The Color of Oneness

As I was racking my brain trying to come up with something deep and profound to write about for this Newsletter, my wife called out to me: “Ed, come here. You’ve got to see this.”  I went downstairs to see what she was so excited about and saw her standing on our front porch. As I stepped outside, I was overwhelmed to see a huge rainbow, brighter and more vivid than any I had ever seen before. Whenever I see a rainbow, I say the appropriate blessing:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעולָם זוכֵר הַבְּרִית.

Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, zocher habrit.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who remembers the covenant.

 In this case, the Covenant refers to the promise God gave to Noah, never to destroy the world again with water.

Now, when you live in Florida, rainbows are not an uncommon occurrence. Normally, you see a rainbow from a distance, but this one was different. It wasn’t on the horizon. It was so close, I felt like I could reach up and touch it. And because it was so close, the colors were brighter than I had ever seen. If I were Irish, I would have searched for the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow, but I’m a Jew. And as a Jew, it’s in our DNA to look deeper. As I looked at that rainbow, something more precious than gold appeared. Something I have said before and believe with every fiber of my being, but which that rainbow made tangible for me. 

We all know the science behind a rainbow: a rainbow is formed when light passes through water vapor in the atmosphere and bends at different angles, so that the light separates into different bands of color. 

As I contemplated the rainbow, knowing the light was passing through the water vapor, I asked myself a very simple question: With all the colors of the rainbow, what is the color of the water?

In the atmosphere where that rainbow formed, the water is transparent. Yet, when we see Earth from space, the water is blue. Earth is called the Blue Planet precisely because of our water, which covers almost ¾ of the planet. We think of water as blue, but if you hold a glass of water up to the light, it is clear. There is no blue in that glass. Yet gather enough water together, allow light to travel through it over sufficient distance, and POOF…blue emerges. View it from space, and the blue water distinguishes Earth from all other known planets. The ocean reveals something about the water in that glass that the glass of water alone cannot.

The light passing through the water vapor is called “White Light.” We often think of white as having no color at all, but in fact, white light contains the visible spectrum. Our eyes, however, don’t see all these colors until it passes through a prism or, in this case, the water vapor, and then a rainbow appears. Nothing has been added to the light. The colors were already there. The Water simply reveals that which is hidden.

One light becomes many colors, and yet the many never cease being one. And this is where my “Rainbow Revelation” hit home. Today, around the world, the Rainbow has been used as a symbol of diversity. Showing that each distinct color has its own unique character. Nelson Mandela called South Africa “the Rainbow Nation” to reflect the tremendous cultural and ethnic diversity of the country.  The 2SLGBTQI+ community uses the Rainbow to show the diversity of personal identity. Yet, seeing the Rainbow as a symbol of diversity and separation does a disservice to a deeper understanding. 

The central declaration of Judaism is:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְיָ אֶחָד

Hear, O Israel: Adonai is our God, Adonai is One.

We usually understand אחד (Echad) as One, numerically. There is only One God, not many.  But Oneness can mean something deeper than arithmetic. Oneness can describe the underlying unity of a reality that appears infinitely diverse.

Look at the rainbow. Red is not blue. Blue is not yellow. Yellow is not violet. Their differences are genuine. Yet, all are manifestations of one light. The unity of the light does not eliminate the individuality of the colors. And the individuality of the colors does not negate the unity of the light.

Creation is filled with infinite distinctions. The deeper challenge, however, is to recognize that differences and unity can be simultaneously true.

There is an extraordinary passage at the beginning of the Torah which often gets overlooked.

Before anything else in the Torah, there is water.

וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם

“The spirit of God is hovering over the face of the water.” (Gen.1:2)

And then comes God's first spoken act of Creation:

 וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר.

“And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” (Gen.1:3)

First there was Water, then there was light. Two phenomena so ordinary that we encounter them every day and give them very little thought, yet together they allow the world to exist and become visible. Water and light interact to produce one of nature's most beautiful demonstrations of unity AND multiplicity: the rainbow.

One light - Many colors.

One water - Countless drops.

One Creation - Countless beings.

Again and again, nature seems to whisper the same message:

Don’t confuse appearance with essence.

Take an eyedropper filled with water, and drop one drop into the ocean.

Instantly, it becomes impossible to identify that drop.

It didn’t cease to exist. It became Ocean.

Its molecules remain, but the boundary by which we identified it as an individual drop has disappeared.

Now consider the water within our own bodies.

Much of what we are is water, but that water didn’t originate with us.

Through the Hydrologic Cycle, before entering our bodies, at one time or another, it has fallen as rain, flowed through rivers, circulated through the Ocean, passed through plants, or moved through the bodies of countless other living beings, and it will return to that cycle.  Water moves through the boundaries that we humans construct.

When we enter the water, whether the ocean, a river, a lake, or even a swimming pool, something extraordinary happens. The water within us is surrounded by the water outside us. The boundary between the two remains physically real, but it becomes strangely less absolute.

We are separate, yet we are connected, like the colors of the rainbow. We perceive separate colors because water reveals the distinctions within the light, but trace those colors backward, and they return to one. Perhaps this is the challenge of truly understanding the nature of אחד:

To see the colors while remembering the light.

To see the drops while remembering the ocean.

To see the individuals while remembering that those individuals are all part of one Creation.

Water teaches that separation is temporary.

Light teaches that difference is not division.

And the Ocean teaches that the many can remain many…and still be One.

The Hebrew word אחד  (Echad - One) does not paint a colorless universe. Quite the opposite.

The One creates a universe overflowing with colors.

The challenge is not to erase the distinctions. The challenge is to recognize the Source.

A rainbow does not become less beautiful if we understand that its colors are from one light.

It becomes more astonishing. And the same is true of Creation.

The more we recognize and respect our differences, while simultaneously recognizing the unity beneath those differences, the closer we come to recognizing the true essence of Creation, and ultimately...the Source of Creation: The One.

On the surface, everything appears to be separate and distinct, but the Source is unity and peace. If only we could get beyond our differences to truly see it.