Parashat Noach: Why ARE there so many songs about rainbows?
Following the creation stories last week, we now turn to the tale of Noah and the Ark (Genesis 6:9-11:32). It is a cautionary tale, written like a disaster movie, in which one brave family (and some fish…) survives the destruction of the world. We learn that the entire world, even the animals, are corrupt and wicked. God has decided to essentially hit the reset button – they will all be wiped out so that humanity can be started once again. Noah is considered the most righteous of his generation, so he becomes the new progenitor.
The flood, the animals, the ark… these have all become popular images and metaphors in our culture. We often decorate our children’s rooms with pictures of the cute little animals floating on the sea (see my needlepoint project above for an example of this). And, yet, it is a tale of mass casualties, terrible destruction, and God’s horrific wrath. I see apathy and selfishness in Noah, I see a quick temper in a God who, elsewhere, is supposed to be “slow to anger.”
Yes, we end with the rainbow and the promise that it symbolizes. Yes, we end with the Noachide laws that form a covenant between all of humanity and God. However, this doesn’t excuse the terror of the rest of the story. What are we to do? What is the moral for early readers? Is it as simple as, “Do not disobey God, or else!” or is there more to it? Does the story recognize the all-too-human desire to just erase everything and start over?
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus writes:
The choice of the rainbow as the sign of the covenant that God would never again destroy all living beings is not just pretty and colorful. A bow is part of a weapon, used to shoot an arrow. Picture an archer: the string from one end of the bow to the other end is what the archer uses to propel the arrow forward. The string is toward the archer’s chest, while the arc of the bow faces the direction of the arrow. Now think of a rainbow. The bow arcs over the face of the earth. If one could imagine an arrow shot from that bow, it would shoot away from our planet, not toward it. Thus, it is an apt sign of the promise never again to destroy all life on earth. Now the challenge to save our world rests with humanity.
Our Haftarah portion (Isaiah 54:1-55:5) addresses a number of these questions in its use of the flood. It is interesting to ponder its viewpoint. Second Isaiah seems to have a specific lens through which he references the story, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Noah, the ark, and the rainbow. Shabbat Shalom!
