Dichotomy of Creation
In the sefer Chovos Halevavos he makes a statement that the ruchniyus and the gashmiyus of this world are combined; it means that the physical existence of everything in this world possesses also a spiritual existence. Whatever object you will see, in addition to its obvious, its palpable qualities – its size, its shape, its properties, physical and chemical – in addition, it possesses a certain spiritual entity, a spiritual quality. And these two, the ruchniyus and the gashmiyus are intertwined in every object.
Now if you’ll ask me to explain this fully, I must admit that I am not capable. Because when it comes even to physical things, I cannot explain much. When it comes to spiritual things, I can explain even less. And when it comes to something that’s a combination of physical and spiritual, I can explain even less than that. But we can approach the subject by analogies, with some examples, and that will help us to understand the matter somewhat.
The Original Rainbow
In the Torah we read what Hashem said to Noach after the Mabul: ... When I shall cast a cloud over the earth, and the rainbow will appear in the cloud, ... it means that I am remembering My covenant between Me and you, ... and every living being among all flesh, ... and never again will there be a Mabul to destroy all the flesh (Noach 9:14-15).
Now these words might make it seem like until now there hadn’t been rainbows in nature. Until that day when Hashem displayed the rainbow as a sign of the covenant, there hadn’t yet been such a phenomenon. Only now, after the Mabul, it was created l’os bris, for the especial purpose of being a demonstration of Hashem’s promise.
But that raises a question because we know that a rainbow is a result of natural causes; it’s a consequence of the breaking up of the sun's rays into its various components. Sunlight, you know, is not one color. When you walk out in the street and you see that golden light streaming down on you it’s really a number of colors, only that when they’re combined it looks like yellow sunlight.
Homemade Rainbows
That’s why if you take a prism, a shaped piece of glass with sides to it, and let the sun’s rays pass through it you’ll see that the prism breaks up the sunlight into various colors. What’s happening there? As the light passes from the air into the prism it slows and the change in speed causes the light to bend; only that the different wavelengths, the different colors, bend at different angles and so on the other side of the prism you’ll see all the various colors that make up sunlight.
And so a rainbow is nothing new; the whole thing is a natural phenomenon. As the sun shines through a curtain of moisture, the water droplets act like a prism; they cause the sun's light to slow down as it goes from the air into the denser water droplet and it breaks up into all kinds of colors. That’s why you can create a rainbow of your own whenever you want. If you take out a hose to water your lawn and you hold it up in the air, so as the water cascades through the air and the sun’s rays are shining through the water, you’ll see a rainbow.
And therefore it’s a question: What's so marvelous that a rainbow should be construed as a covenant-sign from Hashem? What kind of sign could it be? All it is is the sun's rays going through a veil of moisture.
Retrograde Rainbows
So the Ramban says ein hachi nami; the rainbow wasn't created now, a made-to-order os bris. As long as there was a sun and rain there were rainbows. And therefore when Hashem said, ... I put My rainbow into the cloud, He’s referring to the sidrei bereishis: “From the beginning of time I put a rainbow in the clouds.”
Only that at the beginning, because mankind wasn’t apprised yet of its significance so the rainbow was just that – a rainbow. But it was waiting for the time when Hashem would reveal its secret. And now, after the Mabul, it was ... it was retroactively revealed that already at the beginning of time the rainbow was intended by Hashem to one day serve as a sign of a covenant.
... “Look at My rainbow that I put in the clouds from the beginning of time and know that it means much more than what you thought. When you see that apparition you should know what it means. It's My promise to you that rain will never again fall in such quantities to destroy all mankind. That's My Word.”
You know what that means? It means that everything we said till now about rainbows and prisms and wavelengths of colors is all secondary. It’s true of course; what they told you in the Beis Yaakov or in the English department in the Mesivta is the truth. But it’s only superficial; it’s good enough for a gentile maybe. But when a Jew sees a rainbow he’s expected to see much more. He’s expected to see the secret of that natural phenomenon – a covenant is hanging in the sky.
A Merciful World
Now, if we'll reduce that covenant to its simplest form, it’s a promise that such a flood, a universal flood, is not going to be anymore. So if you live in Queens or you live in Sheepshead Bay, and in the morning you get up and you find that there’s water on the floor of your bedroom, you can rest assured that it’s not the beginning of a new Mabul. Whatever happens, someone outside will survive. He’s a Merciful Judge and He promised us there is not going to be a repetition of a universal flood.
