וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם׃
Dieu dit: "Qu’un espace s’étende au milieu des eaux, et forme une barrière entre les unes et les autres."
Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot
Is has been stated: The Tree of Life is wide a parcourse of 500 years. Rebbi Yehudah ben Rebbi Ilaï78He is Rebbi Yehudah quoted in both Talmudim without his father’s name. said: not only its crown but even its stem.All the splitting of primeval waters splits under it since (Ps. 1:3) “He shall be like a tree planted on split waters79Taken as an allusion to paradise. It is clear from the text that the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life are not earthly creations..” It has been stated: The Tree of Life is one sixtieth of the Garden. (Gen. 2:10) “And a river originated in Eden to irrigate the Garden.” The remainder of a kur is a triple qab, a sixtieth80From here on there is a parallel in Babli Taänit 10a. Rashi explains there that with what remains in watering vessels used for a kur of grain one can still irrigate three qab. (A kur is 180 qab.). The remainder of Africa is Egypt, a sixtieth. We find that it is said that Egypt can be traversed in 40 days81Egypt is defined as the country between the Mediterranean and Aswan (Syene). The distance was determined by the Alexandrian astronomer Eratosthenes to be approximately 5000 stadia. The length of the Greek stadion is no better defined than the Jewish mil. The distance is in the order of magnitude of 1000 km or about 650 miles.. Black Africa can be traversed in slightly more than seven years82All commentators are at a loss here since it should say “slightly less than seven years” (2400 days) but there is no manuscript evidence for such a reading.. But the teachers say [the sky is determined] by the days of the patriarchs (Deut. 11:21) “like the days of the sky over the earth.”83The full verse reads: “that your days and the days of your descendants should increase on the Land that the Eternal had sworn to your forefathers to give to them, like the days of the sky over the earth.” The days of the forefathers were 175 years for Abraham, 180 for Isaac, and 147 for Jacob, together 502 years. The time when Abraham recognized God as the Creator is a matter of controversy in midrashic sources; our source here seems to side with the opinion that Abraham recognized the futility of idol worship at age 3; then his years as the Lord’s servant were 173 and the sum is 500. And just as the sky over the earth is at a distance of a way of 500 years so between one sky and the next is a way of 500 years and its thickness is a way of 500 years. Why did you see fit to say the thickness of the sky is a way of 500 years?84I.e., to take the part of R. Yehudah against the anonymous Sages who had earlier defined the thickness of the sky as the equivalent of 50 years. The question remains unanswered. Rebbi Abun said85This section is given in greater detail in Bereshit rabba 4(1). There we read: “The rabbis say in the names of R. Ḥanina, R. Pinḥas, R. Jacob bar Abun, in the name of R. Shemuel bar Naḥman: When the Holy One, praise to Him, said: ‘there should be a spread’, the middle drop jelled and separated upper and lower waters.” After that the opinion of Rav is quoted.
The opinion of R. Yehudah ben Pazi is given there by R. Yehudah bar Simon (the full name is R. Yehudah ben R. Simon ben Pazi where either “ben Pazi” is a family name or Pazi is one of R. Ḥiyya’s twin daughters, Pazi and Martha). So possibly R. Abun here is the father of R. Jacob bar Abun in the second generation of Amoraïm and not the late R. Abun. (Gen. 1:6): “There shall exist a spread-sky within the water.” The spread-sky shall be in the middle. Rav said: the sky was wet on the first day and jelled on the second day. Rav said: “There shall exist a spread-sky”: the sky shall strengthen, the sky shall jell, the sky shall solidify, the sky shall be spread. Rebbi Yehudah ben Pazi said: The sky (רקיע) shall be made like a piece of cloth, just as it is said (Ex. 39:3) “They stretched (וירקעו) out the gold sheets.”
The opinion of R. Yehudah ben Pazi is given there by R. Yehudah bar Simon (the full name is R. Yehudah ben R. Simon ben Pazi where either “ben Pazi” is a family name or Pazi is one of R. Ḥiyya’s twin daughters, Pazi and Martha). So possibly R. Abun here is the father of R. Jacob bar Abun in the second generation of Amoraïm and not the late R. Abun. (Gen. 1:6): “There shall exist a spread-sky within the water.” The spread-sky shall be in the middle. Rav said: the sky was wet on the first day and jelled on the second day. Rav said: “There shall exist a spread-sky”: the sky shall strengthen, the sky shall jell, the sky shall solidify, the sky shall be spread. Rebbi Yehudah ben Pazi said: The sky (רקיע) shall be made like a piece of cloth, just as it is said (Ex. 39:3) “They stretched (וירקעו) out the gold sheets.”
