Day 2

The earth is saying, "The earth is YHWH's and all that is in it; the world and those who live in it." (Ps. 24:1)

From the sky, the horizon of aspiration, we move to the earth, to our groundedness, our roots.   When I walk out of my door in the morning, I experience the earth as a foundation, a solid weight beneath my feet .  

The earth supports us. But what supports the earth? For the author of this psalm, the earth is built on the primordial waters; God "has founded it upon the seas, and has established it upon the flood" (Ps. 24:2).  The seeming solidity of terra firma is poised above a swirling chaos.

The Talmud speculates as follows: 

Woe for people who see but don’t know what they’re seeing, stand but don’t know what they’re standing on!  As to the earth, on what does it stand? On the waters: “To him who spread out the earth on the waters” (Ps. 136:6).  And the waters stand on the mountains: “The waters stood over the mountains” (Ps. 104: 6). And the mountains stand on the wind: “For behold, he forms the mountains and creates the wind” (Amos 4:13). And the air depends on the storm-wind: “The storm-wind fulfills his command” (Ps. 148:8). The Holy One, blessed be he, made the storm-wind like a sort of amulet suspended from his arm, as it is said, “And underneath are the arms of the world” (or “everlasting arms”; Deut. 33:27).  (Hagigah)