In this weeks Parasha (Torah Portion) “Noah”, G-d brought a great flood and destroyed the world. The only survivors were Noah, his wife Naama, his three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth , their three wives and a pair of each animal that existed in the world. After the waters reseeded G-d made a rainbow and said to Noah and his sons “This shall be a sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you for all generations” “My rainbow I have set in the cloud… when the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud, I shall remember My covenant… Never again shall the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
Although a rainbow is a natural phenomenon and there is a scientific reason for it which explains that when rays of sunlight pass through water droplets suspended in the atmosphere, the clear crystal droplets refract the light, unleashing the spectrum of colors it contains and displaying them in an arc across the misty skies.
Yet the first time there was a Rainbow was after the flood.
G-d decided to flood the world because the people and animals had become very depraved. There was no morality anymore and humanity was non existent. The drop that overflowed the cup was when people started stealing petty things. When this happened G-d couldn’t take it anymore because the world had become a place of takers and not givers. So He immersed the world under water for forty days and Forty nights, like in a Mikvah, to purify it from its impurity.
The rainbow is H”S beautiful way to tell us that He is not happy with us. That people are not behaving like people, that we are falling down and that we should correct our ways and He is also reminding Himself that He made a promise to Noah that He would never again destroy the world.
Every time we see a rainbow there is a blessing that it’s said “Baruj Ata A-day, Elo-einu Melej Haolam , Zocher Haberit Veeneman Biberito Vekaiam Bemaamaro”, “Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who remembers His Covenant, and keeps His promise.
