I had mentioned how different our prayer book selections are from those of other faiths. We’ve got more than praise, petition and thanksgiving, though they are the major components of every worship service. We’ve got history and mystery.
One of those passages is usually read by our Bar/Bat Mitzvah students who refer to it as “The Bathroom Prayer,” and there’s more than a measure of truth in that label. But it’s not the entire story. As a matter of fact, it can be said that it’s the liturgical basis for what I discussed in my article in the Bridge dealing with health. Health comes before Torah; health comes before all else. Here we find that praise of God which lays bare the facts.
Of course, for the purpose of public worship the translation in the prayerbook has been sanitized, and I wouldn’t expect anything else. The actual translation of the prayerbook version is one I’ve discussed across the decades to kids of all ages. It praises God, “who has made our bodies with wisdom, combining veins, arteries, and vital organs into a finely balanced network,” and then continues with our thanksgiving for this “network.”
What it actually says in the Hebrew is, We praise you, O God, “for creating in us holes and orifices. It is quite obvious…that should one of them be open (when it should be closed) or if one of them is closed (when it should be open), it would be impossible to exist or stand before You…”
There it is!
So, when we’ve discussed this – and it’s usually the 7th grade since it’s their Bar/Bat Mitzvah year – there’s always more than a giggle. Then I ask them, “What is this trying to tell us?” Then there’s silence…and more giggles. But I ask them if they know anyone who wears a “bag.” Invariably there is a girl or boy who has a relative whose condition necessitated a colostomy-, ileostomy-, or urostomy bag. And it’s that youngster who begins the discussion; it’s no longer something yielding giggles. These conditions are part of life – open and/or closed holes and orifices – which, when these just-teen kids begin to seriously consider, usually yield mature conversations.
The “bathroom” prayer is no longer behind closed doors.
(Speaking of the “bathroom” prayer.…A Jewish doctor needs three things to be successful:
- To have grey hair, to look distinguished
- To be moderately overweight, to look prosperous
- To have painful hemorrhoids, to have a constant look of grave concern)