Snow and Rainbows – What do they mean?

First Came the Snow – Then the Rainbow

This week began with the prediction of a rare winter snowstorm in Israel. The mayor of Jerusalem called for the shutting down of roads leading into the capital to prevent cars from being stranded. Schools and kindergartens were closed. Which made the children in the mountainous areas where snow was predicted very happy. Here’s one of our grandsons in Efrat playing in the snow which eventually arrived.

As fun as it was for the kids, we explained in a previous post that snow in Israel is really no cause for celebration. It’s a time for National introspection.

Up here in Yavne’el in the Galilee, we are at sea level and we didn’t get any snow, but there was a LOT of rain. On Thursday we had a break in the storm and the sun had a chance to peak out from behind the clouds.

That’s when a really unusual event happened. A stunning rainbow appeared in the northern sky above the valley. So many people love to gaze at rainbows. But the rainbow was chosen by God to remind humanity that no matter how bad things get, He will never bring another flood to destroy humanity.

In Jewish tradition, when a rainbow appears, it is as if God is saying, “By rights, humanity’s behavior deserves another flood. But since I promised with the rainbow never to do that again, I will withhold my judgment and give you a chance to change your ways.”

So it’s worth glancing up to motivate us at the individual and national levels to work at bringing peace and Godliness to the world. But don’t gaze so long at the rainbow’s beauty that you lose the message.