The Covenant of the Rainbow made repentance possible

The Covenant of the Rainbow (Genesis 9:8-17) began with the rainbow that G-d revealed to Noah after the Flood. That first rainbow was not only symbolic of the Seven Noahide Commandments. It also marked a turning point in the spiritual nature of the world.

The wicked people before the Flood did not have a capacity for repentance. Through the spiritually cleansing waters of the Flood, G-d made repentance available to all people from then on.

By repenting here in the physical world, we draw down from the spiritual realm a “rainbow” of G-dliness.  It consists of three primary “colors” of Divine attributes (sefirot in Hebrew): Kindness, Judgment and Abounding Mercy.

This audio lesson is a synopsis of a chassidic discourse by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on this subject.

MP3 audio: https://asknoah.org/wp-content/uploads/covenant-of-the-rainbow.mp3

Here is a short lesson from Rabbi Nachman Simon that contrasts repentance with the idea of teshuva – “return to G-d”: