How The Heavens Were Created

And Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: Ten things were created on the first day, and these are they: heaven and earth, formlessness (tohu) and void (vohu), light and darkness, wind and water, the measure of day and the measure of night. It was taught (Tanna): Tohu is a green line that encircles the whole world entirely, from which darkness came forth, as it is said: "He made darkness His hiding-place around Him" (Psalms 18:12). Vohu is the slimy stones sunk in the deep, from which water comes forth, as it is said: "And He shall stretch over it the line of formlessness (tohu) and stones of void (vohu)" (Isaiah 34:11). This is according to Rabbi Elazar. For Rabbi Elazar said: The light that the Holy One, blessed be He, created on the first day, with it a person could gaze from one end of the world to the other. When the Holy One, blessed be He, looked at the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion and saw that their deeds were corrupt, He arose and hid it from them, as it is said: "And from the wicked their light is withheld" (Job 38:15). And Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: At the hour when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, it kept expanding and spreading out like two balls of warp-thread, until the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked it and made it stand still, as it is said: "The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at His rebuke" (Job 26:11). And this is what Reish Lakish said: What is the meaning of that which is written, "I am God Almighty (El Shaddai)" (Genesis 17:1)? I am He who said to the world, "Enough!" (dai). Our Rabbis taught: Beit Shammai say: The heavens were created first, and afterward the earth was created, as it is said: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). And Beit Hillel say: The earth was created first, and afterward the heavens, as it is said: "On the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven" (Genesis 2:4). Beit Hillel said to Beit Shammai: According to your words, does a person build the upper story and afterward build the house? As it is said: "He who builds His upper chambers in the heavens and has founded His vault upon the earth" (Amos 9:6). Beit Shammai said to Beit Hillel: According to your words, does a person make a footstool and afterward make a chair? As it is said: "Thus says the LORD: The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool" (Isaiah 66:1). And the Sages say: Both this one and that one were created as one, as it is said: "My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand together" (Isaiah 48:13). What is the meaning of "heavens" (shamayim)? Rabbi Yose bar Chanina said: That there is water (sham mayim). In a baraita it was taught: Fire and water (esh u-mayim); this teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought them and mingled them one with the other, and made from them the firmament.