אֲשֶׁר יָצַר | Asher Yatsar, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

This English translation of the prayer “Asher Yatsar” by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, was first published in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). Versification by Aharon Varady according to the nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l. . . .

Categories: Asher Yatsar, Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags: אדם קדמון Adam Ḳadmon, Amoraic prayers, אשר יצר Asher Yatsar, Asiyah, Bathroom etiquette, Bathroom Prayer, Body as Cosmos, Body as Earth, Body as Society, Body as Temple, devotional interpretation, English Translation, excretion, four worlds, internal plumbing, interpretive translation, Late Antiquity, plumbing as metaphor, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, Prayers of Pumbedita

Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Abayyé ben Kaylil and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

אשר יצר | Asher Yatsar prayer for recognizing the Divine Image in all our bodies, by Rabbi Emily Aviva Kapor

Asher Yatzar (the “bathroom blessing”, traditionally said every morning and after every time one goes to relieve oneself) has always rung hollow to me, at best, and at worst has been a prayer not celebrating beauty but highlighting pain. The original version praises bodies whose nekavim nekavim ḥalulim ḥalulim (“all manner of ducts and tubes”) are properly opened and closed—yes, in a digestive/excretory sense, but it is quite easy to read a reproductive sense into it as well. What do you do if the “ducts and tubes” in your body are not properly opened and closed, what if one is open that should be closed, or vice versa? . . .

Categories: Asher Yatsar, 🌐 Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31st), Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., all bodies, אשר יצר Asher Yatsar, disabled bodies, gender transition, LGBTQ, North Amercia, transgender prayer

Contributor(s): Emily Aviva Kapor-Mater

אֲשֶׁר יָצַר | Asher Yatsar, a paraliturgical reflection by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

A paraliturgical reflection on the prayer following urination and defecation, Asher Yatsar, for a shame resilience practice. . . .

Categories: Asher Yatsar, Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., all bodies, אשר יצר Asher Yatsar, Bathroom Prayer, English vernacular prayer, excretion, paraliturgical asher yatsar, shame resilience

Contributor(s): Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

Asher Yatsar (The One Who Forms), by Rabbi Elliot Kukla

“Asher Yatzar (The One Who Forms): a prayer of gratitude for our bodies as transgender, nonbinary, intersex people, and everybody else” was written by Rabbi Elliot Kukla and adapted from the blessing known by its incipit “Asher Yatsar” or “the bathroom blessing” traditionally recited after excretion of waste. The blessing is also recited as part of the birkhot hashaḥar complex of blessings recited upon waking up and becoming active. Rabbi Kukla’s blessing was first published in Where Healing Resides (CCAR 2013), p. 32. . . .

Categories: Asher Yatsar, 🌐 Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31st), Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., אשר יצר Asher Yatsar, Bathroom Prayer, Body as Society, English vernacular prayer, excretion, paraliturgical asher yatsar

Contributor(s): Elliot Kukla

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17

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