Noach
The Arc of the Covenant

The rainbow is a paradox for Jews. We are introduced to the rainbow in this week's Parsha as the sign of G-d's promise never again to destroy the earth by flood. If G-d ever feels like destroying the world again, the rainbow appears and reminds Him not to. It seems that the appearance of a rainbow indicates G-d's displeasure. In fact in perfectly righteous generations such as that of king Chizkiyahu and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the rainbow never appeared.
At the other end of the spectrum (excuse the pun), the Talmud is critical of one who stares at a rainbow: he is not concerned for the honour of His creator and should never have been born! The Prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of G-d and the Heavenly Throne: like the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Hashem. So the rainbow's appearance also reflects the Divine face.
An obvious question comes to mind: If the rainbow is a natural phenomenon caused by atmospheric conditions, surely it was present before the flood as well? The Ibn Ezra concludes that the atmospheric conditions that produce a rainbow also only emerged after the flood. This physical change was caused by an underlying spiritual change.
The flood, which acted as a Mikva, added a new dimension to creation - man's ability to refine and purify the world. Prior to the flood the focus of creation was a utopian world created by G-d. When man failed his charge to maintain its utopian state, G-d purged his evil from the world. Only after the flood does G-d say I will no longer curse the earth because of man. Instead, G-d would leave things to man to rectify through his own efforts, through the service of Teshuva (repentance).
This is the spiritual change that gives rise to the rainbow. Rainbows are produced when sunlight is refracted through mist in the clouds. Sunlight represents the G-dly radiance that shines from Above. Clouds, produced from evaporating water from the earth's surface, represent man's actions which rise up from the world. Our sins create ‘dark clouds' that block out the Divine light.
But through repentance, these clouds become translucent and refined allowing an even higher level of G-dliness to permeate our world. The result of this Teshuvah is the rainbow - the refraction of the Divine countenance (as described by Yechezkel).
On seeing a rainbow we bless G-d for remembering His covenant. We are grateful not only that G-d does not destroy the world, but for the gift which the rainbow represents: that no matter how corrupt things may seem or how low we have fallen, we have the ability to rectify our deeds and refine the world in which we live.
The Zohar says that one should not look for the footsteps of Moshiach until he sees a rainbow with shining colours. Our efforts in spiritually refining our world create the necessary conditions to produce the brilliant rainbow which will herald in the true utopia of the Messianic age.

 

~ Rabbi Yoni Johnson

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