This is a video I found on youtube. I was part of this climb in 2005. It was awesome. I’m not featured much in this video clip but my face does show up a few times.

I’ve been thinking of organizing a kosher and Shabat observant climb if I can get enough people who are interested.

Easter Island, Chile. I made a bracha upon seeing this rainbow.

According to the Torah the rainbow came into being after the flood of Noah. G-d showed Noah a rainbow and said, ‘In the future if I am upset at the world I will show a rainbow.’ It was a sign of the covenant G-d made with Noah that he would not destroy the world with a flood again. Thus, seeing a rainbow is not a good thing even though we make a blessing (bracha) on seeing it. Because it is not a good thing, one should not point the rainbow out a friend if they do see it.

I have a few questions on this:

1. There is probably a naturally occurring rainbow every second somewhere in the world and If not every second than at least every hour or day. Does this mean that G-d constantly wants to destroy the world?

2. Why does G-d show he’s upset with a rainbow - which is a beautiful thing to look at after all - why not make an ugly dark cloud in the sky or something similar? Seeing a rainbow is hardly a motivator to repent. Almost anyone is happy to see rainbow because it is pretty to look at.

3. One is not supposed to point out a rainbow to a friend even when this means that his friend will be able to make the special blessing when seeing a rainbow. What I want to understand: If the rainbow is to show us G-d being upset with us and serve as reminder to repent then why should we not point out the rainbow to friends?

My answer to these questions is just a thought and I have no Torah quote to base it on.
Firstly, if there is a rainbow always showing somewhere in the world it is illogical to say that G-d is always mad and wants to destroy the world. Secondly, G-d rules with purpose and meaning. Nothing is random.

The world was created for us man and thus everything in it needs to reflect onto us. G-d does not need to vent His anger here in the physical world. He can probably do it somewhere else. If He is venting, i.e., showing us the rainbow, than He obviously wants us to see it. Why? So we will repent. Now if seeing the rainbow will lead us to repentance than we return to one of the initial questions: why should we not point it out to friend who is near us so they can see it too and also repent?
Here is my possible answer:

Man is considered an ‘olam katan,’ a ‘small world.’ Granted that the first time when G-d showed Noah the rainbow he was saying that he would never again destroy the world with a flood. Perhaps G-d is showing that he upset and wants to destroy a ‘small world.’ Thus the individual seeing the rainbow needs to see it as a sign for himself that G-d is upset with him and he needs to repent. It is not for him to point out to a friend suggesting that his friend needs to repent.

Why the beautiful rainbow? Because, this shows G-d’s beauty that even when He is angry and upset He shows his love by making it beautiful. The individual who sees the rainbow knows that G-d is upset at him yet still loves him very much and thus in a nice way is showing that He is upset.

Further, a rainbow comes after it rains and rain is an act of kindness from G-d. We need the rain to make food grow. No rain, no food. So G-d sends us rain with the rainbow which are in direct contradiction to each other in meaning, to show that He loves us even at a time when He wants to say, ‘I want to destroy you.’ Thus, we can have thousands of rainbows occurring all over the world at the same time when they are for specific individuals to see.

Airplane Flying through Rainbow in Florida

Yesterday afternoon while driving we saw this rainbow. There is a special bracha which one makes when seeing a rainbow which is: “Barukh attah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha-olam, zokher haberit vene’eman bivrito v’kaiyam bema’amaro.” Blessed are You, Lord our G‑d, King of the universe, who remembers the covenant, and is faithful to His covenant, and keeps His promise.

This is where the iPhone came in handy, because it’s one of those brachos you’re always trying to remember when you see the rainbow but can’t. Thankfully we could see the bracha on the iPhone.

According to the Torah, the rainbow came into being after the flood of Noah. G-d showed Noah a rainbow and said in the future if I am upset at the world I will show a rainbow. Thus seeing a rainbow is not a good thing and one should not point it out to a friend if they do see it.

We spent this past Shabbos in Miami Beach Florida. It was a year since our last Sahbbos spent there. Shabbos day we met a couple from New Jersey who were eating lunch at the same host family as us. Rachel has known the family for a number of years and they, knowing we were back in the Miami area, invited us for Shabbos. The New Jersey couple found the host family on shabbos.com.

When we spent Shavous with ‘Daven With Dov’ on Hollywood Beach, there was a boy staying over the chag who also had found the place through shabbos.com.

I have not ever used the site personally though perhaps I will try it soon, as it seems to be working and it appears that one could find some very nice people to spend Shabbos with.

On a trip to Gibraltar signs warned us to beware the friendly apes - "Do not feed the apes!" it warned, "Apes may bite!" In this week's parsha we learn all about what happens when you worry too much... although... maybe this is one we should have worried about: These apes really DID bite!

Okay, I’ll admit it: I worry too much.  I don’t think I’m alone in this quality, which seems to rear its ugly head even more frequently when it comes to travel.  After all, so many things suddenly seem dangerous! The taxi drivers don’t follow any rules of the road, there are suspicious characters all over the place, and there’s nothing to eat! Everything is a cause for worry.  And I am good at worrying.

But I don’t feel too bad about it because it seems like I’m in good company.  I don’t want to say it’s genetic, but perhaps worrying is a cultural thing.  Worrying is just a Jewish thing to do, like slipping a napkin of leftovers into your purse at a buffet or haggling over a few cents with a street vendor.  But just because it’s Jewish doesn’t make it good, or even alright.

The fact is, worrying has caused the Jewish people a lot of anguish over the years.  When the spies went into the land of Israel and came back with their report, they didn’t actually say anything bad, per se – they simply reported what was really there: large fruits, large trees, large people, and lots of funerals.  But what they all brought back with them was worry.  They were worried about how the Jewish people could ever conquer such a land and, like some sort of spiritual disease, that worry infected the Jewish people and they began to cry.  And we continue to cry… we have been crying ever since, on the tragic day of Tisha B’Av.

Ha’Rav Nissim Karelitz has an amazing saying that Rabbi Yaakov Yagen suggests as an explanation for all this worrying: “Hishtadlus begins where bitachon ends.”  There is a concept that we are partners with G-d: We have to put forth some effort, do some work and G-d will help us. This is hishtadlus.  There is also the concept that if we have complete trust in G-d, we won’t need to worry about a thing. This is bitachon.  Where our trust in G-d ends is when we must begin to work.

The spies saw how difficult conquering the land seemed.  When they realized they had these thoughts, they recognized that they were low on bitachon.  Because they were low on bitachon, they knew they had work to do (hishtadlus).  So they tried to put in their fair share of work: They tried to formulate military plans and think of how to conquer the land… but when they did this they realized it would be an impossible battle.  When they couldn’t figure out what hishtadlus to do, they began to worry and they began to cry.

It’s an important lesson for us travelers.  If we can only learn to have trust in G-d, then we won’t need to waste our time worrying about things.  Rabbi Ben and I have never, thank G-d, had to sleep a night on the street for lack of a place to stay, yet we never make reservations ahead of time: This is trust; this is bitachon, and it would never occur to either of us to doubt it.  But we all have our weak spots and I have come to realize that when it comes to wild taxi rides and suspicious people, my bitachon needs quite a bit of work.  As long as we recognize this, we can do our hishtadlus.  If we put in our effort, we won’t need to worry.

As we journey into the coming week, let’s all focus on increasing our level of trust in G-d.  If we have true bitachon, we will never have a cause to worry.  And I think that a life free of worry is a benefit to any of us!

Shabbat Shalom!