How Does a Chick Breathe Inside the Egg? 5 Points to Ponder

Always Gradual!

We've all experienced it as children. Milk teeth fall out, and each is replaced by a permanent, larger, and thicker tooth.

But did you notice that teeth always fall out... gradually? Never all at once!

One of the many kindnesses that Hashem does with us is evident in how human teeth replace themselves over time, falling one after another, and not all at once. Why? So a child can eat and speak normally while new teeth grow in. If all fell out at once, how would the child chew food? How would they speak? Teeth are essential for chewing and speaking!

And have you wondered why teeth change during childhood and not later, like during adolescence?

Just imagine an adult with a toddler's teeth... In early life, the bones of the head and face significantly change in size, so small teeth no longer fit the larger skull and must be replaced with many more larger teeth (children have 20 teeth while adults have 32), each with its own shape and function, together forming a strong and uniform structure.

Who in their many mercies planned this? Who calculated every detail in this wonderful dental system that is so essential for our function?

Eventually... Everyone Knows the Truth

This week, my atheist friend told me he visited his father's grave on the anniversary of his death (his father passed away a few years ago).

I saw an opportunity and asked him: "But you're an atheist. According to you, there is no Creator of the world and no afterlife. For you, death is the end of the film, oblivion - where the person no longer exists. So why did you bury your father? Why invest tens of thousands of shekels in building a grave - with stone and concrete! Isn't the money wasted on your part? You could have thrown the body into the sea, what do you care? After all, he's dead... he wouldn't know about it... he wouldn't feel it... he's not here according to you, is he?...".

"No way... He's my father... It's not respectful," he answered. I replied: "What isn't respectful? After all, he isn't there, 'the film is over,' right? Why do you visit his grave every year and make sure to do it on the anniversary of his death?! According to your belief, he's not there. He doesn't see/hear you. He won't be angry that you don't respect him or visit his grave, because in your view, he's no longer around. You're the one declaring that the soul doesn't exist without the body, that the soul 'dies' with the body and doesn't exist after death, that there is no continuity after death and there is no life after death. So why are you doing this? Why do you keep wasting your time?".

(Photo: shutterstock)

Of course, he had no response... his actions stem from a simple truth he denies. He, and all secular atheists who act similarly, know the truth - that there is a Creator of the world and there is life after death. That's why they bury, invest money in a gravestone, hold annual memorials. Could it be that they invest so much energy, resources, and money in something they genuinely believe doesn't exist? I don't think so...

Everyone knows the truth, so why doesn't everyone chase after the truth?... Something to think about...

Friends, the Torah explicitly states that death is not the end of life. Death is merely a transition from one world to another, and as the Zohar says: death is changing clothes. Our true "self," meaning we ourselves, continue to live eternally even after leaving the physical body.

The person themselves is the spiritual entity within the body, while the body is their external clothing! The "self" never dies! Our souls never die! The "self" remains forever! A person who passes away and is buried – only their body is buried! When we bury someone dear to us - we bury the garment that accompanied them all their lives. They continue to live – their soul is eternal!

How Does a Chick Breathe and Eat Inside a Sealed Egg?

A hen incubates the eggs, from which the chicks will hatch. This action aims to maintain a controlled temperature for the egg (by sitting on the egg and transferring body heat to it). This process is essential for the development of the chick.

Wait... unlike a fetus in its mother’s womb, which is nourished directly from its mother via the umbilical cord. How does a chick inside the egg get nourishment when there's no opening through which you can introduce something to the chick from outside?The chick needs to eat, right?

The egg has a yolk that feeds the cell from which the chick will develop. The yolk is the provision for the journey. The egg contains a precise food supply for the entire duration the chick needs to stay until it is large and strong enough to hatch from it.

Wait, and how does the chick breathe? What's needed for the chick to breathe inside the egg is the contact of the blood system with the outside air (so it can release carbon dioxide and receive oxygen). So how does it happen? The eggshell provides the chick with physical protection and support, but it is full of tiny holes that allow air passage. Beneath the shell lies a unique membrane: on one hand, it does not allow liquids to pass, so the egg does not lose water, and the chick does not dry out. On the other hand, the membrane allows the diffusion of gases between the external air and delicate blood vessels found on its inner side...

In other words, the eggshell is not airtight, and the embryo (chick) can breathe and receive oxygen even through the shell. One can see thousands of pores in an eggshell, and through these pores, the embryonic chick receives oxygen for its blood vessels. This is an ingeniously designed system! Only a higher intelligence, with unlimited capability, could have created something so sophisticated...

"Excuse me, what's the time?"

Imagine if every time you needed to say something, you'd blush, contort your face, and struggle to get words out of your mouth. Imagine a simple question like "what's the time?" becoming a paralyzing challenge that sometimes feels eternal.

For people who stutter, this is an everyday reality.

Stuttering is a communication disorder stemming from a disruption in the flow of speech, which can significantly affect the stutterer's ability to communicate with others in various situations. There are those for whom stuttering leads to isolation and hope that no one will approach them to talk, as stuttering is often accompanied by strange sounds or facial grimaces, drawing negative reactions from the surroundings, embarrassing and hurting the person who stutters.

Using the power of speech, a person can express what is on their heart and mind, fulfill their desires, convey messages, and connect and befriend others. And from speech, they differ from animals...

Note, these are complex actions we perform automatically, and we are fortunate that this process is embedded in us without effort or difficulty on our part. One small "malfunction" can lead to language difficulties, such as stuttering or, heaven forbid, muteness...

Have we ever thought about what speech entails? Who designed this process? Have we ever appreciated and thanked Hashem for our ability to speak and communicate with our surroundings, an ability not taken for granted?...

So next time someone asks you a simple question like "what's the time?", smile and answer kindly. Simply because you can...

Only Good Will Come from It...

Hashem wants to do only good for us. No evil exists with Him, and sages (in the introduction of the book "Chovot HaLevavot," sign Yod-Dalet with the interpretation "Lev Tov") have proven it with simple logic: anyone who does harm to another may do so for one of three reasons: out of fear (for example, harming a person who threatens them and their family, thus neutralizing the threatening factor), or due to some personal gain they hope to achieve by it (for example, harming a friend to get promoted at work; hurting a sibling to get an inheritance) or because of foolishness, where a person doesn't know what's good or bad (for instance, someone with a cognitive impairment or a small child who hits).

It's obvious that these three factors aren't found in Hashem! Is Hashem afraid of someone? He is all-powerful and controls all creation ("His kingdom rules over all" - Psalms 103:19). Is there any gain He hopes to achieve? He lacks nothing; all is His and from Him ("The earth is Hashem's and all it contains" - Psalms 24:1) Or heaven forbid out of foolishness? The entire world is a masterpiece of wisdom and order ("Great is Hashem and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable" - Psalms 145:3).

Thus, it is proven that there is no evil with Hashem, who created man solely to bestow goodness upon him as he elevates in serving Hashem and reaches his perfection.

What may seem like "bad" events that we see affecting people in their bodies and finances are means to bring them later good in this world, or they come to test them in this world to increase their reward in the next world, or to punish them for their sins in this world so they aren't punished for them in the next world... in other words - only good will come of it...!