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Why do we bless people when they sneeze?
There are many customs that have become universally accepted, by Jews and non-Jews alike, that have their origins in the Torah. The practice of saying "God bless you" or "Gezundheit," which is the German and Yiddish for "good health," is one such custom. What are the origins of this custom?
The medrash of Pirkei D'Rebbe Eliezer tells us that the origin of this custom is none other than the patriarch,Yaakov Avinu. The medrash lists seven great miracles the likes of which have never been seen since the creation of the world. The fourth wondrous phenomenon that the medrash mentions is that, initially, from the time of the creation, people never got sick.
Instead of getting sick, what would happen was that if a person was in the marketplace or traveling and he happened to sneeze, his neshama or soul would leave his body and he would immediately die. Eventually, our patriarch, Yaakov Avinu, prayed to God for mercy so that this would no longer occur. He pleaded, "Master of the Universe, please do not take my soul from me until I have the opportunity to give my last will and bless my sons and grandsons." The medrash proves that Yaakov's prayer was answered by referring to the pasuk in the Torah which describes how Yoseph is told that his father is sick. It relates that all the kings of the land heard this news and were puzzled because from the time of the creation of the world until that time no one had ever been sick. The medrash concludes that when a person sneezes, the people around him are obligated to praise God, Who has turned death into life.
It's noteworthy to mention that from the other six phenomena on this list we can gain an appreciation of how great a miracle our rabbis considered this change in human physiology to be. The list begins with the saving of Avraham from the kivshan ha'aish, Nimrod's fiery furnace, and continues with the birth of Yitzchak to a ninety year old Sarah. Also listed are the great miracles of kriat yam suf, the splitting of the sea, and the battle of Givon where Hashem stopped the sun and moon for Yehoshua.
The Mishnah Berurah quotes an interesting custom that is no longer practiced. He writes that a person should bless with good health the one who sneezes to which the sneezer should answer "baruch t'he'you," you should be blessed, and the phrase "yeshuatecha kiviti Hashem" which translates as "for your salvation I hope, Hashem." The Elya Rabba explains this back and forth to be a fulfillment of the rabbinic saying, "whoever asks for Divine mercy for his friend, for that which he also needs, he is answered first." Now, since every person needs good health, the idea is that by praying for a fellow Jew's good health after he sneezes, one will be granted good health for himself first.
There are those who explain that the reason we don't follow this custom today is out of concern that God's name will be used in a place that is not clean, such as a bathroom. Nevertheless, the abbreviated custom of saying "God bless you," Gezundheit, or La'Briut, in the Hebrew, has stuck over the years and has been universally accepted. It's yet another example of how the beauty of Torah and its customs have impacted the world at large.
Rabbi Eliezer Kessler
Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
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