Last updated on March 10, 2025
There is apparently a Jewish Prayer for using the bathroom called Asher Yatzar, which means “who formed”. It’s a blessing meant to thank God for the human body, and goes something like this:
“Be honored, honored and holy, ones who serve the Most High! Give glory to the God of Israel! Leave me while I enter and do my will [i.e., relieve myself], then I will come to you.”
The final line of this prayer seems a bit ambiguous to me as to whom is being petitioned. Is the focus here meant to be on ourselves, other humans, or on God? I am unsure.
I do find it interesting to consider however that even such a righteous people sometimes require a bit of privacy from both their peers and from their omniscient God from time to time.
This prayer serves to confirm for me that privacy is indeed, a God given, and God honored human right.