on the second day, God brought forth four distinct creations: the firmament (rakia in Hebrew), hell, fire, and the angels. Now, the firmament isn't just the heavens we saw on day one. Think of it as a crystalline structure, a shield stretched above the celestial beings known as Hayyot, which gives light to the heavens, much like the sun gives light to the earth.
Its primary function? To separate the waters above from the waters below. A cosmic divider, if you will. Ginzberg explains that this firmament, though only three fingers thick, manages to keep apart these immense bodies of water – the lower waters that form the foundations of our world and the upper waters that underpin the seven heavens, the Divine Throne, and the abode of the angels.
But this separation wasn't exactly smooth sailing. Midrash Rabbah tells us that when God commanded the waters to gather in one place so dry land could appear, some waters resisted! They clung to each other even more tightly. Imagine the audacity! This act angered God so much that He considered undoing all of creation, plunging everything back into chaos.
He even summoned the Angel of the Face to destroy the world! But then, according to Legends of the Jews, an angel began to sing praises to God, reminding Him of the future generations who would worship Him, of Abraham and his descendants who would accept the yoke of His kingdom. The angel pleaded for mercy, asking, "If Thou destroyest it, who will fulfil Thy will?"
And God relented. He withdrew the command, but the rebellious waters? He placed them under the mountains, where they remain to this day. Interestingly, the waters below didn’t just rebel because they were told to separate. They were also upset because the waters above rejoiced at being closer to God and His Holy Throne. The waters below, feeling unworthy, tried to rise, but God pushed them down.
Yet, they weren't forgotten. The Zohar tells us that whenever the waters above want to praise God, they must first ask permission from the waters below. A fascinating reminder that even in division, there's interconnectedness.
Now, here's a somber detail. Unlike the other days of creation, God didn't declare the second day "good." Why? Because it introduced division where there was once unity, and it also saw the creation of hell. Yes, on the second day, hell, or Gehenna, came into being.
According to Legends of the Jews, hell is a multi-layered abyss with seven divisions: Sheol, Abaddon, Beer Shahat, Tit ha-Yawen, Sha'are Mawet, Sha'are Zalmawet, and Gehenna. Each division takes hundreds of years to traverse, filled with rivers of fire and hail, guarded by countless Angels of Destruction, and teeming with scorpions bearing deadly venom. A truly terrifying image. Finally, the third creation of the second day: the angels. Both ministering angels and angels of praise. Why weren't they created on the first day? To prevent the misconception that they assisted God in creating the heavens and the earth.
Angels, fashioned from fire, take on fiery forms in heaven. But when they descend to earth, they transform into wind or assume human guises to carry out God's will. There's a celestial hierarchy, with archangels like Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael leading the ranks around the Divine Throne.
All the angels praise God, proclaiming, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." But here's where it gets interesting: humans, specifically Israel, take precedence! According to Legends of the Jews, God silences the angels until He has heard the songs, praises, prayers, and melodies of Israel. Only then do the angels join in the chorus.
Before their glorification, the ministering angels purify themselves in a stream of fire and flame, ensuring they are free from any earthly taint before ascending to the seventh heaven. Adorned with fiery crowns and garments, they then join the other celestial beings in praising God in unison.
So, the second day of creation wasn't just about separation and division. It was also about loyalty, praise, and the unique role of humanity in the cosmic order. It reminds us that even amidst division and judgment, there's always room for redemption and the power of praise to shift the course of the Divine. What do you think this teaches us about our role in the world today?
