Komentarz do Middot 2:8

The Temple Mount was five hundred cubits. It was enclosed by a wall

Introduction Chapter two deals with the dimensions of the Temple Mount and its courtyards.

The greater part of it was on the south; next to that on the east. Meaning, the distance from the wall of the Temple Mount to the wall of the [Temple] Courtyard on the southern side was greater than the distance between those [walls] on the eastern side. And the distance between those [walls] on the eastern side was greater than the distance between them on the northern side. And the northern [side] was greater than the south[ern side].

The Temple Mount was five hundred cubits by five hundred cubits. This accords with the dimensions stated in Ezekiel 42:20.

The greater part of it was on the south; next to that on the east; next to that on the north; and the smallest part on the west. The Temple was not centered in the middle of the Temple Mount. Rather it was to the northwestern side. Most of the empty ground was on the south. The second greatest empty area was on the east, then the north. The western side, or more accurately, the northwestern side, is where the Temple was located. As an aside, this is why the Western Wall is the closest of the walls to the actual Temple. Today if you go into the tunnels to the north of the western wall, you get as close as is possible to the Temple, without going onto the Temple Mount.

The part which was most extensive was the part most used. For non-priests, the most extensive use was in the south, where the largest empty area was located.

Entered by the right and went around to the left. For instance, those entering through the Hulda gates that are on the right, they go around [and exit] through the Taddi gate. Translator's Note: Bartenura appears to be interpreting the terms right and left as idioms for south and north respectively. (See Genesis 14:15)

All who entered the Temple Mount entered by the right and went round [to the right] and went out by the left, save for one to whom something had happened, who entered and went round to the left. Most people would enter the Temple Mount on the right side of the Southern Gates, and they would turn right and eventually come out on the left. The exception was one who was either a mourner or had been excommunicated. They would enter the same way, but they would go around to the left. This seems to have served as a means by which others could tell that something had happened to them and could offer them comfort.

"Because I am a mourner" They ask him, "What is the matter that you go around to the left?" And he says, "Because I am a mourner." [So] they say to him, "The one who dwells in this house shall comfort you." etc.

[He was asked]: “Why do you go round to the left?” [If he answered] “Because I am a mourner,” [they said to him], “May He who dwells in this house comfort you.” When people would see others walking around to the left, they would know to ask them what had happened. If the person answered that he was a mourner, they would offer him comfort.

You make it seem as if they treated him unjustly. If they [the people entering the Temple Mount] said this to him, it appears as if his friends warped the law and judged him incorrectly.

[If he answered] “Because I am excommunicated” [they said]: “May He who dwells in this house inspire them to draw you near again,” the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yose to him: you make it seem as if they treated him unjustly. Rather [they should say]: “May He who dwells in this house inspire you to listen to the words of your colleagues so that they may draw you near again.” Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Meir debate what words they would say to a mourner. According to Rabbi Meir they would offer hope that God would inspire the people who had excommunicated him to restore him to his status. Rabbi Yose complains that such a formulation gives the impression that those who had excommunicated him had done so unjustly. Instead, Rabbi Yose formulates words of consolation that place the blame on the excommunicated party, that he should mend his ways in order to be restored to his prior place.

He should inspire you to listen to the words of your friends. This implies that he erred and needs repentance. The law follows Rabbi Yose.

Within. The walls of the Temple Mount.

