Asher Yatzar Tefilla Through the Eyes of a Dialysis Worker

"Since I started working in dialysis, I really see what a bracha having working kidneys is."

Many recite Asher Yatzar as a matter of routine, another blessing in the daily sequence of Jewish life. But for those who work in dialysis centers, these ancient words take on profound new meaning.

Three times a week, dialysis patients arrive for their four-hour sessions, tethered to machines that perform what their kidneys no longer can. These remarkable devices filter waste from blood, a process healthy kidneys perform silently, continuously, and without recognition.

"Who formed man with wisdom and created within him many openings and many hollows..." The ancient words of Asher Yatzar resonate differently when witnessed alongside the reality of what happens when this delicate system falters.

Patients often remark that people don't think about their kidneys until they stop working. They spend twelve hours weekly in dialysis centers, time taken from family, work, and life, for a function most people never consciously appreciate.

The blessing continues: "...for if one of them were to be ruptured or if one of them were to be blocked, it would be impossible to survive and stand before You."

This isn't poetic exaggeration. It's medical reality. Dialysis patients don't need convincing of the miracle of properly functioning organs. They live the alternative daily.

Consider David, who must calculate his fluid intake to the milliliter. Or Sarah, who couldn't attend her daughter's wedding without special arrangements. Or Robert, whose vacation plans always revolve around dialysis center locations.

The blessing concludes by praising "the Healer of all flesh who acts wondrously." Indeed, modern medicine is wondrous, but how much more wondrous is the prevention that healthy kidneys provide?

Those thirty seconds taken to recite Asher Yatzar are an opportunity to recognize what dialysis patients teach us all: that within our bodies lies an ongoing miracle, one deserving not just acknowledgment, but profound gratitude and intention with every recitation.