Noah 1988

In the Torah portion we learn about the flood.  We learn how the flood came and all the world was destroyed except Noah and those with him in the ark. The rabbis say that a comet struck the earth and pierced the earth and the wells of the deep opened up as well as the rains from heaven and all was destroyed except that which was with Noah in the ark.  After the flood was over, G-d promised that no longer would there be another flood.  "I have directed my treaty with you and all flesh shall no longer be cut off from the waters of the flood.  There will no longer be a flood to destroy the world."  And G-d said, "This is the sign of the treaty which I am giving between me and between you and between all living souls which are with you for the generations of the world.  My rainbow I am giving in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the ground."  It seems strange that G-d would choose a rainbow to be a symbol of His treaty between man and Himself that He would no longer destroy the world with water.   A bow, "Keshes" in Hebrew, is the same in English.  It means not only a rainbow but a bow that you shoot. We know that when you shoot a bow the string is next to you and the bow is towards your enemy, that in order to shoot an arrow you pull the string next to you, and you shoot it toward whom the bow points.  This, of course, is one of the symbolisms of the rainbow here.  It is a bow.  The curve of the bow, of course, faces heaven, and what we are called upon to do now is to shoot arrows, so to speak, toward heaven.  We are to be concerned about spiritual things.  We are to turn our energies upward.  We are to realize anytime that we feel like using shortcuts that we are to remember instead that we are held accountable to G-d above, that anytime we feel like cheating, not keeping our word, hurting others, that we should remember that we are accountable. All our deeds are written.  They shoot up to heaven. This, of course, is the purpose of Jewish education:  to make us want to do what we ought to do.  The mark of a good school is not necessarily its facilities. You could have a thousand member Hebrew school with a wonderful curriculum but at the end of the course if the students do not want to live Jewish lives and be mentschen, do not want to act in an honorable fashion, then that Hebrew education has failed.  So many people have come up to me and said, "You know, Rabbi, I learned nothing in Hebrew school," because they cannot read Hebrew fluently, but they learned a lot because they are the leaders of the community.

They are very charitable. They are mentschen.  They are interested in leading a Jewish life.  That is, of course, what Hebrew school is meant to teach us, not just to read Hebrew.  That is only a tool in order to teach us to be a mentsch.  After all, there are 600,000 Arabs who speak Hebrew fluently but they are Moslems or Christians.  They are not Jews.  The same thing applies to a Hebrew school that may be in a very dank, dreary place with not very good facilities, with teachers who are bedraggled and students who, many times, may seem to be seemingly out of control, but if, after they finish that school, they want to lead Jewish lives and be mentschen and people who keep their word and are honest in business then that Hebrew school has been very successful. A rainbow is composed of many colors.  When the light hits the raindrops it refracts into many colors.  White light may be pure but it is not beautiful. One of the reasons why people manipulate others, why people do not act as mentschen is they demand total control.  They cannot tolerate any differences. Without differences there is no beauty.  There are no resplendent colors in the world.  That, of course, is necessary if we are to have a wonderful world. The rainbow teaches us that there are many different colors, many different perspectives in the world, and all of them have a right to be heard as long as they are within moral bounds.  Unfortunately, there are so many people who say, "It has to be my way or no way."  I do a lot of marriage counseling, and many of the people that I counsel have trouble because they will not tolerate differences.  A wife wants to kiss and hug in public and it embarrasses the husband, and she does not understand that there are other points of view in this matter.  Of course, if they do not hug and kiss in private, there is something wrong.  Or a husband who insists that a wife eats certain foods, that a wife go to certain parties and affairs that embarrass her.  He does not understand that just because he likes it does not mean that she likes it.  This applies to many other aspects of life as well.  WE have to allow for differences and they are all equally valid as long as they are within moral parameters.  The rainbow teaches us that we are to allow these type of differences.  We should always remember, too, that the bow should be directed heavenward, upward.  That's why the word "Keshet" in Hebrew can mean many things.  £t can mean not only "Kedshua - holiness" but it can mean "Keenah- jealousy".  The shin can mean not only "Shalom-peace" but also "Sinah-hatred". The Kut can mean not only Torah but "Tarburoah-bad company, gang-like activity". If we direct the bow against ourselves then we will not end up with Kedusha or Shalom or Torah, but we are going to end up instead with envy and hatred and gang-like behavior.  That, of course, is not called for.  The rabbis explain, too, that the word for Keshet, rainbow, also stands for learning.  When we refer to learning Torah we say "Koru - they read". 

When we learn Mishnah it is called "Shannu - they learn".  When it is learning Gemora it is "Tannu - they learn".  One of the purposes of Jewish learning, too, is to make sure that we realize that the important things in life are the spiritual things, that we should shoot, so to speak, all our actions up to heaven to make sure they pass muster.  Unfortunately, there are many people who are only interested in getting their own.  We recently read in the papers how so many banks are going bankrupt.  Most of them are going bankrupt because of crookedness, dishonest insider trading.  They figure that over 70% of the savings and loans that have gone bankrupt have gone bankrupt because of dishonest conduct.  Of the regular banks, it is 30% and in Texas this is even more, because people are interested in getting their own and they are not interested in helping others. This, of course, was the great sin of the people before the flood.  They were only interested in getting their own, and that is wrong.  Also, too, after the flood the people built a tower.  We could ask, what was their great sin? After all, they were working together to build a tower to either challenge G-d or ascend G-d, but they were working together.  The rabbis say that they, too, sinned because they would not allow for any differences.  The rainbow teaches us that we should direct our efforts in a spiritual way, but we should also allow differences at the same time.  The people who built the tower would not allow any differences. I am reminded of the story about a man who applied for a job as a prison guard. He was interviewed by the warden, and the warden said, "You know, we have many tough hombres here in prison.  How would you deal with them?”  The man replied, "Easy, if they get out of hand, I’ll tell them, 'Shape up or get out’."  Unfortunately, that is the way many people talk.  It is either their way or no way.  They are not willing to brook any differences even if they are within moral parameters.  Unfortunately, too, there are other people who are just interested in getting their own and are not interested in anybody else.  The rainbow teaches us that if we are to have peace on earth, if we are truly not to destroy ourselves, G-d has promised He will not destroy us, but if we are not to destroy ourselves we must tolerate differences within moral bounds and learn to shoot up all our actions to heaven.  In other words, all our actions should pass muster.  All our actions should be for the sake of heaven and not just to get what we want.  May we all do this so that we shall be worthy of a peaceful world.