It’s been a rough few weeks around here. This time of year, with its closely-spaced major holidays, is always intense for anyone who takes Judaism seriously, but this year, our second pandemic holiday season, has been particularly exhausting. Throw in an election that really highlighted the divisions in our community, death and destruction in our neighbouring provinces and our friends to the south, and it’s been all too easy to sink into depression about the state of the world.

So today I want to talk about the rainbow.

Rainbows have always been around – they are an optical illusion created by the refraction of white light from the sun through raindrops, causing a separation by wavelength that allows us to see the different colours that make up that apparently homogeneous white light. A rainbow is a wonderful metaphor for the diversity of creation – no colour is more important than another, and they are all needed to make up the whole.

In the Torah, we first encounter the rainbow in the story of Noah and the flood – after G-d destroys the world, G-d decides that creation is just going to be what it is, and human perfection is not possible. G-d ties a rainbow around Their metaphorical finger as a reminder not to do that again. 

Today, the image of the rainbow reminds us that the pursuit of homogeneity and control of the other is just as pernicious now as it was then. While we value community and are drawn to those who are like us, we must be aware of the dangers of groupthink. When our group identity becomes more important than acknowledging the humanity of those who are not like us, we are in trouble.

Much has been said and written about white supremacy, the patriarchy, colonialism and other ways in which one group of humans attempts to dominate and subjugate another. There is nothing new under the sun. As individuals, we can only do so much to try and make things better where we live, and for the generations to come, assuming we are able to work together and deal with climate change. Depressing, I know.

That’s why the rainbow is so important – when we see one stretching over the sky, it is guaranteed to lift our spirits. We are just another link in a chain of humans who are all doing their best, looking up at that beauty and being reminded that every colour, every kind of being, is necessary to create the whole.

Tie it around your metaphorical finger, too.