Siman 229

One who sees the rainbow says: "Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the universe, Who remembers the covenant, is faithful to His covenant, and fulfills His word," meaning the covenant that the Holy One, Blessed be He, made with Noah that He would not bring a flood upon the world, as it is written: "And the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant," and He, may He be blessed, is faithful to His covenant that He will not bring a flood upon the world. And because there is nothing new under the sun, and the rainbow was not created now but was already created during the six days of creation, and it is among the ten things created on Friday at twilight as we learned in the Mishnah in Avot, for this reason we conclude: "and fulfills His word," meaning that the essence of the rainbow was already created by His word during the six days of creation (Maharsha 59a), but now He shows it to us.

And our sages, of blessed memory, said (ibid.) that it is forbidden to look intently at a rainbow, and only a mere sighting is permitted and not excessive looking. And regarding this they said: "Anyone who does not have concern for the honor of his Creator—it would have been better for him had he not come into the world" (beginning of the second chapter of Chagigah), as it is written: "As the appearance of the rainbow... the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Hashem." And it is forbidden to fall upon one's face when seeing the rainbow, because it appears as if he is prostrating to the rainbow (Berakhot 59a), and one who looks at the rainbow, his eyes grow dim (ibid.).

One who sees the sun on the day of the tekufat Nisan at the beginning of the great cycle, which is every twenty-eight years, and then the tekufah is at the beginning of the night of Wednesday as it was during the six days of creation at the time of the hanging of the luminaries, which was at the beginning of the night of Wednesday; therefore, when one sees the sun in the first year of the great cycle on Wednesday morning, he recites the blessing with the Name and Sovereignty: "Blessed… Who makes the work of creation," and it will be, with the help of Heaven, in the year 5657 coming upon us for good. The blessing is until three hours into the day. However, if the sky is covered with clouds, they may recite the blessing until midday and no later. And if it is covered with clouds until midday, they shall not recite the blessing further.

And similarly, when the moon returns to the beginning of the constellation of Aries at the beginning of the month and is not inclined either to the north or to the south; and similarly, when each and every star of the five stars, which are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Venus, returns to the beginning of the constellation of Aries and is not inclined either to the north or to the south; and similarly, at any time that the constellation of Aries is seen rising from the edge of the east—over each of these one recites the blessing: "Who makes the work of creation." For these seven stars: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon are the primary stars that act upon the earth according to His command, may He be blessed. Therefore, when one sees them in their position as they were at the beginning of creation during the six days of creation, one recites over them "Who makes the work of creation." And Aries is the first of the constellations, and when they stand at its beginning, this is like the beginning of its creation. And we do not recite this blessing over the moon and the stars because we are not expert in this, and there are further interpretations regarding this, but the primary view is as I have written, for this is the interpretation of Rashi and the Rambam (and the Tur also brought the interpretation of the Aruch, when the sky was covered with clouds for three days, see there).