Rainbow nation

Hi all,

When the schools  closed , one of the activities that children started to do was to paint rainbows and to put them on the window.

This is cool of course, and in Judaism rainbows are very important symbols. So much so that we have a prayer to say when we see one.

This comes from the story of Noah in the Torah, Genesis 9:

"God said: ‘This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow is seen in the cloud, that I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth".

The other reason and maybe less known reason why rainbows are important symbol in Judaism comes from the idea that rainbows are like the glory of God's presence , as the Prophet Ezekiel writes:

"As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the L-RD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke."

So we pray :

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעולָם זוכֵר הַבְּרִית וְנֶאֱמָן בִּבְרִיתו
וְקַיָּם בְּמַאֲמָרו.

Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, zocher habrit v’ne’eman biv’reetoh v’kayam b’ma’amarav.

'Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who remembers the covenant, and is faithful to His covenant, and keeps His promise.'

 Amen