By means of His rainbow Hashem declares to us that even though He may sometimes have to punish – Hakadosh Baruch Hu will never declare peace with those who declare war on righteousness – but the overriding hanhagah of the world is rachamim. ... During all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease (ibid. 8:22). All the seasons and various times and functions of the world that give us the happiness of normal life will continue always because that’s Hashem’s overriding Plan in this world, to make mankind happy.
A Sweet World
Chom, heat is happiness. It’s hot? Wonderful! The apples are getting red on the trees. The pears are becoming sweet on the trees. If it wasn’t hot, they wouldn’t become sweet. Ah! Red apples and luscious cherries and plums and peaches; they’re plentiful in the summer and the prices go down in all the fruit stores. Now you’re living!
The seasons mean food! It’s kor, cold? That’s also wonderful! The earth is taking a rest from producing and it’s recuperating all the minerals it lost, all the materials it lost during the summertime. Without the winter, there can’t be a summer. If it was summer all year, the earth would keep on producing and it would become arid and infertile. That’s why the earth takes vacation in the wintertime. Cold is wonderful. Cold forces the earth to stop producing.
Snow is chessed. Rain is happiness. All the seasons and functions of the world are chessed. That’s the picture of our existence in this world and that picture is what we are supposed to learn from the phenomenon of the rainbow. He made a good world, a fun world, a safe world, a beautiful world, a world of happiness! And He promises us that it’s going to continue that way always. Because that’s His general Plan for the world: ...
The Colors of Kindness
And that's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu intended when He made the phenomenon of the rainbow; to teach the world that the hanhagah is rachamim. That’s the secret of the rainbow, that the general plan of the world is kindness. The processes of nature are so arranged that they maintain life; they support the existence of living things. Wherever you look, you see that every component of nature is part of a grand scheme in which everything cooperates to maintain the existence of the living. Whether it’s the function of the rotation of the earth, day and night, or the procession of the seasons, chemical reactions of all kinds, all the biological functions of the organisms; wherever you look you see that everything is cooperating in the grand process of rachamim! That’s the meaning of this os bris.
It's a sign of a covenant between the Borei and all the living, a covenant of mercy that Hakadosh Baruch Hu made with mankind that the world will be conducted with compassion. ... He is a chafetz chessed and He created the world for kindliness.
By means of the rainbow, Hashem declares: “In spite of My insistence on meting out consequences, My midas harachamim is My overriding hanhagah and the world will continue in the usual manner.” Isn’t that remarkable? What the world thought was just a rainbow, it turns out is an os, a lesson! It’s trying to teach you something. Whenever we see that, we should be reminded of the great principle on which the world is founded. Olam chessed yibaneh, the world is founded on kindliness.
Horses, Professors, and Jews
It means that if you see a rainbow and all you see are some colors, you're looking at Hashem’s os bris like a horse looks at it. A horse also sees nothing but a few colors.
And even if you look up at this glorious phenomenon spread out before your eyes, an apparition of various colors, and you’re thinking about how beautiful it is, how breathtaking it is to see the moisture acting as a prism and breaking up the sunlight into various colors, so you’re looking at it not like a horse, but it’s not much better; you’re looking like a scientist, a professor.
Hashem told us to look at the rainbow differently. A horse sees nothing. A gentile, an am haaretz, sees beauty or prisms. But the one who knows the secrets of the world sees an os bris. It’s breathtaking because it’s reminding you of something even more breathtaking than beautiful colors. It’s trying to teach you something. A rainbow means, “Stop and think! Put these thoughts into your head!”
The Truth of Matter
Now I understand that this idea is remote even from the minds of frum people. We’re not accustomed to hearing such things, that natural phenomena are teaching us to think about Hashem. So start getting accustomed now because this is a very big teaching that is not limited to rainbows; all of the natural phenomena possess a vast spiritual significance.
That’s the important principle of our great teacher, the Chovos Halevavos, that every physical phenomenon has a soul to it, an inner, penimiyus’dige, purpose to it. The rainbow is only one example; there is an endless number of such ideas, of the penimiyus, the inner purposes, of nature. Only that because we live in a physical world with physical eyes, so it’s not easy to get into the habit of seeing the spiritual side of things. But that doesn't minimize the truth of the matter and it doesn’t minimize the obligation to search out and study the secrets of the world.
