Why the Rainbow is the Sign of G-d’s Covenant with the World

Free Translation by the Ask Noah Staff of the explanation

by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson

published in the original Yiddish in Likkutei Sichos vol. 15, p. 49-57.

[clarifications in square brackets added by the Director of Ask Noah]

 

“Continuously, all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter,
and day and night, shall not cease (lo yishboso).” (Genesis 8:22)

 

Sections 3-9 of this talk explained the difference in the world and the nature of mankind before and after the Flood.

Section 3

…In the difference before and after the Flood, there are two perspectives:

From one side, we see that after the Flood, the world gained the strength and promise that “it will not cease.” (This is the other meaning in Genesis 8:22.) This is an added power that did not exist in the world before the Flood.

At the time of the world’s creation (before the Flood), “G-d saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Yet it was still possible that through sin, there would be a cessation in the worldly order. This is expressed by Genesis 6:6-7, “And G-d reconsidered having made mankind on earth. … And G-d said, ‘I will destroy mankind… from man to animal… for I have reconsidered having made them.’ ”

But after the Flood, G-d swore and made a covenant that regardless of whatever way mankind would act, there would be no cessation of the worldly order.

On the second side, we see that after the Flood, the world incurred a weakness. For example, Ramban (Nachmanides) points out that the life expectancy started decreasing. [1]

Section 4

The explanation is this:

The world was created according to Torah (so much so that G-d said the world exists only on condition that the Torah is observed). The point of the giving of the Torah was to fuse the higher [spiritual levels] and the lower levels. Therefore, the creation had to have levels that were higher and lower spiritually in order that His giving of the Torah [at Mt. Sinai] – and the previous “2000-year Era of Torah” [that started in the days of Abraham] which began the preparation for the giving of the Torah – would accomplish the connection between the lower and higher levels. The lower levels would ascend spiritually, and the higher levels would descend to the lower levels.

In these two [general] levels of Creation, there was a change from before the Flood to after the Flood. Before the Flood, the physical world was in general existing in a state of being a result of the “Upper Spiritual Level”. After the Flood, it existed in a state of being a “Lower Level” [in its own right], as will be explained.

Section 5

The verse states, “I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth” [Genesis 9:13]. The commentators ask the following question. A rainbow is a natural phenomenon, in which the sunlight reflects from the water droplets in the clouds. So what is this sign of a covenant? [See Section 7 below for more details.] They answer that this nature itself (in which the sunlight reflects from the clouds) was created only after the Flood.

Before the Flood, the air was more coarse. Therefore the clouds also (which were created from the “mist which came up from the earth” [Genesis 2:6]) were more coarse. Because of this, they could not reflect sunlight, and could not create a rainbow. But after the Flood, the world was refined, so the clouds were also more refined and less coarse. This made them able to reflect the sunlight.

(This is also true in a spiritual sense. Before the Flood, the world was so spiritually low that it could not be refined. Therefore, the Flood came to purify the land to enable the service of separating good from evil in the world.) This is why the rainbow is the sign of the “covenant between Me and the earth,” because it signified the purification of the earth.

Section 6

We must understand the following:

The purpose of the Flood to “purify the earth” came because in that generation “the earth had become corrupt” [Genesis 6:11]. Since “G-d gave the world to people’s hearts,” mankind’s sins caused the world to become more gross. This was the impurity and grossness that the Flood removed. But as we said before, the rainbow only came into existence after the Flood, when the world was more refined. So we can see that through the Flood, not only was the world cleansed of that generation’s sins. It also became more pure then ever before, even [more than it was] at the beginning of creation.

Section 7

The explanation of this is:

In the beginning of creation, the completion of the world was not connected with the nature of its existence. Rather, it was connected with the manner and power of its creation. “The world was created in its full sense,” i.e. the nature of the world’s creation was in state of completeness. But for the world itself to come to a more refined state, the Flood had to come before that. [The Flood was the means by] which G-d introduced to the world its new capability to become refined by itself.

This is the reason why the existence of a rainbow was created specifically at that time. Even though the rainbow is created from both the sunlight and the clouds, it is mainly connected with the splitting of the white color of the clouds into different colors. The clouds are created by the mist that rises from the earth, and these mists are refined. Therefore, when they form clouds, the clouds can reflect the sunlight.

This characteristic that the world took on, in which it could be refined, was developed after the Flood. Therefore it was only then that there was an aspect of “I put My rainbow in the cloud.” G-d brought the cloud (created by the mists of the earth) to a state in which it could be refined and reflect the sunlight.

Section 8

According to the above we can understand better why G-d’s will to originally create the world (“G-d saw … and behold it was very good”) did not prevent the decree of “I will destroy…” when “the wickedness of Man was great upon the earth” [Genesis 6.5]. And yet after the Flood, G-d made a covenant that even if [people’s conduct in] the world would be so bad as to cause Him to have the thought to “bring darkness and destruction to the world,” nevertheless [He would abide by His promise], “I will not destroy all flesh.”

As explained, the concept that “the world was created in its completion” was because of the way of its creation. It was not because of the world itself [inherently]. Therefore, when people did sins that distanced them from G-d and His Will, it caused such a [spiritual] descent, from which the world could not be refined.

What improvement did the Flood bring to the world?

[Improvement of the generation of the Flood could not occur.] Through the sin of the generation of the Flood, the world was corrupted to the point that “the earth was filled with violence.” From the side of the world, there was no chance for a refinement and elevation. (This is also the inner reason why Noah’s rebuke and warning that “G-d will bring the Flood upon you” did not bring the generation of the Flood to repent.)

[At that point,] there was no reason for the world’s existence. Therefore, “G-d repented that He made mankind, and He said ‘I will wipe them out.’ ” (Through the lowering [i.e. corruption] of the world and its distancing from G-d, G-d’s will to create it departed.)

Not so after the Flood, since there was an accomplishment of purification and refinement in the world itself. This accomplished that even while on a lowly spiritual level, it had the possibly to rise through repentance. Therefore, there could then be the covenant of “Never again shall all flesh be cut off… and never again shall there be a Flood [to destroy the earth]” [Genesis 9:11]. This is always in force, no matter what [low spiritual] level the world would be on.

Section 9

According to the above we can also understand that these two different “sides” which began in the world after the Flood – on one side, the power that the world would not cease, and on the other side, the life expectancy started to get shorter – are not contradictory, but come from one essential point that began after the Flood: the existence of the world by virtue of itself. Before the Flood, its existence was because G-d willed it so (with His [gratuitous] kindness). After its purification through the Flood, G-d keeps it in existence because of its purity and refinement. This point is the reason of the two sides:

(a) On one side, since the world on its own was fitting that G-d Who never changes should keep it in existence, therefore its existence is [from then on] in a way that it “will not cease.”

(b) On the other side, since G-d is now creating the world by its own virtue, its creation is limited (which shortens the life expectancy). This is not like it was before the Flood, when G-d was creating the world as an act of His [gratuitous] kindness [1] … which caused a long life expectancy.

Footnotes

[1] See Genesis 11:10-32.

[2] Through the [transcendent spiritual Keter realm, from the] level of Arich Anpin, or Arich Anpin-zoken.