According to Chagigah 12a, there are seven heavens stacked above the earth, each with a distinct name and function. Reish Lakish listed them: Vilon, Rakia, Shehakim, Zevul, Ma'on, Makhon, and Aravot.
Vilon is the curtain. It does nothing except enter each morning and depart each evening, renewing the work of Creation daily. Rakia is the firmament where the sun, moon, stars, and planets are fixed. Shehakim is where the millstones stand and grind manna for the righteous—because the root of the word shehakim means "to grind."
Zevul is where the heavenly Jerusalem stands, along with the heavenly Temple, and where the angel Michael, the great prince, offers sacrifices at a celestial altar. Ma'on is where companies of ministering angels sing during the night and fall silent during the day—for the honor of Israel, whose prayers rise by day.
Makhon houses the storerooms of snow, hail, harmful dews, storms, and the chambers of punishment. Every destructive force in nature has a specific address in the sixth heaven. Aravot, the highest heaven, is where righteousness, justice, mercy, the treasuries of life, peace, and blessing all reside. The souls of the righteous are there. The souls of those yet to be born are there. The dew with which God will one day resurrect the dead is stored there.
And in Aravot, the Holy One, Blessed be He, sits on a throne and judges all, surrounded by the ofanim (אופנים), seraphim (שרפים), holy creatures, and ministering angels. As the Psalmist declared: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork" (Psalms 19:2). The cosmos, in the Talmud's architecture, is not empty space. It is an organized bureaucracy—seven floors of purpose, rising from the curtain of dawn to the throne of God.