Well, everyone, it's that time of year again- the end. And the beginning. My wishes to everyone for Rosh Hashanah and the new year are that we should all be able to find meaning in our-day to day lives, to be mekadesh our actions, our days and weeks, by using and utilizing them to the best of our abilities.

Recently, I've been listening to Rabbi Avigdor Miller's tapes. One topic which he keeps coming back to is the amazing miracles of nature. When a scientist looks at nature, he usually has in the back of his head the necessity that whatever he finds must not be considered a proof, or even a hint, of G-d's existence. Who would want to publish something like that in a scientific journal? G-d forbid! But, in truth, when we look at nature with the opposite assumption, that everything was created by G-d with a purpose, it's easy to see many wonders in the cycles and phenomena of nature. Did you know that the Milky Way Galaxy is in the middle of colliding with the Sagittarius galaxy? (Shimon did.) Such a massive and powerful occurrence, and yet we are able to sit in the middle of it and watch. That is amazing. Think about your own body. Your body has dozens of systems which function synchronously to keep you alive and well, not to mention thinking, aware and intelligent. These systems utilize complex chemical and molecular reactions to do such varied things as: store energy for later use, self replicate, transmit signals to other parts of the body, convert these signals into physical movement additional chemical reactions or long-term stored memory, create a variety of hormones which each can have a multitude of effects on the body, or have only one specific effect.

All these reactions are possible, and of course do in fact occur, through the laws of nature. But who said that such a variety of reactions should be possible, and that they should be so useful for the formation and continuation of life? That, of course, would be G-d. Thank G-d, we can live! Thank G-d, nuclear fission occurs in the heart of the sun, creating all of the elements we need to live, as well as producing radiation which lets us be able to see! Thank G-d, the ozone layer protects us from that radiation which would harm us!

If you think about nature from this perspective, every science class you go to can be an opportunity to see more of the wonders that G-d has created here on this world.

Of course, this approach isn't limited to people majoring in science or engineering. Something as simple as the fact that ripe fruit changes color is a gift from G-d. Wounds heal themselves. Delicious bread can be baked from a simple grain. The body regenerates itself every night (assuming you sleep). Animal excrement, which the animal's body has discarded as completely useless, is fertilizer that helps plants grow. You have opposable thumbs. Trees. If not for the existence of trees, man would really have been in a bind for thousands of years. What else would he have used to burn for long hours to keep warm, or to carve and cut for use as tools or furniture? The table would have been a modern invention, if man had invented anything at all by this point. There are hundreds of simple things which we never normally think about, that when we realize that G-d is behind them, we can see for the tremendous gifts that they are.

L'shanah tovah tikatevu v'techatemu.