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Although we don't pasken like this, the opinion of the Shulchan Aruch is that one who relieves himself and hasn't yet made a bracha Asher Yatzar, and subsequently relieves himself again, must say Asher Yatzar twice. The Shulchan Aruch seems to hold that there is no time limit.

Would the Shulchan Aruch require someone who becomes religious to make an approximation (lower bound, to get around ספק ברכות) of how many times in his adulthood he relieved himself, and make the equivalent Asher Yatzar?

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    i wouldn't believe that such a Halachic situation is possible, but nice diyuk. Jan 16, 2019 at 17:27
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    the meforshim there seem to contextualize this law within the idea of tashlumin for davening which would limit the number of times said to two, total. The statement that the S"A seem to hold that there is no limit may not be the case. He talks about saying it twice, not 4 times.
    – rosends
    Jan 16, 2019 at 17:37
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    @rosends - I have to look at it again to be sure, but when I learnt the halachos, there were two ways of understanding the reference to tashlumin: The simple way is like you understand; that the original time has passed, but you can make up for it. This is strange, because there is no takanah of tashlumin by asher yatza. The other way to understand is that it is answering the problem raised by the other meforshim (bach?) - why can't one brocho discharge both obligations. On that we reference tashlumin, to show that there when faced with two obligations, one prayer cannot discharge...
    – chortkov2
    Jan 16, 2019 at 18:17
  • @chortkov2 but the two options argued there (tashlumin, like davening, or no tashlumin, like bentching) lead to either "say 2" or "say 1" but never "say more than 2." I just don't see anywhere there a source for the idea that the number of times you would say it ever exceeds 2.
    – rosends
    Jan 16, 2019 at 19:29
  • I actually saw this asked in a small pamphlet of questions that used to be distributed in my Yeshiva monthly (must have been 7-9 years ago). Never saw a real answer for this question (especially since Lemaysa we pasken like the opinion that says you only say it once), but it's always a funny question to bring up with friends. Jan 16, 2019 at 20:07

1 Answer 1

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The Mamar Mordechai (s.k. 3) understands the Shulchan Aruch's position is that the second recitation covers all the times he forgot, so one would never say more than two. However, the Pri Megadim (M.Z. s.k. 2) disagrees and writes that according to the Shulchan Aruch one could recite more than two brachos. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Aurbach addressed the issue of baalei teshuva. He is quoted as saying (Siach Halacha footnote 9) that even according to the Pri Megadim's opinion a baal teshuva does not have to say hundreds of brachos because 'asher yatzar' is a bracha of thanks and is therefore only said for the incidents one remembers specifically and therefore currently feels (at least theoretically, I guess) more thankful for.

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