Yoma 108

כאיש המעורה בלוייה שלו אמר ריש לקיש בשעה שנכנסו נכרים להיכל ראו כרובים המעורין זה בזה הוציאון לשוק ואמרו ישראל הללו שברכתן ברכה וקללתן קללה יעסקו בדברים הללו מיד הזילום שנאמר (איכה א, ח) כל מכבדיה הזילוה כי ראו ערותה

Even as a man embracing his companion.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Loyoth' is connected with the root signifying 'attach', hence 'companions'.');">¹</span> Resh Lakish said: When the heathens entered the Temple and saw the Cherubim whose bodies were intertwisted with one another, they carried them out and said: These Israelites, whose blessing is a blessing, and whose curse is a curse, occupy themselves with such things! And immediately they despised them, as it is said: All that honored her, despised her, because they have seen her nakedness.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lam. I, 8.');">²</span>

ושתיה היתה נקראת תנא שממנה הושתת העולם תנן כמאן דאמר מציון נברא העולם דתניא רבי אליעזר אומר עולם מאמצעיתו נברא שנאמר (איוב לח, לח) בצקת עפר למוצק ורגבים ידובקו

AND IT WAS CALLED SHETHIYAH: A Tanna taught: [It was so called] because from it the world was founded.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Tosef. II. The suggestion is that Zion was created first, and around it other clods, rocks, formations, continents, were formed until the earth was completed.');">³</span> We were taught in accord with the view that the world was started [created] from Zion on.

רבי יהושע אומר עולם מן הצדדין נברא שנאמר (איוב לז, ו) כי לשלג יאמר הוי ארץ וגשם מטר וגשם מטרות עוזו רבי יצחק (נפחא) אמר אבן ירה הקב"ה בים ממנו נשתת העולם שנאמר (איוב לח, ו) על מה אדניה הטבעו או מי ירה אבן פנתה

For it was taught: R'Eliezer says: The world was created from its centre, as it is said: When the dust runneth into a mass, and the clods keep fast together.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Job XXXVIII, 38.');">⁴</span> R'Joshua said: The world was created from its sides on, as it is said For He saith to the snow: 'Fall thou on the earth'; likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of His mighty rain.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XXXVII, 6. The picture here (Rashi) is that of a skeleton or frame, which filled in, gradually solidifying from all sides towards the centre, which is last in foundation. All Scriptural verses here are used as intimation not logically but illustratively. Here is an amazing anticipation of the modern theory that the world was founded by the solidification of vapours, the Talmudic account ascribing this gradual creation to the will of God.');">⁵</span>

וחכמים אומרים מציון נברא שנאמר (תהלים נ, א) מזמור לאסף אל אלהים ה' ואומר מציון מכלל יופי ממנו מוכלל יפיו של עולם

R'Isaac the Smith said: The Holy One, blessed be He, cast a stone into the ocean, from which the world then was founded as it is said: Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened, or who laid the corner-stone thereof?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Job XXXVIII, 6.');">⁶</span> But the Sages said: The world was [started] created from Zion, as it is said: A Psalm of Asaph, God, God, the Lord [hath spoken],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. L, 1.');">⁷</span>

תניא ר' אליעזר הגדול אומר (בראשית ב, ד) אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם ביום עשות ה' אלהים ארץ ושמים תולדות שמים משמים נבראו תולדות הארץ מארץ נבראו

whereupon it reads on: Out of Zion, the perfection of the world,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. v. 2.');">⁸</span> that means from Zion was the beauty of the world perfected.

וחכמים אומרים אלו ואלו מציון נבראו שנאמר מזמור לאסף אל אלהים ה' דבר ויקרא ארץ ממזרח שמש עד מבואו ואומר מציון מכלל יופי אלהים הופיע ממנו מוכלל יופיו של עולם

It was taught: R'Eliezer the Great said: These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. 11, 4.');">⁹</span> The generations [the creations] of heaven<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' All things of heaven, the stars, sun and moon.');">¹⁰</span>

נטל את הדם ממי שממרס בו וכו' מאי כמצליף מחוי רב יהודה

were made from the heaven and the generations of the earth were made from the earth. But the Sages said: Both were created from Zion, as it is said: 'A Psalm of Asaph: God, God, the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.' And Scripture further says: 'Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth', that means from it the beauty of the world was perfected. HE TOOK THE BLOOD FROM HIM THAT WAS STIRRING IT: etc. What does 'KE-MAZLIF' mean? - R'Judah showed it to mean