Talmud for Chagigah 29:4

מכדי ורוח אלהים מרחפת על פני המים אימת הוי ביום הראשון הבדלה ביום שני הוא דהואי דכתיב (בראשית א, ו) ויהי מבדיל בין מים למים וכמה אמר רב אחא בר יעקב כמלא נימא ורבנן אמרי כי גודא דגמלא מר זוטרא ואיתימא רב אסי אמר כתרי גלימי דפריסי אהדדי ואמרי לה כתרי כסי דסחיפי אהדדי

See, "And the spirit of G-d was hovering on the face of the water (Genesis 1:2)," when was [this]? On the first day. The separation [of the upper and lower waters] was on the second day, about which it is written, "And there was a separation between water and water (Genesis 1:6)." And how much [is the separation]? Rabbi Acha the son of Ya'akov said, "The size of a hair." And the Rabbis say, "Like the space between the boards of a bridge." Mar Zutra, and some say Rav Assi, said, "Like the space between two cloaks spread out on top of each other," and some say [that he said], "Like the space between two cups that are tilted on top of each other."

Jerusalem Talmud Chagigah

³⁷Babli 15a. It also happened that Rebbi Joshua was on the road when Ben Zoma came towards him. He greeted him but he did not answer. He asked him, from where and whence, Ben Zoma? He told him, I was observing the Creation, and the distance between the upper waters and the lower waters is (one) [a full]³⁸The corrector’s text certainly is erroneous. It uses Babli general language but contradicts the Babli here. While the Talmudim recognize units of measurement smaller than the hand-breadth, e. g., finger-widths, unless numbers are given “a hand-breadth” means a small distance of indeterminate size. opening of a hand-breadth. It says here “hovering”, and it says there, as an eagle watches his nest, over his chicks he hovers³⁹Deut. 32:11.. Since in case of the hovering mentioned there it means barely touching, so the hovering mentioned here means barely touching. Rebbi Joshua said to his students, Ben Zoma is out. It was only a few days that Ben Zoma passed away.

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