64)
Aside for this, the Mashgiach Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, ztz”l, said: The very fact that for decades, our body works in the same way, without any change, is a miracle as great as Yetzias Mitzrayim. Because even the best machine in the world malfunctions from time to time from overuse, how much more so our body, which is made up of hundreds of little, sophisticated ‘machines’... and yet, it does not stop working every single day for many years. (Telalei Oros)
A Segulah for Healing
The Mashgiach Rav Yechezkel Levenstein would tell his talmidim that reciting Asher Yatzar with kavanah from the siddur is a segulah for a refuah. And as the Sefer Hachinuch wrote about Birchas Hamazon (Mitzvah 430): “I learned from my rabbanim ...that anyone who is careful with Birchas Hamazon will have his sustenance provided to him with dignity all his life.” And the reason is because one who says Birchas Hamazon with kavanah embeds in his heart the emunah in the Hashgachah that his sustenance depends on Hashem. Likewise, we can say that one who recites the brachah of Asher Yatzar with kavanah, and thus ingrains in his heart the emunah that his life and his healing are dependent on Hashem, in any case will merit to have a refuah. (Tefillas Chana p. 66; Chaim Vechessed p. 11)
Many testimonies were heard about sick people and their relatives who were strict to recite Asher Yatzar with kavanah and merited a complete refuah. One example was shared by Harav Yitzchak Zilberstein, shlita: The young son of an avreich in a kollel in Bnei Brak became very ill. When the other avreichim in the kollel heard the news, they gathered together and resolved to take upon themselves to recite the brachah of Asher Yatzar with kavanah as a merit for his refuah. Miraculously, and against all the doctors’ predictions, within a short time, the boy was completely healed from his ailment. (Tuvcha Yabi’u, Vol. I, p. 270)
We can add that based on the words of Chazal (Brachos 53a) that “the one who answers amen is greater than the mevarech,” that if the segulah of the brachah is so great, how much greater is the segulah of being strict to answer amen after it to provide salvation and protection from anything bad. And we can learn an allusion from the words of the passuk: “Ki Ani Hashem rofecha” (Shemos 15:26) – “כי אני” is numerically equivalent to amen (see Imrei Aharon Beshalach).
