זוהר, ויקהל כ״גZohar, Vayakhel 23

Segment 1א׳

פָּתַח רִבִּי אַבָּא וְאָמַר, כְּתִיב (תהילים קט״ו:ט״ז) הַשָּׁמַיִם שָׁמַיִם לַיְיָ' וְהָאָרֶץ נָתַן לִבְנֵי אָדָם הַאי קְרָא אִית לְאִסְתַּכְּלָא בֵּיהּ, וְהָכִי אִצְטְרִיךְ לְמֵימַר הַשָּׁמַיִם לַיְיָ', וְהָאָרֶץ נָתַן לִבְנִי אָדָם. מַאי הַשָּׁמָיִם שָׁמַיִם. אֶלָּא הָכָא אִית לְאִסְתַּכְּלָא, בְּגִין דְּאִית שָׁמַיִם, וְאִית שָׁמַיִם. שָׁמַיִם לְתַתָּא, וְאֶרֶץ לְתַתָּא מִנַּיְיהוּ. שָׁמַיִם לְעֵילָּא, וְאֶרֶץ לְתַתָּא מִנַּיְיהוּ. וְכָל דַּרְגִּין עִלָּאִין וְתַתָּאִין, כֻּלְּהוּ כְּגַוְונָא דָּא, אִלֵּין בְּאִלֵּין.

R. Abba then began to discourse on the verse: “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth hath he given to the children of men” (Ps. 115, 16). ‘This verse’, he said, ‘contains a difficulty. For would it not have sufficed to say “the heavens are of the Lord”? Why, then, repeat the word “heavens”, and say “the heavens are the heavens”, etc.? But we account for it in this way. There are heavens and heavens; to wit, lower heavens with an earth beneath them, and upper heavens also having an earth beneath them. They constitute upper grades and lower grades, the two being counterparts of each other.

Segment 2ב׳

שָׁמַיִם לְתַתָּא, אִינּוּן עֶשֶׂר יְרִיעוֹת, כְּמָה דְאַתְּ אָמֵר (תהילים ק״ד:ב׳) נוֹטֶה שָׁמַיִם כַּיְרִיעָה. וְקוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא עֲבַד לוֹן, וּמַשִׁרְיָין דִּי בְּגַוַּויְיהוּ, לְאַנְהָגָא אַרְעָא תַּתָּאָה. תְּשִׁיעָאָה אַנְהִיג לְתַתָּאֵי, דְּסַחֲרָן כְּקוּפְטְרָא דְּקוּלְטָא. עֲשִׁירָאָה, אִיהוּ עִקָּרָא.

The lower heavens are identical with the ten curtains, to which allusion is made in the words: “Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain” (Ps. 104, 2). The Holy One made them, with the legions that people them, to regulate the affairs of the lower earth. The ninth heaven propels all the lower heavens, which are harnessed to it, as it were, by a chain of links. (The tenth, however, is the chief of them all.)

Segment 3ג׳

וּבְכֻלְּהוּ מַשִׁירְיָין מְמָנָן עַד שְׁבִיעָאָה. מִשְּׁבִיעָאָה וּלְהָלְאָה, אִית נְהוֹרָא דְּאִתְפָּשַּׁט לְתַתָּא, מִגּוֹ כּוּרְסְיָּיא עִלָּאָה, וְנָהִיר לַעֲשִׂירָאָה. וַעֲשִׂירָאָה, מֵהַהוּא נְהִירוּ דְּנַקְטָא, יָהִיב לִתְשִׁיעָאָה, וְאִיהוּ לִתְמִינָאָה וּלְתַתָּא.

In each heaven are controlling angels, as far as the seventh; the rest are all illumined by the light that radiates from the Divine Throne, reaching the tenth heaven, whence it is extended towards the ninth and further to the eighth, whence it reaches those below.