All The Light We Cannot See

Noach: The rainbow; a refraction of the infinite

Just as the Dor Hamabul were of superior physical prowess, they also were endowed with supreme mental acumen. With their powerful intellect, they were expected to cling to Hashem, much in a similar way to the ideal state of deveykus laid out by the Rambam.

Instead of using their conceptual abilities for good, they disconnected themselves entirely from the ephemeral. (The Ancient Greeks can be seen as an example of the potential negative outcome of extreme intellect). To prevent this level of degeneration from ever occurring again, Hashem ameliorated the power of the intellect and created an alternative path towards spiritual connection, namely the mitzvos. That is why Noach was the first person to receive basic physical commandments, the seven Noachide laws.

A Rainbow is formed as light refracts through water droplets in the rain and clouds. The light symbolises a pure expression of Godliness in the created sphere. The rain and clouds represent the physical world.

We can see this in the root of the Hebrew word 'Geshem' being the same as Gashmius. Added to this, the cloud or 'Anan' is used throughout Tenach to conceal the presence of the shechinah whilst simultaneously acting as its conduit for interaction with the physical world. For example, on Har Sinai, Moshe must step into the 'Anan' to face Hashem. With the latter taken into account, we can see that the rainbow represents the imbuing of God's transcendence into the mundane, allowing us to counterintuitively cleave to Hashem through elevated physical actions.

God's light' can definitionally not be experienced as its true absolute oneness in this world of multiplicity and, in the course of its translation into our reality, is experienced through refraction that can sometimes, appear contradictory.

The symbolism of the Rainbow is even more poignant when we observe the parallel between its division of white light into seven colours with the kabalistically understood division of Hashems 'light' into the several lower sefirot.

Famously Judaism differs from other religions in its approach to spirituality. Judaism rejects pure aestheticism and absolute hedonism; rather, we serve God through a synthesis between the transcendent and the temporal. By adhering to the 613 mitzvos, we manage to elevate that which seems so distant from the spiritual.

Judaism is the ultimate progression of God’s ‘new’ direction after the great flood. Whilst the seven Noachide laws embody mankind’s stepping away from the purely intellectual pursuit of 'Deveykut' or relationship with Hashem; these commandments can all be reconciled with our natural moral impetus and therefore do not transcend the intellect. Conversely, many of the extra commandments that the Jewish nation observes do not fit within the prism of philosophical humanistic 'ethics' and can only be observed if we submit our limited intellect to trusting the infinite understanding of Hashem. To quote A.J Heschel the divine “is not irational but super rational.”