Reflections by Rabbi Rick Kellner
Rainbow by Kevin Johnson
from Mishkan Ga’avah: Where Pride Dwells, edited by Rabbi Denise Eger, CCAR Press
When I see a rainbow on
The flag flying
From the lamp-post,
Fluttering in the
Pacific breeze,
I know that God
Made a covenant
Between us.
If we lived our lives
In black and white,
We would never see
That promise God made.
To see all those colors together
Reminds me
That God is there
For you and me.
…
Signs of God’s covenant with humanity and with the Jewish people are everywhere. Torah teaches us that the bow in the clouds after a storm is a sign of God’s covenant. We also learn in the book of Genesis that brit milah is a sign of the covenant. Later, in Exodus, we are taught that Shabbat is a sign of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. Together, these signs trace the unique partnership God forms—first with all humanity, then with the descendants of Abraham, and ultimately with the Jewish people.
For the poet Kevin Johnson, God’s rainbow covenant shifts from the clouds to a flag blowing in the breeze. What is typically seen refracted through raindrops becomes a symbol stitched together, extending God’s covenant and reminding us how God embraces all creation. For members of the LGBTQIA+ community, who have so often been marginalized and excluded, seeing the Rainbow or Progress flag is a powerful reminder of spaces where they are welcomed, affirmed, and embraced.
Perhaps the most powerful line in this poem is the comparison between living in black and white and living in a world of color. To live in black and white is to live in a binary world, with limited ways of seeing one another. Johnson invites us instead to see the world in its full spectrum of color, an invitation to recognize and honor the diversity of humanity, just as God created each of us.
Embedded within the Jewish concept of brit—covenant, we find themes of hope, protection, and mutual loving-kindness. We are all responsible for extending these values to the LGBTQIA+ community. As we enter Pride Month, we will celebrate with Pride Shabbat on June 5th and then join Worthington Pride on June 7th. Through these celebrations, let us wave the Pride or Progress flag proudly, as an expression of the fullness of God’s covenant with all humanity.