"The sages of the Halacha, the ancient Jewish code of law, knew that the sight of human malformations could evoke scorn and derision. (According to) the Hallachic imperative, if one sees a black man, a red man, or an albino, a giant, a crooked-faced man, or a dwarf, one should say, "Blessed be God, who alters man."  In this way, the negative response to disfigurement was channeled instead into admiration for God's diverse powers of creation.  Traditionally the blessing was spoken only on one's first encounter with the deformed person, as it was meant to overcome the initial repulsion and enable the speaker to treat the "altered" man as an equal." Yehuda Koren & Eilat Negev in "In Our Hearts We Were Giants"