On the second day God brought forth four creations, the firmament, hell, fire, and the angels. The firmament is not the same as the heavens of the first day. It is the crystal stretched forth over the heads of the Hayyot, from which the heavens derive their light, as the earth derives its light from the sun. This firmament saves the earth from being engulfed by the waters of the heavens; it forms the partition between the waters above and the waters below. It was made to crystallize into the solid it is by the heavenly fire, which broke its bounds, and condensed the surface of the firmament. Thus fire made a division between the celestial and the terrestrial at the time of creation, as it did at the revelation on Mount Sinai. The firmament is not more than three fingers thick, nevertheless it divides two such heavy bodies as the waters below, which are the foundations for the nether world, and the waters above, which are the foundations for the seven heavens, the Divine Throne, and the abode of the angels. The separation of the waters into upper and lower waters was the only act of the sort done by God in connection with the work of creation. All other acts were unifying. It therefore caused some difficulties. When God commanded, "Let the waters be gathered together, unto one place, and let the dry land appear," certain parts refused to obey. They embraced each other all the more closely. In His wrath at the waters, God determined to let the whole of creation resolve itself into chaos again. He summoned the Angel of the Face, and ordered him to destroy the world. The angel opened his eyes wide, and scorching fires and thick clouds rolled forth from them, while he cried out, "He who divides the Red Sea in sunder!"—and the rebellious waters stood. The all, however, was still in danger of destruction. Then began the singer of God's praises: "O Lord of the world, in days to come Thy creatures will sing praises without end to Thee, they will bless Thee boundlessly, and they will glorify Thee without measure. Thou wilt set Abraham apart from all mankind as Thine own; one of his sons Thou wilt call 'My first-born'; and his descendants will take the yoke of Thy kingdom upon themselves. In holiness and purity Thou wilt bestow Thy Torah upon them, with the words, 'I am the Lord your God,' whereunto they will make answer, 'All that God hath spoken we will do.' And now I beseech Thee, have pity upon Thy world, destroy it not, for if Thou destroyest it, who will fulfil Thy will?" God was pacified; He withdrew the command ordaining the destruction of the world, but the waters He put under the mountains, to remain there forever. The objection of the lower waters to division and Separation was not their only reason for rebelling. The waters had been the first to give praise to God, and when their separation into upper and lower was decreed, the waters above rejoiced, saying, "Blessed are we who are privileged to abide near our Creator and near His Holy Throne." Jubilating thus, they flew upward, and uttered song and praise to the Creator of the world. Sadness fell upon the waters below. They lamented: "Woe unto us, we have not been found worthy to dwell in the presence of God, and praise Him together with our companions." Therefore they attempted to rise upward, until God repulsed them, and pressed them under the earth. Yet they were not left unrewarded for their loyalty. Whenever the waters above desire to give praise to God, they must first seek permission from the waters below. The second day of creation was an untoward day in more than the one respect that it introduced a breach where before there had been nothing but unity; for it was the day that saw also the creation of hell. Therefore God could not say of this day as of the others, that He "saw that it was good." A division may be necessary, but it cannot be called good, and hell surely does not deserve the attribute of good. Hell has seven divisions, one beneath the other. They are called Sheol, Abaddon, Beer Shahat, Tit ha-Yawen, Sha'are Mawet, Sha'are Zalmawet: and Gehenna. It requires three hundred years to traverse the height, or the width, or the depth of each division, and it would take six thousand three hundred years to go over a tract of land equal in extent to the seven divisions. Each of the seven divisions in turn has seven subdivisions, and in each compartment there are seven rivers of fire and seven of hail. The width of each is one thousand ells, its depth one thousand, and its length three hundred, and they flow one from the other, and are supervised by ninety thousand Angels of Destruction. There are, besides, in every compartment seven thousand caves, in every cave there are seven thousand crevices, and in every crevice seven thousand scorpions. Every scorpion has three hundred rings, and in every ring seven thousand pouches of venom, from which flow seven rivers of deadly poison. If a man handles it, he immediately bursts, every limb is torn from his body, his bowels are cleft asunder, and he falls upon his face. There are also five different kinds of fire in hell. One devours and absorbs, another devours and does not absorb, while the third absorbs and does not devour, and there is still another fire, which neither devours nor absorbs, and furthermore a fire which devours fire. There are coals big as mountains, and coals big as hills, and coals as large as the Dead Sea, and coals like huge stones, and there are rivers of pitch and sulphur flowing and seething like live coals. The third creation of the second day was the angel hosts, both the ministering angels and the angels of praise. The reason they had not been called into being on the first day was, lest men believe that the angels assisted God in the creation of the heavens and the earth. The angels that are fashioned from fire have forms of fire, but only so long as they remain in heaven. When they descend to earth, to do the bidding of God here below, either they are changed into wind, or they assume the guise of men. There are ten ranks or degrees among the angels. The most exalted in rank are those surrounding the Divine Throne on all sides, to the right, to the left, in front, and behind, under the leadership of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael. All the celestial beings praise God with the words, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts," but men take precedence of the angels herein. They may not begin their song of praise until the earthly beings have brought their homage to God. Especially Israel is preferred to the angels. When they encircle the Divine Throne in the form of fiery mountains and flaming hills, and attempt to raise their voices in adoration of the Creator, God silences them with the words, "Keep quiet until I have heard the songs, praises, prayers, and sweet melodies of Israel." Accordingly, the ministering angels and all the other celestial hosts wait until the last tones of Israel's doxologies rising aloft from earth have died away, and then they proclaim in a loud voice, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." When the hour for the glorification of God by the angels draws nigh, the august Divine herald, the angel Sham'iel, steps to the windows of the lowest heaven to hearken to the songs, prayers, and praises that ascend from the synagogues and the houses of learning, and when they are finished, he announces the end to the angels in all the heavens. The ministering angels, those who come in contact with the sublunary world, now repair to their chambers to take their purification bath. They dive into a stream of fire and flame seven times, and three hundred and sixty-five times they examine themselves carefully, to make sure that no taint clings to their bodies. Only then they feel privileged to mount the fiery ladder and join the angels of the seventh heaven, and surround the throne of God with Hashmal and all the holy Hayyot. Adorned with millions of fiery crowns, arrayed in fiery garments, all the angels in unison, in the same words, and with the same melody, intone songs of praise to God.
