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, LGBTQIA+, 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

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=6686

Associated Image:

🧿

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)

Terms of Use: Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:

Properly attribute any information in the description of this archive page to the Open Siddur Project (<https://opensiddur.org>).
Clearly indicate the date you accessed this page and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
Provide the stable link to this archive: <https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=6686>.
Indicate that the original page was shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license. (To redistribute or remix this page in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the CC BY-SA license.)

Additional Notes:

The views expressed on this page and in these shared works represents the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of volunteer contributors, or its institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-commercial, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture.

ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)

Reddit Facebook Mastodon Bluesky Telegram WhatsApp SMS Email