As I came up to address the crowd at the rally last week in support of Israel at the JCC in Getzville, a rainbow appeared overhead. Not just one, but two. All of us turned to gawk, and snap pictures. Here, in what was one of our darkest weeks in recent memory, a sign of the covenant revealed itself in the sky.
The Brit, or covenant, the rainbow represents is not between God and the Jewish people, but instead God and all of humanity. This week in Parashat Noah, after nearly destroying the world in the flood, God promises not to do so again if we fulfill a basic code of human conduct. Called the Noahide laws, the rabbis speak of seven central values we all must adhere to. These include not worshipping idols, not stealing, not cutting a limb off a live animal, and not murdering. Like an ancient Geneva convention, this basic code of human conduct is meant to preserve human society.
As I recited the prayer for the state of Israel, with the rainbows in the background, it was not lost on me, or any of us gathered there, how far it felt we had gone from that initial promise. In Genesis 6:11, the Torah describes an earth that “was corrupt and full of violence.” Indeed, the word for violence, Hamas, has the same name as the terrorist group who attacked Israel. This is exactly the crimes the Torah was trying to prevent.
The blessing one is supposed to say when witnessing a rainbow is “Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha’olam Zachor Et Habrit v’kayam ma’amrav – Blessed are you God ruler of the universe who remembers the covenant and is faithful to their word.” The blessing is directed at God’s side of the covenant, that God would never again attempt to destroy humanity. But what about our side of the agreement? It appears from the past two weeks, that we humans still have a long way to go.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex