La grande porte avait deux petites portes, une au nord et une au sud. Personne n'est jamais entré par la porte sud, et la raison en a été expliquée par Ézéchiel, comme il est dit: "Et Hachem m'a dit: 'Cette porte sera fermée, elle ne sera pas ouverte, et aucun homme n'entrera par elle, car Hachem, le Dieu d'Israël, passera par elle, elle sera fermée. "'(Ézéchiel 44: 2) Il [le Cohen ] prit la clé et ouvrit la petite porte, et il entra dans la cellule et sortit de la cellule , il est entré dans le sanctuaire. Le rabbin Yehuda dit qu'il marcherait dans l'épaisseur du mur, jusqu'à ce qu'il se retrouve entre les deux portes [dans l'espace entre les deux portes]. Il ouvrit les portes extérieures de l'intérieur et les portes intérieures de l'extérieur.
Bartenura on Mishnah Middot
ושתי פשפשין – two small openings, one from the right of the large gate of the Hekhal and one from its left, slightly distant from the gate. The one that is from the south, it is written (Ezekiel 44:2 – regarding the outer gate of the Sanctuary that faced eastward that was shut): “[And the LORD said to me:] This gate is to be kept shut and not to be opened! [No one shall enter by it because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut],” of the future, for undefined, such it was in the Jerusalem Temple.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Middot
The great gate had two small doors, one to the north and one to the south. By the one to the south no one ever went in, and concerning it was stated explicitly be Ezekiel, as it says, “And the Lord said to me: this gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it, for the Lord God of Israel has entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut” (Ezekiel 44:2). The great gate of the Hekhal had two small doors, one to the north (to the right when facing the Hekhal) and one to the south. However, the southern door was never used, due to a direct order by God.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Middot
ופתח את הפשפש ונכנס משם לתא – and this is one small chamber that is open to the Hekhal, and from the compartment back of the Holy of Holies, he enters into the Hekhal, and walks in the open space of the Hekhal until the large gate that is at the end of the thickness of the wall from the inside, and he opens it and comes to the second gate that is at the end of the thickness of the wall from the outside, and stands inside and opens it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Middot
He [the priest] took the key and opened the [northern] door and went in to the cell, and from the cell he went into the Hekhal. When the priest wanted to open the great gate, he would take the keys to the gates, go into the cell, which was a chamber next to the gate, and then go into the Hekhal and open from the inside.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Middot
רבי יהודה אומר בתוך עוביו של כותל היה מהלך – he holds that from the compartment back of the Holy of Holies he would not enter into the Hekhal, but from the compartment, he would walk along the thickness of the wall until he finds himself standing between the two gates, and he opens the doors of the outer gate from the inside and the doors or the inner gate from the outside.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Middot
Rabbi Judah says: he used to walk along in the thickness of the wall until he came to the space between the two gates. He would open the outer doors from within and the inner doors from without. Rabbi Judah says that the priest would not enter the cell but would rather walk along inside the wall which was six cubits thick. He would then open the outer doors from within, turn around and open the inner doors from without.
