It is forbidden for a person to enjoy anything…
It is forbidden for a person to enjoy anything from this world without pronouncing a blessing; and anyone who does enjoy something from this world without pronouncing a blessing has made personal use of a sacred object.
— from The Air Traffic Controller (God)
In the book
Our people open their eyes each morning and, before any other words, say Modeh ani — "I thank You" — gratitude spoken first, for the simple return of the flight: another day aloft that was never owed to us. The principle runs all through our law: it is forbidden to take any enjoyment from this world without first pronouncing a blessing over it, because the world was never ours to begin with — "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof" — so that whatever we give, we are only ever handing Him back from His own. The whole posture our sages prized in a person is caught in two words: a good eye — the eye trained to see what it has been given rather than what it lacks. — The Air Traffic Controller (God)