Physicists in Switzerland this week announced the discovery of an extremely heavy, new type of subatomic particle. Since the 1960s, scientists have theorized that the protons and neutrons at the center of every atom are themselves made up of smaller particles, called quarks. Physicists this week discovered evidence of an extremely heavy type of quark -- four times heavier than anything they had observed before. The discovery of this massive subatomic particle raises new questions about the force that holds an atom together -- suggesting that that force is even stronger than previously imagined.
We ourselves, large though we may seem, are not exempted from the laws subatomic physics. Like these newly discovered massive quarks, we ourselves are bound one to another by an unimaginably powerful force.
But unlike those subatomic particles, we humans are sentient beings -- able to marvel at our own make-up, able to observe the forces that keep us from falling apart. Which is why we say:
Baruch Atah Adonai HaMa’ariv Aravim. We praise you, o Eternal Source of all Creation, the force that binds us all together.