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Istit
The Bird-Feather Rainbow
Sh

SAet

By RABBI MARC GELLMAN

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THE DE TROI T J EWIS H N EWS

From the beginning, God knew
that people would try to act like they
were better than their neighbors.
But honestly, God never expected to
have the same problem with the
animals. As soon as they were
created, they started to argue about
who had the most beautiful hooves,
hair, fur, scales, fangs, or feathers.
And the worst of the bunch by far
were the birds.
When the time came for Noah
to round up all the animals for the
ark, he almost gave up when he
had to settle the birds in their
nesting places. The best nesting
spot was on the great wooden beam
that ran across the ark. And the
best place on that beam was right
next to the only window on the ark.
It was grabbed right away by the
parrots, who would only allow the
bright-pink flamingos to nest next to
them, who would only allow the

canaries next to them, who would
only allow the cardinals next to
them, who would only allow the
blue jays next to them, and so on
right down the beam.
At the farthest, darkest end of
the bird beam nested the raven and
the dove. Their feathers were just
plan black and just plain white, so
no other birds would have anything
to do with them.
After one hundred and fifty
days and nights in the ark everyone
was going crazy. Suddenly, thud!
crunch! the ark stopped rocking in
the waves and came to rest. With a
loud growling, hissing, mooing,
croaking, squeaking and cawing,
the animals said, "Let us out of

here!"

But when Noah opened the
window, a cold blast of wind howled
in from the black sky. All the
animals turned to their neighbors
and said, "You first."
Noah decided that a bird

should go out and explore. So he
asked the parrot next to the window,
but the parrot just ruffled her
feathers and squawked, "Don't be
ridiculous! My feathers are much
too beautiful to be messed up in
that awful wind. Send the flamingo."
The flamingo then stood up and
sneered, "It's much too cold out
there for me. Send the canary." And
so it went, right down the bird beam
with all the birds chirping the
reasons why they could not fly
outside the ark until with a caw! and
a woosh! the raven flew out the
window and into the cold, windy
night.
When the raven did not return
after several days, Noah asked the
birds if one of them would go out
and try to find the raven. But all the
birds found new reasons why they
could not go. All except the dove,
that is, who whooshed out the
window to try and find her friend
the raven in the black and windy
sky.
After a long flight, the dove
found the raven perched in an olive
tree on a tiny island in the great

flood sea. After munching on a few
fresh olives, the dove said, "Let's
go back and tell our friends the
birds that there is land out here."
"Our friends?" laughed the
raven. "Those birds don't care if we
ever return. Why don't you just stay
here with me, and no bird with
colored feathers will ever make fun
of us again."
But the dove said, "I don't
think it's fair for us to sit here
munching olives while everyone else
is cooped up in the ark." And off
she flew.
Meanwhile, back at the ark.
Noah stood at the little window,
staring out into the cold night for
some sign of either the raven or the
dove. The parrot kept pestering
Noah: "Close the window! They're
lost. We're cold. And you're crazy!"
But Noah continued to stand at the
open window, looking, listening,
freezing and sneezing.
The dove was lost. Her white
wings were dipping closer and
closer to the churning black waves,
and she felt that she could not flap
her tired wings another flap. Then,

through the roaring wind, the dove
heard a ha-choo! Following the
sound, she came to Noah's out-
stretched hand, and he brought her
into the warm ark.
When the dove reported that
there was land out there, none of
the birds believed her. The next
morning, when they woke up, the
dove was gone. Her little nest at the
end of the bird beam was soaked
with tears.
"I knew they wouldn't believe
you," said the raven to the dove
when she returned to the olive tree,
which was now on the top of a hill
on a large island in the great flood
sea. "Stay with me and forget about
them. Here, have an olive."
"I don't want an olive, but I will
take an olive leaf," said the dove.
"This will show them that there
really is and out here."
"Won't you ever learn?" said
the raven. "They're too scared to
leave the ark."
"And you, my friend, are too
scared to leave this island and live
with them," said the dove as she
flew off, a white speck against the
black sky.
Soon the dove was lost at sea
and straining her ears for Noah's
ha-choo or a flicker of light from the
ark. But all the dove heard was
wind and waves, wind and waves.
Then suddenly, up ahead, the
dove saw something very strange.
Rising out of the sea was a
rainbow! Flying closer she saw that
the rainbow was fluttering in the
wind. And it was chirping!
In fact, the beautiful rainbow
was a tower of birds flapping their
wings against the strong wind. The
parrot was flying up and down the
bird-feather rainbow, squawking
orders; "Stay in line, you flamingos!
Watch out for the hummingbrds, you
blue jays! Remember, our friend
Noah is sick with a cold. And our
friend the dove is lost at sea."
When the two great doors of
the ark swung open and all the
animals were let out at last, they
were greeted by a wondrous sight.
A real rainbow was shining in the
sky, stretching from the ark at one
end to an olive tree on top of a
mountain at the other.
That night, before all the birds
flew off to their new homes in the
new world, they nested together in
the olive tree. And on the very top
branch were the raven and the
dove.

Reprinted from, "Does God Have A
Big Job?" Harper & Row, 1989.