Q&A from the Bais HaVaad Halacha Hotline

Upon Reflection

May 29, 2025

Q May one gaze at a rainbow indirectly, using a mirror?

A The Mishnah in Chagigah (2:1) says: “Whoever has no regard for the honor of his Maker deserves to have never come to the world.” According to one view in the Gemara (16a), this refers to someone who gazes at a rainbow, as the rainbow is used in Yechezkel (1:28)—in the transcendent haftarah of ma’asei merkavah that we read on the first day of Shavuos—to describe the majestic sight of kvod Hashem, so it is disrespectful to stare at it. The Gemara says that doing so may result in the dimming of one’s eyesight.

This halacha is codified in the Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 229:1) with the qualification that what is forbidden is a long gaze rather than a brief glance. The Magein Avraham (225:20) adds that gazing is only forbidden if one contemplates the rainbow’s form and appearance. (The exact parameters of these guidelines are difficult to ascertain.)

The reflection of a rainbow is equivalent to the rainbow itself (Ruach Chaim ibid. 2, by R’ Chaim Palagi). R’ Yitzchok Ziberstein (Chashukei Chemed, Chagigah ibid.) cites his brother-in-law R’ Chaim Kanievsky, who permits gazing at a photograph of a rainbow.

The bracha for a rainbow is not recited on a reflection, but it may be made when a rainbow is viewed through a window (Yalkut Yosef 229:1).

The Chayei Adam (63:4) cites a sefer, whose name he cannot recall, that says that informing others of the presence of a rainbow is considered motzi dibah (spreading slander), as the advent of a rainbow implies that the generation is worthy of destruction and is saved only by the grace of Hashem (see Bereishis 9:14). While the Mishnah Brurah (ibid. 1) concurs, others suggest that it is important for people to be informed and take the matter to heart (Bris Kehunah, ma’arechess kuf, 3). R’ Ovadiah Yosef supports this view (Yalkut Yosef ibid. fn. 1).