A certain Samaritan asked Rabbi Meir, saying to him: ‘Is it possible that the upper waters are suspended by the word of God?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘Bring me a tube with water.’ He brought him a tube with water.
He placed a gold plate on top if it, and the water did not stay in place;7It spilled out of the bottom of the tube. [he placed] a silver plate, and the water did not stay in place. When he put his finger on top of it, the water stayed in place. He said to him: ‘You are placing your finger there.’ He said to him: ‘If I am flesh and blood and my finger can suspend the water, the finger of the Holy One blessed be He, all the more so.’
Thus, the upper waters are suspended by the word of God. He [the Samaritan] said to him: ‘Is it possible that the One in whose regard it is written: “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth” (Jeremiah 23:24), would speak to Moses from between the two staves of the Ark [in the Tabernacle]?’ He said to him: ‘Bring me large mirrors.’ He said to him: ‘Look at your reflection in them.’
He saw that it [his reflection] was large. He said to him: ‘Bring me small mirrors.’ He brought him small mirrors. He said to him: ‘Look at your reflection in them.’
He saw that it was small. He said to him: ‘If you, who are flesh and blood, are able to change yourself into anything you wish, the One who spoke and made the world come into being, blessed be He, all the more so.’ Thus, when He wishes, “do I not fill the heavens and the earth,” and when he wishes He speaks to Moses from between the two staves of the Ark. Rabbi Ḥanina bar Isi said: At times, the world and its contents cannot contain the glory of his Godliness; at other times He speaks with a person from between the hairs of his head.8Sometimes God’s presence is concentrated into such a small area that it is comparable to the space between hairs.
That is what is written: “The Lord answered Job from the tempest [hase’ara]” (Job 38:1) – from between the hairs [saarot] of his head. He further asked him, saying to him: ‘“The stream of God9The source of rainwater. is full of water” (Psalms 65:10) – [it has rained] since the six days of Creation and yet nothing is missing?10The stream is still called “full.” This is bewildering.’ He said to him: ‘Go take a bath, and weigh yourself before you go in [to the bathhouse] and after you have gone in.’11After you have bathed.
He went. When he came out and weighed himself he was missing nothing. He said to him: ‘All the perspiration that you excreted, did it not come out of you?’ He said: ‘Yes.’
He said to him: ‘If you, who are flesh and blood, nothing was missing from your fount, from the fount of the Holy One blessed be He, all the more so.’ Thus, “the stream of God is full of water” – [it has rained] since the six days of Creation and nothing is missing. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Holy One blessed be He took all of the primordial waters and situated them half in the firmament and half in the ocean. That is, “the stream [peleg] of God is full of water” – half [palga].