Asher Yatzar – The Blessing After Attending to Bodily Needs
Asher Yatzar, meaning 'Who formed [the human being],' is a blessing of profound gratitude recited after using the restroom. It appears in the Talmud (Berakhot 60b) and has been part of Jewish daily prayer for over a thousand years. With remarkable candor, it acknowledges the intricate, fragile design of the human body and praises God as the healer of all flesh. Whether you are Jewish or simply someone who pauses to wonder at the mystery of being alive, this prayer invites you to find holiness in the ordinary.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe,
Who formed the human being with wisdom,
and created within him openings upon openings, cavities upon cavities.
It is revealed and known before the throne of Your glory
that if one of them were to be opened,
or if one of them were to be closed,
it would be impossible to survive and to stand before You
even for a single hour.
Blessed are You, Adonai, Who heals all flesh and performs wonders.
Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha'olam,
asher yatzar et ha'adam bechochmah,
uvara vo nekavim nekavim, chalulim chalulim.
Galui ve'yadu'a lifnei chisei chevodecha,
she'im yipate'ach echad mehem,
o yissatem echad mehem,
ei efshar lehitkayem vela'amod lefanecha
afilu sha'ah achat.
Baruch Atah Adonai, rofeh chol basar umafli la'asot.
Common Questions
Asher Yatzar is traditionally recited each time a person uses the restroom. It is one of the few Jewish blessings tied not to a religious occasion but to a purely physical, daily act. Many Jewish communities also include it in the morning prayer service as part of the sequence of morning blessings.
The prayer speaks of the body as a system of 'openings and cavities' — passages and hollow spaces — created with wisdom. It then makes a striking theological claim: if even one of them were to open when it should be closed, or close when it should be open, it would be impossible to survive even a single hour. This is the prayer's way of expressing awe at biological function as a gift that sustains life moment to moment.
The closing phrase, 'ומפליא לעשות' (u'mafli la'asot), means 'Who acts wondrously' or 'Who performs wonders.' It is understood to refer to the wonder of the human body itself — that physical, biological processes, so easy to take for granted, are themselves a continuous miracle. The phrase deliberately contains no object: the wonder is simply present, unnamed and vast.
The two versions presented here are nearly identical in meaning and differ only in minor textual sequence. In Nusach Sefarad (used by many Ashkenazi Hasidic communities and others), the phrase reads 'if one opens or if one closes.' In Nusach Edot HaMizrach (the rite of Mizrachi and many Sephardic communities), the order is reversed: 'if one closes or if one opens.' Both versions convey the same essential meaning and carry equal traditional authority.