NASO 5784

The Miracle of the Bathroom

You’ve heard quite a few sermons lately—especially over Shavuot. So instead of a sermon this morning, I’d like to study with you today’s Haftorah. I recently discovered an important insight in the text that I’d like to share with you. Please turn to page 1181 in our Chumashim. The Haftorah is the story of the birth of the mighty Samson. We read this story today is because the Torah reading contains the laws of the Nazir, the Nazirite, and Samson was a Nazir—perhaps the most famous.

Samson’s birth was different from most others. It was announced—in advance—by an angel. Let’s read beginning with verses (Judges) 13:3-5: An angel of Gd appear to the woman and said to her, “Behold now! You are barren and have not given birth, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. And now, be careful not to drink wine or intoxicant, and not to eat anything prohibited [to a nazirite]. For you shall conceive and give birth to a son; a razor shall not come upon his head for the lad shall be a nazarite of Gd from the womb, and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

The woman runs and tells her husband Manoach that something incredible just happened to her. Let’s continue reading 13:6-7: The woman came and told her husband, “A man of Gd came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of Gd—very awesome! [It seems that this expression is thousands of years old.] I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son; and now, do not drink wine or intoxicant, and do not eat anything prohibited [to a nazirite], for the lad shall be a nazirite of Gd from the womb until the day of his death.’”

Manoach is astonished. He doesn’t want to be left out and he wants to confirm what his wife has told him, so he prays to Gd and says (verse 13:8): Please, my Lrd, may the man of Gd whom You sent come now again to us and teach us what we should do to the lad who will be born.

The angel does come back—but not to Manoach. He comes back to his wife! Evidently, either this is an angel who likes to talk to women more than to men, or, more likely, his wife is on a higher spiritual level and more worthy. This time, however, she runs to get her husband so that he can see the angel for himself. The husband asks the mysterious angel to please repeat the instructions ¼ and the angel does so.

Then, Manoach, feeling very grateful to this mysterious angel asks him in verse 13:15: Please let us detain you, and we shall prepare for you a kid of the goats. In other words, “Won’t you please let us make a meal for you?” And the angel replies in verse 13:16: If you detain me, I shall not eat from your food, but if you would bring up an elevation-offering, bring it up to Hashem. In other words, “Thank you, but no thank you. I don’t eat human food. If you wish to make an offering, make it to Gd, not to me.”

So Manoach offers a sacrifice to the Gd ... and now comes the insight I want to study with you in verse 13:19: Manoach took the kid of the goats and the; meal-offering and brought them up on the rock to Hashem; and [here are special words] UMAFLI LAASOT, he [the angel] performed a miracle as Manoach and his wife watched. [What was the miracle?] It happened that as the flame rose up from atop the altar toward the heavens, the angel of Hashem went up in the flame of the altar; Manoach and his wife were watching, and they fell upon their faces to the ground.

Something wondrous, something miraculous, something beyond human understanding occurred. The angel went up in the flames of the altar and disappeared. When Manoach and his wife see it ... they stand there awestruck—overwhelmed, frightened. They were privileged to witness a miracle. No wonder they were willing to do whatever the angel told them to do after they saw him go up in smoke. Wouldn’t you?

So far, the story  pretty clear. Now listen carefully to the special insight. Does anyone recognize that Hebrew phrase, Umafli laasot (He performed a miracle)? Anyone? A colleague, Rabbi Jack Reimer, makes a connection of this phrase to a prayer that I had not thought of before. 

Umafli laasot, Rabbi Reimer points out appears in Asher Yatzar prayer—recited whenever a Jew comes out of the bathroom. Let’s read it on page 14 of our Siddurim: Baruch Ata Hashem, Elokeynu, melech haolam, asher yatzar et haadam bichochmah, uvara vo n’kavim, n’kavim, chalulim, chalulim. Galui viyadua lifney chisey ch’vodecha, sh’im yipateyach echad meyhem, o yisateym echad meyhem, iefshar l’hitkayem v’laamod l’fanecha. Baruch ata Hashem, rofey kol basar, UMAFLI LAASOT. (Blessed are You, Hashem our Gd, King of the universe, Who fashioned man with wisdom and created within him many openings and many cavities [a whole network of veins and arteries]. It is obvious and known before Your Throne of Glory that if any but one of them were to be ruptured or but one of them were to be blocked, it would be impossible to survive and stand before You. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who heals all flesh and acts wondrously.)

Do you recognize that Hebrew phrase—umafli laasot? The very same phrase used to describe the mysterious angel miraculously going up in flames ... is used to describe our ability to go to the bathroom, our ability to move our bowels.

Now, is there anything more mundane than our bodily functions? Why on earth then is the very same phrase--umafli laasot—used to describe a wondrous act that was done once and only once by an angel ... and a routine act—a lower bodily function—that is done every day by human beings?

And that’s the point! The normal, everyday, routine functioning of the human body—even or especially the lower bodily functions—is just as miraculous as the angel’s once-in-a-lifetime ascent to heaven.

Do you understand what this prayer is saying to us? That we should never take the workings of our bodies for granted, just because we are so accustomed to them. The fact that our eyes can see, the fact that our ears can hear, the fact that our bloodstream works, the fact that we are able to inhale and exhale, the fact that our digestive system works ... these must never be taken for granted. They are wonders—no less remarkable, amazing, astonishing, than the angel who was able to go up to heaven in the flames. The miraculous and the mundane, the extraordinary and the ordinary, are not unconnected realms.

Where do you find Gd? Some people find Gd in the workings of the cosmos—in the fact that the stars move in their stations in the sky in such superb order. Some people find Gd in the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, or other such awesome works of nature. And whether we want to admit it publicly or not, some people—and I suspect it happens to all of us at one time or another—find Gd in the bathroom! In fact, I think more prayers are said in the bathroom today than anywhere else!

The point of this phrase—umafli laasot—is that we can and we should find Gd—not only in the stars, not only in the Grand Canyon and not only in Niagara Falls. Gd is to be found even in the everyday functioning of our bodies.

Let me say in all seriousness that the Ashar Yatzar prayer is one of the most profound in all of Jewish liturgy. May I suggest that you make a copy of it, cut it out, and carry it with you wherever you go and recite it throughout the day as the need arises to show your gratitude to Gd for the miraculous functioning of our bodies. I don’t know any other religious tradition that contains a prayer to be said after going to the bathroom. Do you?

My friends, let’s bless Gd for all the many wonders He showers upon us. May we learn to notice them, to pay attention to them—not only when they break down, but especially when they work. And to this, let us all say, Amen!