Do You Want Good Health?

0:06Asher Yatzar. Asher Yatzar is one of the easiest ways to fulfill a mitzvah that provides protection for health. We all are aware of the importance of this blessing. Baruch Hashem, I have been enduring health issues for 16 years already, but Baruch Hashem, it's like Gan Eden in comparison to what it was during the first seven years. Many people don't appreciate the value of health until it's gone. At one point, a man attended a seminar by Arachim. Has everyone heard of Arachim? Arachim is a very well-known organization. And this professor... At the end of the seminar, Shabbaton they had, he tells the rabbi, "Listen, between you and me, the whole thing's a joke. I don't believe in anything. I don't believe there's a God. I don't believe there's a Torah. I don't believe this. I don't believe that. I'm my own God. I'm my own this." All types of shtuyot he says. "This is just a waste of my time and my money." So the rabbi says, "You know, you can listen to Hashem in two ways."

1:34Usually, I'm going to talk to you about the smallest things. So the professor is interested. He says, "What do you mean by the smallest things?" The rabbi responds, "For example, like going to the bathroom. Maybe one day you're just not able to go to the bathroom, or you go too much." So the professor says, "What? Are you making a joke out of this? At least tell me something scary! What bathroom? What are you talking about?" And then he runs away. The next day, the professor calls the rabbi once, after another, until he gets him on the phone. Finally, the rabbi picks up, and the professor is crying hysterically. The rabbi asks, "What happened?" The professor responds, "I have to see you. I have to see you." The rabbi replies, "Okay, fine, you have to see me. What happened?" The professor insists, "I have to see you. Please, please, please." The rabbi says, "Okay, come to my office." The professor responds, "No, come to the Beit Midrash. I'm learning over here." The rabbi gives him the address and tells him to come whenever he wants. The professor runs over there and bursts into the Beit Midrash, hysterically crying like a little baby. Rabbi says, "What happened?" He says, "I believe in God." "Okay, great. Why are you crying?" He says, "Because for the first time in 50 years, I realized how much of a nothing I am because, for the first time in my life, I lost control of my ability to go to the bathroom, and I relieved myself in my bed with my wife being there. One, number one, number two, every number."

3:00The biggest embarrassment of my life happened to me last night after I said I don't believe in God, and you told me He would rebuke me in this way. I know it's a shame. Now he got it, technically discounted. He did teshuva for a discount. Most people don't have such merits. For most people, it's much more expensive. For most people, it's much more painful. He got the message right away. So anyone that wants a special merit to have refuah shlemah, make sure to read Asher Yatzar with full kavanah. Meaning, don't play with your phone and think of Asher Yatzar at the same time just because you know it by heart, having done it a thousand times. Look at the poster, put it on your wall just like it's a famous Picasso painting, but this is much more valuable. Look at the words and say Asher Yatzar. Say it. Think about it and just consider how amazing it is that you're actually able to go to the bathroom without screaming. You're able to go to the bathroom without crying. You're able to go to the bathroom, period. There's a woman who came to my shiur just a few weeks ago. She told me that her sister, who's only in her 20s, has to go to the bathroom with a tube. She has a tube connected to her. That's the only way she can go to the bathroom. Trust me.

4:14If she had the ability to do this blessing and get herself out of it, she'd do it a thousand times a day. We don't have to wait for that. So that's mitzvah number two.