Within it was the Soreg, ten handbreadths high.
There were thirteen breaches in it, which had been originally made by the kings of Greece, and when they repaired them they enacted that thirteen prostrations should be made facing them.
Within this was the Hel, which was ten cubits [broad].
There were twelve steps there. The height of each step was half a cubit and its tread was half a cubit.
All the steps in the Temple were half a cubit high with a tread of half a cubit, except those of the Porch.
All the doorways in the Temple were twenty cubits high and ten cubits broad except those of the Porch.
All the doorways there had doors in them except those of the Porch.
All the gates there had lintels except that of Taddi which had two stones inclined to one another.
All the original gates were changed for gates of gold except the gates of Nicanor, because a miracle happened with them. Some say: because their copper gleamed like gold.
Section one: Around the Temple there was a small partition called the Soreg. This set the Temple off from the rest of the Temple Mount.
Section two: The Greeks made thirteen breaches in the Soreg in order to demonstrate that Gentiles could enter the Hel, which was inside the Soreg. This tradition is also reflected in I Maccabees 9:54: “In the year one hundred and fifty-three, in the second month, Alcimus ordered the wall of the inner court of the porch to be torn down, thus destroying the work of the prophets.”
When the Hasmoneans expelled the Greeks, they repaired the breaches and enacted that anytime a person would pass one of them, he would bow down and thank God for their victory over the Greeks.
Section three: Within the Soreg was an area called the Hel. This was an empty area ten cubits (about five meters) wide.
Section four: Leading up from the Hel to the Temple courtyard were twelve steps. Each step was half a cubit high and half a cubit long.
Section five: The only steps in the Temple that did not have this dimension were those that led up from the courtyard of the priests to the Porch, whose length varied as we shall see in 3:6.
Section six: The mishnah now proceeds to note several differences between the dimensions of the Porch and the dimensions found elsewhere in the Temple. The gates of the Porch were forty amot high and twenty amot wide.
Section seven: The entrance to the Porch was set off with a curtain and not a door.
Section nine: Originally the gates were made of copper. When the Jews had more money, they refurnished the Temple and covered them with gold. The only exception was the Nicanor gates, which were not changed. There are two possibilities for why they stayed the same. First of all, there was a miracle performed with them. This is explained in the Bavli (Yoma 38a) in the following way: “What miracles happened to his doors? They say that when Nicanor had gone to bring doors from Alexandria of Egypt, on his return a storm arose in the sea to drown him. They took one of his doors and cast it into the sea and yet the sea would not stop its rage. They wanted to cast the other into the sea. He rose and clung to it, saying: ‘Cast me in with it!’ The sea immediately stopped its raging. He was deeply grieved about the other [door]. When he arrived at the harbor of Acco, it broke through and came up from under the sides of the boat. Others say: A monster of the sea swallowed it and spat it out on the dry land.”
The other explanation is that there was no need to replace the gates of Nicanor because their copper shined liked gold.

Soreg (Lattice). A barrier made with many holes like a staff braided with cords. It was made from long narrow planks of wood that intersect each other diagonally.

They enacted that thirteen prostrations should be made facing them. As one reaches each breach, he prostrates and gives thanks for the destruction of the Hellenistic Kingdom.

Within The Lattice there was an empty area of ten cubits. It was called the Hel.

There were twelve steps there. To ascend from there to the Womens' Courtyard.

The height of each step. Each step was a half cubit taller than the previous step, and the first step was a half cubit taller than the ground.

Its tread. The measure of the width of the step, which is the place where the foot treads, was a half cubit.

Except for the Entrance Hall. Except for the stairs that were between the Entrance Hall and the Alter for they were not all like that. As it is taught in chapter three.

Except for the door to the Entrance Hall. As it is taught later on in the other chapters, its height was forty cubits and its width twenty.

They had lintels. A stone [that] is placed upon the two posts that the door rests on. Shekufot has the same root as Mashkof(lintel).

Because a miracle happened with them. As it is explained in Yoma chapter three (Yoma 38a).

Gleamed like gold. As in [the word] Mazhivot (Gleamed like gold), for their appearance was similar to gold. Therefore they did not need to [re]make it out of gold.

All the wall that were there. Regarding all the buildings on the Temple Mount.

All the walls that were there [in the Temple] were high except the eastern wall, for the priest who burned the red heifer would stand on the top of the Mount of Olives and direct his gaze carefully see the opening of the Sanctuary at the time of the sprinkling of the blood. The red heifer was burned on the Mount of Olives, towards the east of the Temple Mount. The priest who burned it had to see the Sanctuary when he sprinkled the blood. This is how the rabbis interpret Numbers 19:4, “the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.” Note that the priest would not have been able to see the Sanctuary through the Eastern gate because the floor of the Sanctuary was 22 amot higher than the floor of the Temple Mount, and the Eastern Gate was only 20 amot high. Thus the floor of the Sanctuary was higher than the gate, and therefore, the priest had to see over the wall. That is why they designed this wall to be shorter than the other walls.

They were very high. Since all of their doorways were [already] twenty cubits tall, without [measuring the wall that continued] above the doorways.

Except for the eastern wall. It was the lowest of the ?retaining walls? (lit. feet) of the Temple Mount.

For the priest who burned the heifer would stand on the Mount of Olives (Har Hammishha). It is the Mount of Olives (Har Hazzeitim) that faces Jerusalem from the east. The priest would face west and look beyond the top of the wall [of the Temple Mount] through the gates that are within it to the doorway of the Hall, as he sprinkled the blood. As it is written: "Sprinkle it toward the front of the tent of meeting". (Numbers 19:4) If the wall was [as] tall [as the other walls], even though the gates were in line with each other, [meaning] the Temple Mount gate was directly opposite the Womens' Courtyard gate, and the Womens' Courtyard gate was opposite the Great Courtyard gate, and the Great Courtyard gate was opposite the doorway of the Hall, he would [still] not be able to see the doorway of the Hall through [all of] the gates, since the Mountain's slope increased to a height by which the ground of the doorway of the Hall was twenty two cubits taller than the ground on the foot of the Temple Mount, so the threshold of the Hall was higher than the lintel of the gate of the Temple Mount by two cubits, since the the gate of the Temple Mount was only twenty cubits tall as it was taught above. This means that the priest who slaughtered the heifer would not be able to see the doorway of the Hall through the gate [of the Temple Mount, therefore the eastern wall was shorter in order to allow the priest to see the doorway of the Hall from the Mount of Olives].

