Hashem's Kindness is Nothing to Sneeze At

by Rabbi Moshe Goldberger

The nose is one of those gifts that are especially prominent, Rabbi Avigdor Miller would explain that the nose is like a snorkel, it’s a breathing pipe. We have to have the ability to breathe in the air in order to live. Hashem positioned it just right.

It also serves as a smoke detector and can save a person’s life. Now breathing is so urgent that Hashem made a second approach. Let's say there’s an emergency, or if a person has a stuffed nose, so he breathes through the mouth. A chesed  (kindness of) Hashem!

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Now sometimes a person has situation where he needs a tissue for his nose, so what did Hashem do? Hashem gave people the wisdom to create tissues out of material that comes from trees. Trees can be made into paper and the paper can be made into tissues, paper napkins and paper towels — all kinds of consistencies.

The right tissue is just soft enough and strong enough — what a chesed that Hashem made such materials and then gave people the seichel, the understanding of how to develop it just the right way. It is absorbent and yet it can be used in a soft and gentle way that is comfortable and convenient. All the gifts from Hashem, the more we think about them, the more we appreciate them.

"Tov lev mishteh tamid” (Mishlei 15:15): a person who recognizes these chasadim every day will see new insights and have a new appreciation of the benefits of the chesed that Hashem wants us to enjoy.