Asher Yatzar - Reciting for Another

QUESTION: If one does not know how to recite the beracha of Asher Yatzar, can someone else recite it for them? Would they be allowed to just listen, and answer Amen?

ANSWER: The halacha states that a person can recite a beracha on behalf of a friend, provided the person who is saying the beracha is obligated to recite it. For example, if one person is eating an apple, he can recite the beracha for someone else who will be eating another food of the same beracha. As such, if two people used the bathroom and are both required to recite Asher Yatzar, and one is unable to do so, the other may recite the beracha for both of them. (The one not reciting the beracha should listen carefully and answer Amen.)

What if the one saying the beracha did not use the bathroom? May he still recite the beracha on behalf of another Jew who is obligated?

Shulchan Aruch (OC 273:4) states that one can recite kiddush for his neighbor, even if he already said kiddush for himself. How can one who is no longer obligated in kiddush recite the beracha of kiddush for someone else? The answer is that in Judaism there is a concept of kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh (all Jews are responsible for each other). If my neighbor is obligated to say kiddush, I am personally responsible to make certain that he fulfills his mitzvah. Since I share that responsibility, I can make kiddush on his behalf, even though I already said kiddush. This same concept of extended responsibility applies to berachos on other mitzvos as well. Thus, I may recite the beracha and blow shofar for another person, even after I was yotzei (already fulfilled my obligation). However, I cannot recite a birkas hanehenin (a beracha on pleasures or enjoyment) for another if I am not also required to make the beracha. Since there is no obligation to eat an apple, for example, there is no obligation to recite the beracha, and therefore the shared obligation based on kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh does not apply. The beracha on the wine as part of kiddush is included in the kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh since kiddush must be recited over wine.

With respect to our original question (can one recite Asher Yatzar on behalf of another Jew if he did not use the bathroom) Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach z”l (Minchas Shlomo 2:4:28) suggests that this depends on what category the beracha Asher Yatzar belongs to. If it is a beracha of shevach (praise for Hashem’s gift of a healthy and functional body), one may recite the beracha for another even if he did not use the bathroom himself, but if it is a birkas hanehenin, one may not. There are various proofs that Asher Yatzar is a birkas ha’shevach, and other proofs that it is a birchas ha’nehenin. Rav Shlomo Zalman concludes that Asher Yatzar is a hybrid of both, and therefore one cannot recite Asher Yatzar for another if he is not personally required to do so. Rav Ovadia Yosef (Yabia Omer, 9:3) notes that even if Asher Yatzar is a birkas ha’shevach, many poskim do not allow reciting a birkas ha’shevach for someone else, unless one is personally obligated as well.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.