[Avodah] rainbow

[via Avodah]

From: saul newman via Avodah  <avodah at lists.aishdas.org>

1.  you see a rainbow in the sky  after the rain . you believe:

a. the RBSO was going  to at this moment destroy the world, but then
the rainbow reminded Him not  to

b. the RBSO set up the rainbow of a reminder of  the time of the Flood
and His promise not to repeat it

c. the RBSO set up a physical principal [NOTE: should be principle]  that 
light bent at a certain
angle by dispersed water produces a  rainbow


2.  while making the bracha  'zocher habrit' , one  is thinking

a, b, c   as  above


[snip]
2]  if one includes 'c' as part or all of his answer to
number 2,   does that detract from his yiddishkeit or make him  
non-normative?

 
 
>>>>>
 
The short answer to your question #2 is that no thought you might have as  
you recite the bracha is "non-normative."  You can think whatever you  want.
 
Here in Florida we see rainbows almost every day in the summer for two  
reasons:
1. There are sunshowers almost every day.
2. There is a complete lack of tznius and there is a lot of immoral  
behavior going on. 
 
Those two reasons are not mutually exclusive.  A person can get sick  
because he has been exposed to a contagious disease AND because he has  sinned.  
These are different categories of explanation, but not mutually  exclusive.  
 
Personally I think that rainbows are beautiful, and I think there are no  
accidents.  If Hashem made them beautiful then He meant for us to  appreciate 
their beauty and to have beautiful thoughts when we see them.   My own 
thought when I make the bracha "zocher habris" is gratitude for the  beauty that 
Hashem put into His world, and also gratitude that He has promised  not to 
destroy His world, no matter how many battles we conservatives lose  in the 
Culture Wars.
 

--Toby  Katz
t613k at aol.com
..
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