Asher Yatzar Poster
Poem by Aurora Levins Morales, art by Roan Boucher
LIMITED TIME FUNDRAISER - MAY 1-JUNE 1 2023
Poster proceeds support Aurora
Minimum donation $25 ($35 if outside US); includes shipping.
Asher Yatzar
(Aurora Levins Morales, from Rimonim)
Blessed is the evolutionary dance of life, which formed the human body in perfect wisdom, made cerebellum and cortex, made the many branching nerves, the bones and their marrows, the muscles and ligaments, the red cells and the white, the myriad hormones singing their biochemical song of praise, made eyes and ears, capillaries and fingernails, the magnificent heart with its chambers, all the organs and passages, cavities and openings. Blessed is natural selection and the infinite diversity of our shapes and colors, our forms and functions, and blessed is the ability to adapt, for it is well known and obvious that each one of us is made as we should be, that even though openings close, and closures open, even though limbs grow wildly and genes mutate, even though hearts dance to different drummers, lungs labor, bones bend and break, and biochemical signals go awry, even though we age and will someday die, we are infinitely splendid as we are. Blessed are you, life force of the universe, that has made us so varied and resilient.
All proceeds go to support Aurora’s art and cultural work.
11 x 14.25” full color glossy poster on cardstock.
Illustration by Roan Boucher, blessing/poem by Aurora Levins Morales, from Rimonim.
rimonim-liturgy.org
auroralevinsmorales.com
patreon.com/auroralevinsmorales
Image description: Linocut of ribcage and intestines, intertwined with colorful flowers, on a parchment-style background. The Hebrew words on the top right say "Asher Yatzar" (“who formed”) and on the bottom "nekavim, nekavim; chalulim, chalulim" (“openings, cavities”), words from the traditional blessing.
(Traditional blessing in Hebrew, said after using the bathroom)
Blessed are You, God, sovereign of the universe, who formed humans with wisdom and created within them many openings and many hollows. It is obvious in the presence of your glorious throne that if one of them were ruptured, or if one of them were blocked, it would be impossible to exist and stand in your presence. Blessed are You, God, who heals all flesh and performs wonders.