אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה: שְׁנֵי רְקִיעִים הֵן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״הֵן לַה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ הַשָּׁמַיִם וּשְׁמֵי הַשָּׁמָיִם״. רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ אָמַר: שִׁבְעָה, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן: וִילוֹן, רָקִיעַ, שְׁחָקִים, זְבוּל, מָעוֹן, מָכוֹן, עֲרָבוֹת..
זְבוּל — שֶׁבּוֹ יְרוּשָׁלַיִם וּבֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ, וּמִזְבֵּחַ בָּנוּי, וּמִיכָאֵל הַשַּׂר הַגָּדוֹל עוֹמֵד וּמַקְרִיב עָלָיו קׇרְבָּן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״בָּנֹה בָנִיתִי בֵּית זְבוּל לָךְ מָכוֹן לְשִׁבְתְּךָ עוֹלָמִים״.
וּמְנָלַן דְּאִיקְּרִי שָׁמַיִם, דִּכְתִיב: ״הַבֵּט מִשָּׁמַיִם וּרְאֵה מִזְּבוּל קׇדְשְׁךָ וְתִפְאַרְתֶּךָ״.
Rabbi Yehuda said: There are two firmaments, as it is stated: “Behold, to the Lord your God belongs the heaven and the heaven of heavens” (Deuteronomy 10:14), indicating that there is a heaven above our heaven. Reish Lakish said: There are seven firmaments, and they are as follows: Vilon, Rakia, Sheḥakim, Zevul, Ma’on, Makhon, and Aravot.
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Zevul, abode, is the location of the heavenly Jerusalem and the heavenly Temple, and there the heavenly altar is built, and the angel Michael, the great minister, stands and sacrifices an offering upon it, as it is stated: “I have surely built a house of Zevul for You, a place for You to dwell forever” (I Kings 8:13). And from where do we derive that Zevul is called heaven? As it is written: “Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious abode [Zevul]” (Isaiah 63:15).
variant:
What does he [the angel Michael offer as] sacrifice?
Could you possibly consider that there are sheep there [in heaven]?
Rather, he offers as sacrifice the souls of the righteous [nishmatan shel tsadikim].
Tosafot on Menahot 110a
‘And Michael the great prince stands and offers a sacrifice on it’: [There are] conflicting [aggadic] interpretations: There are those who say [that the sacrifices are] the
souls of the righteous, and there are those who say, sheep of fire. This [i.e. the first tradition] is [in accordance with] what we recite in the Eighteen Benedictions in [the
blessing] Avodah: ‘And the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayers accept speedily
with love.’ Others say that [at the beginning of this phrase] is connected with the
previous phrase: ‘Restore the [sacrificial] service to the sanctuary of Your house, and
the fire-offerings of Israel.’
Judah Hehasid, Sefer gematriyot 114 (ed. Stal, i. 123–7).
The soul of a man sits on the nose of the dead until [the body] putrefies, and afterwards
it is transferred to Dumah, who brings it to hatser mavet (Death Court), which
is a large court in front of which lie the rivers of Eden and vegetables, and it grazes for
a year. The souls of the righteous take pleasure in the stream for one year. Afterwards
Michael offers it [i.e. the soul] as incense on the heavenly altar, and from the flame of
the altar it rises and heals, through [the agency of ] the Tree of Life, and is bound into
the bundle of life beneath the Throne of Glory: bitseror [‘in the bundle’] in gematria
is [equivalent to] bekisé hakavod [‘in the Throne of Glory’]. And the souls of the
righteous, those that gave their souls for this Torah—‘a man who dies in the tent’
[Num. 19: 14]—are kindled as incense with the spices of the Garden of Eden, and
with the scent it rises to the Throne. . . . Michael is the high priest above, and he
offers the souls of the righteous as incense. Therefore we say in the blessing Avodah:
‘Restore the [sacrificial] service to the sanctuary of Your house’. The fire purifies like a
mikveh [purification pool], as it is written, ‘All that cannot withstand fire you shall
pass through water’ [Num. 31: 23].
R. Eleazar ben Judah of Worms (Eleazar Roke’ah, d.1238), Seder alpha beta, letter samekh, in Sodei razya (ed. Eisenbach, i. 82)
Michael . . . is the intercessor for Israel, and he is priest to the Most High God, and
offers the souls of the righteous as sacrifice upon the altar which is in Zevul. . . . He
offers a sacrifice of fire on God’s altar, and burns incense on the altar of incense, and
offers up offerings of flame on the altar of offering, as it says, ‘I have surely built a
house of Zevul for You’ [1 Kgs 8: 13]. . . . Until the Temple was destroyed, Michael the
High Priest would sacrifice [an offering] similar to that of Israel for God’s acceptance.
After the destruction God said to him: Do not offer to Me the image of an ox, sheep,
or goat, for I will not enter the Temple above until I have built the House in My name,
as is written: ‘In your midst—the Holy One; I will not come into the city’ [Hos.
11: 9];14 and it is written: ‘I have now built for You a lofty House, a place where You
may dwell forever’ [1 Kgs 8: 13]; ‘a place where You may dwell’—this is Jerusalem,
which is built ‘as a city that is connected together’ [Ps. 122: 3] . . . the altar below, opposite
the altar in Zevul. And from the day that the altar below was destroyed God said:
I do not desire the image of an ox or a sheep to be offered on the altar above, but rather
the souls of the righteous and the young children who have not sinned.15 And these
rise immediately as sweet incense every day, without delay, along with the prayer. This
is what we say in [the blessing] Retseh: ‘And the offerings of Israel and their prayers
accept favourably, speedily, with love.’ And that altar [above] will descend to the Temple,
which will be rebuilt speedily, in our days.