Is There Water Above the Sky?

“And God made the firmament (the atmospheric layer surrounding the Earth) and separated the waters below the firmament from the waters above the firmament. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:7)

For thousands of years, from the giving of the Torah until the rise of modern astronomy, the biblical statement about “waters above the firmament” puzzled scholars and scientists alike.

Water in space?

The question became even more striking because the Torah’s Oral Tradition elaborated on the subject. A Midrash, recorded nearly two thousand years ago, states: “The upper waters are greater than the lower waters.” (Bereishit Rabbah 4:5)

In other words, the quantity of water in the heavens exceeds the quantity of water on Earth.

Considering the immense amount of water found in Earth’s oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, underground reservoirs, and polar ice caps, this claim seemed astonishing.

Yet as space exploration advanced through powerful telescopes, satellites, and deep-space probes, scientists discovered findings that renewed interest in this ancient concept.

Discoveries of Ice and Water Beyond Earth

According to data presented in major astronomical references such as the Cambridge Atlas of Astronomy, one remarkable event occurred on June 30, 1908, in central Siberia.

Witnesses reported a brilliant object crossing the sky before a massive explosion shook the region. People standing dozens of kilometers away were knocked to the ground by the blast, and seismic disturbances were recorded worldwide.

Researchers later concluded that the event was caused by a fragment of a comet's nucleus composed largely of ice. Estimates suggested that approximately 30,000 tons of ice entered Earth’s atmosphere, releasing energy comparable to a multi-megaton explosion.

This led scientists to ask an important question: If such a massive block of ice came from space, how much water exists beyond Earth?

Comets: Mountains of Ice Traveling Through Space

Further research revealed that comets are largely composed of ice mixed with dust and rocky material.

Astronomer Fred Whipple of Harvard University demonstrated that comets are essentially giant “dirty snowballs.”

The numbers are staggering:

• A relatively small comet may contain billions of tons of ice.

• Large comets can contain trillions of tons of ice.

• The distant region known as the Oort Cloud is believed to contain enormous numbers of icy bodies.

Ice Throughout the Solar System

Modern space missions have also revealed vast quantities of frozen water throughout the Solar System:

• Mars possesses enormous polar ice caps.

• Saturn has rings containing countless particles of ice.

• Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune contain vast amounts of frozen material within their structures.

• Water ice has been identified on moons, asteroids, and other bodies throughout the Solar System.

From a modern scientific perspective, Earth's water represents only a small fraction of the water and ice known to exist in space.

The Midrash's Description

An additional detail appears in the Midrash.

Rather than describing the upper waters as resting directly on a solid heavenly surface, the Midrash emphasizes that they are suspended above: 

Had Scripture said “the waters on the firmament,” one might think the waters rested upon it. Instead it says “the waters above the firmament,” teaching that the upper waters are suspended by the command of God.

The Midrash thus portrays the waters as existing above and beyond the atmosphere rather than forming a physical ocean resting on a celestial structure.

Another passage in the Midrash even refers to the upper waters as being frozen like ice.

A Perspective of Faith

From a traditional Jewish perspective, these passages are viewed as evidence that the Creator, who fashioned the universe, revealed truths about creation long before humanity possessed the tools to investigate the heavens.

Whether one approaches these texts from a religious, philosophical, or historical perspective, the discussion remains fascinating: ancient Jewish sources spoke about vast quantities of water beyond Earth at a time when such an idea seemed unimaginable.

Today, modern astronomy continues to uncover immense reservoirs of water and ice throughout the cosmos, making the subject as intriguing as ever.