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134. The Rainbow
Discuss (5)Our world is a world where a rainbow could be.
At first, there was a world that only received and returned no dividends. Its inhabitants took no ownership. They lived with their Creator’s benevolence, they did what they did with no need for excuses, and eventually died as they died. And that was it.
With the Flood, this world was re-created. The earth was cleansed, the atmosphere purified. It became a world that could take the sunshine that poured in from above and refract it into many colors.
It became a world where a created being could be born, take the soul, body, share of the world and all the sustenance its Maker gave to it, use that, do something with that -and then return it, saying, “See what I have done with that which you gave me!”
And so, G-d vowed to never destroy the world again. For, if the inhabitants would go wrong, they might always turn around and clean up their own mess.
Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson
From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. To order Rabbi Freeman’s book, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, click here.
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Rainbows necessarily are phenomena appreciated only by particular individuals, gazing in particular directions at particular times, under particular atmospheric conditions!
Everything about the seeing of a rainbow stresses the need for particularity. One cannot be omniscient and see a rainbow! One must be an individual to do so.
So, the Creator is promising not to judge humanity as a whole ever again!
Simsbury, CT
A flood is no respecter of individuality. The Creator regretted His Creation, and judged it as a whole. But the rainbow....
The rainbow is unique. It has no independent existence outside an individual's mind. Where does it exist? It is NOT where we point to and exclaim "ooh and ah!" The RB is an artifact that occurs when sunlight is refracted through raindrops, each acting as a prism. But that is necessary but not sufficient! The refracted light must enter the functional visual apparatus of a sentient creature, who is within the field in which the refracted rays are streaming. This field is defined by the the sun, the refractive droplets, and the specific angle of the observer's eyes viz the light source (sun). There is a field, as in Quantum mechanics, that includes the all the points in space-time that fulfills the requirements for a rai
simsbury, CT
Concerning the ancient kings of Egypt, all historians recognize that these are not factual chronicles but "mythology in stone."
For an up-to-date discussion of Biblical History from the perspective of objective experts, I urge you to read "A Biblical History of Israel" by Iain Provan et al, and "On the Reliability of the Old Testament" a K.A. Kitchen. Also of interest is Joshua Berman's highly acclaimed recent work, "Created Equal--How The Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought."
Hot Springs, AR
arjewishcenter.com