Jerusalem Talmud Taanit
MISHNAH: On Sunday one reads, In the Beginning, there shall be a spread. On Monday, there shall be a spread, the waters shall come together. On Tuesday, the waters shall come together, there shall be lights. On Wednesday, there shall be lights, the water shall swarm. On Thursday, the water shall swarm, the earth shall produce. On Friday, the earth shall produce, the heavens and earth and all their hosts were finished140These are the details of the Torah readings by the bystanders mentioned in Mishnah 2. The problem is that the Mishnah in Megillah states that three people have to be called to read the Torah, each one a minimum of three verses, and if one starts a new paragraph one must read at least two verses from it, and at the end of a paragraph one must read at least three verses. Every day one reads two paragraphs in the story of Creation (Gen.1:1–2:3), but paragraph 1 only has five verses and paragraph 2 three. According to the rules, paragraph 1 should not be split. Similarly, on day 2 paragraph 2 has three verses but paragraph 3 has five, which raise the question how to accommodate second and third readers. The other days are no problem since paragraph 4 has six verses, paragraph 5 four, paragraph 6 eight, and paragraph 9 (Gen. 2:1–3) three..
A large paragraph is read by two persons, and a small one by an individual149A paragraph of 5 sentences may be split into 2 readings as explained in Halakhah 3. in the morning and for musaf; for afternoon prayers150Since there are bystanders 365 days a year, they also hold their special services on days which require a musaf prayer; in contrast to all other Torah readings one reads both after morning and after musaf prayers; Tosephta 3:4. they were assembling and read by heart as one reads the shema`. Friday afternoon they were not assembling151For extended services. because of the honor of Sabbath.
On any day of hallel162The first day of Passover, Pentecost, the eight days of Tabernacles and the eight days of Ḥanukkah. there is no bystanding for morning prayers163Since these are festive days and the prayers of the bystanders are penitential prayers., on a musaf sacrifice there is no ne`ilah164For the same reason as before; most musaf sacrifices were on festive days and ne`ilah is characteristic of fastdays.; on an offering of wood165Offerings of firewood to the Temple as described in Halakhah 6. there is none for the afternoon prayers, the words of Rebbi Aqiba. Ben Azzai said to him, so was Rebbi Joshua stating: on a musaf sacrifice166When except for the Day of Atonement there can be no ne`ilah. there is none for the afternoon prayers; on an offering of wood no ne`ilah167Since the day is a festive day.. Rebbi Aqiba changed to state following Ben Azzai’s words.
A large paragraph is read by two persons, and a small one by an individual149A paragraph of 5 sentences may be split into 2 readings as explained in Halakhah 3. in the morning and for musaf; for afternoon prayers150Since there are bystanders 365 days a year, they also hold their special services on days which require a musaf prayer; in contrast to all other Torah readings one reads both after morning and after musaf prayers; Tosephta 3:4. they were assembling and read by heart as one reads the shema`. Friday afternoon they were not assembling151For extended services. because of the honor of Sabbath.
On any day of hallel162The first day of Passover, Pentecost, the eight days of Tabernacles and the eight days of Ḥanukkah. there is no bystanding for morning prayers163Since these are festive days and the prayers of the bystanders are penitential prayers., on a musaf sacrifice there is no ne`ilah164For the same reason as before; most musaf sacrifices were on festive days and ne`ilah is characteristic of fastdays.; on an offering of wood165Offerings of firewood to the Temple as described in Halakhah 6. there is none for the afternoon prayers, the words of Rebbi Aqiba. Ben Azzai said to him, so was Rebbi Joshua stating: on a musaf sacrifice166When except for the Day of Atonement there can be no ne`ilah. there is none for the afternoon prayers; on an offering of wood no ne`ilah167Since the day is a festive day.. Rebbi Aqiba changed to state following Ben Azzai’s words.
Jerusalem Talmud Taanit
It was stated152Babli 27b.: The people of the watch153Meaning the bystanders who do not work in this week. are fasting every day. On Monday they were fasting for travellers at sea; God commanded, there shall be a spread in midst of the water154Gen. 1:6.. On Tuesday they are fasting for road travellers; God commanded, the waters under the sky shall congregate155Gen. 1:9.. On Wednesday they are fasting for children that diphteria should not develop in their mouths; God commanded, there shall be lights156Gen. 1:14.. “Curses” is written157Reading מְאֹרוֹת as מְאֵרוֹת.. On Thursday they are fasting that pregnant women should not miscarry and that the children of nursing women should not die; God commanded, let the waters teem with living creepers158Gen. 1:20.. They fasted neither on Friday nor on Sunday in order to honor the Sabbath. It was stated: The Great Synhedrion was fasting with them. Can the Synhedrion fast every day? They split themselves into clans. “One does not fast for two reasons simultaneously159Babli 8b., from the following: we rose and asked of our God for this160Ezra 8:23, misquoted. The same misquote is in the Munich ms. of the Babli (Diqduqe Soferim Ta`anit p. 38, Note ס). Therefore the misquote is a Midrash, not a scribal error. Editors of the printed Babli corrected the quote..” Rebbi Tanḥuma said, not because of this but because of the following, to ask for mercy from the God of Heaven for this secret161Dan. 2:18.. For if there were two reasons, such as a drought and locusts, one blows the shofar about them. When Rebbi Ḥaggai went for a fast, he said before them: Our brothers, even though in our hearts are many worries, this is for what we came.