Tanya/Shaar Hayichud V’haEmunah, Chapter 12, Class 3
As, for example, through the words of the utterance, “Let there be a firmament…,”2 the seven heavens and all their component celestial hosts were created.
כְּגוֹן דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל, בְּתֵיבוֹת שֶׁבְּמַאֲמַר “יְהִי רָקִיעַ וְגוֹ’”, שֶׁנִּבְרְאוּ בָּהֶן ז’ רְקִיעִים וְכָל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם אֲשֶׁר בָּהֶם,
Thus, our Sages, of blessed memory, speak of ‘‘[the firmament called] Shechakim, in which stand millstones that grind manna for the tzaddikim…,
כְּמַאֲמַר רַבּוֹתֵינוּ־זִכְרוֹנָם־לִבְרָכָה: “שְׁחָקִים, שֶׁבּוֹ רֵחַיִים עוֹמְדוֹת וְטוֹחֲנוֹת מָן לַצַּדִּיקִים וְכוּ’,
[the firmament called] Zvul, in which stand [the heavenly] Jerusalem and the Holy Temple and the Altar…,
זְבוּל, שֶׁבּוֹ יְרוּשָׁלַיִם וּבֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וּמִזְבֵּחַ וְכוּ’,
[and the firmament called] Machon, in which there are stores of snow and stores of hail….”3
מָכוֹן, שֶׁבּוֹ אוֹצְרוֹת שֶׁלֶג וְאוֹצְרוֹת בָּרָד וְכוּ’”,
Each of the seven firmaments thus has its general nature—the fact that it is a firmament—as well as its individual aspect, as exemplified above.
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FOOTNOTES
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2. Genesis 1:6.
3. Chagigah 12b. See Commentary of the Rebbe at the conclusion of this chapter.
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