There is a prayer said every day during the Shacharis (morning) prayer service that goes like this:

"Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who fashioned man with wisdom, and created within him many openings and many cavities. It is obvious and known before Your Throne of Glory that if but one of them were to be ruptured or but one of them were to be blocked it would be impossible to survive and to stand before You. Blessed are You, Lord our God, Who heals all flesh and acts wonderously."

There was a time years ago when I was one of those who said that blessing every morning. Those words always made sense, though I paid just passing attention to them. My cavities and openings were A- OK for the most part.

My little baby grandson, Murray the Magnificent, three weeks old, has a bit of an opening and cavity problem. After a few days in NICU, and two weeks home, he is now back in the hospital facing possible surgery to repair what may be a serious but curable birth defect in his colon.

We take our openings and cavities for granted.  They are supposed to work, and for almost all of us they do.  But one little thing can be wrong, and as the prayer goes it may be impossible to survive.

We should add to our daily prayers a blessing for modern medicine.  WIth the amazing knowledge and skill of today's doctors and surgeons, most who have this problem and who would not have survived centuries ago when the rabbis wrote this blessing, do survive today. And lead perfectly normal and healthy lives.

For little Murray's sake, I am going to go back to saying that blessing.