אורך – from the east to the west.

The courtyard of the women was a hundred and thirty-five cubits long by a hundred and thirty-five wide.
It had four chambers in its four corners, each of which was forty cubits.
They were not roofed, and so they will be in the time to come, as it says, “Then he brought me forth into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court, and behold in every corner of the court there was a court. In the four corners of the court there were keturot courts” (Ezekiel 46:21-22) and keturot means that they were not roofed. For what were they used?
The southeastern one was the chamber of the Nazirites where the Nazirites used to boil their shelamim and shave their hair and throw it under the pot.
The northeastern one was the wood chamber where priests with physical defects used to pick out the wood which had worms, every piece with a worm in it being unfit for use on the altar.
The northwestern one was the chamber of those with skin disease.
The southwestern one: Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob said: I forget what it was used for. Abba Shaul says: they used to store there wine and oil, and it was called the chamber of oil.
It [the courtyard of the women] had originally been smooth [without protrusions in the walls] but subsequently they surrounded it with a balcony so that the women could look on from above while the men were below, and they should not mix together.
Fifteen steps led up from it to the courtyard of Israel, corresponding to the fifteen [songs of] ascents mentioned in the Book of Psalms, and upon which the Levites used to sing. They were not rectangular but circular like the half of a threshing floor.
Today’s mishnah is about the courtyard of the women. This was the first courtyard which one would enter upon entering the Temple.
I am not going to explain every section, just those that I feel are not self-explanatory.
Section three: The rabbis read Ezekiel as a description of the future Temple that will be built in Messianic times. Nevertheless, the current Temple is to a certain extent patterned, at least in the rabbinic mind, after Ezekiel’s description. The word “keturot” in Ezekiel is unclear, but the rabbis interpret it to mean “unroofed.” Albeck notes that this is based on the Syriac phrased “Beta Ketira” which means “unroofed house.” Syriac is a Semitic language very close to Aramaic.
Section four: The Nazirites would boil their shelamim, peace offering, and throw their shaven hair into the fire under the pot (see Numbers 6:18; Nazir 6:8).
Section five: Priests with defects could not serve at the altar. Instead, they would sit in the chamber of wood and sort out which wood had worms, because wormed wood was not welcome on the altar.
Section six: Those with skin disease would immerse themselves in the special chamber for those with skin disease.
Section seven: The rabbis aren’t exactly sure what the southwestern chamber was even used for, at least not Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob. Abba Shaul claims that it was used to store wine and oil and it was called “the oil chamber.”
Section eight: Originally the walls of the women’s courtyard were smooth, without any protrusions to uphold a balcony. However, when they saw that there was a problem with men and women mixing during the Simhat Bet Hashoevah, a raucous festival that occurred during Sukkot (see Sukkah 5:2), they made a balcony for women to be above. We should note that during the rest of the year men and women mingled together in the women’s courtyard. Only during the risky time of great celebration did they separate the genders. This balcony is an eventual, much later source for women sitting in the balcony at synagogues, but in the Temple it was only used on one special occasion.
Section nine: Leading up from the courtyard of the women there were fifteen steps, going through the Nicanor gates and into the courtyard of the Israelites. These fifteen steps corresponded to the fifteen “songs of ascent” in Psalms 120-134. Upon them the Levites would sing during the Simhet Bet Hashoevah. The steps were shaped in semi-circles, and not rectangles as were other steps found in the Temple.

על רוחב – from the north to the south.

קטורות אלא שאינן מקורות – from the language (Genesis 19:28): “[and, (Abraham) looking down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, he saw] the smoke of the land [rising like the smoke of a kiln],” meaning to say, smoke rising, because they didn’t have a roof.

ומשלחים תחת הדור – to burn them in fire that is underneath the cavity in the gound laid out with clay/kettle where they cook the peace offerings/sacrifice of well-being, as it is written (Numbers 6:18): “[and take the locks of his consecrated hair] and put them on the fire that is under the sacrifice of well-being.”

And inside for the giving of wood on the altar of the Temple.

לשכת מצורעים = for there the lepers immerse on the eighth [day] of their purification which he comes to put his hand inside for the giving of wealth [for the giving of blood and oil] -, and even though he had immersed [in a ritual bath] from the evening.

אמר ר' אליעזר בן יעקב שכחתי מה היתה משמשת – it follows, that the entire first segment [of this Mishnah], Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said it. And this is proved in the Gemara of [Tractate] Yoma (16a), that an anonymous Mishnah of [Tractate] Middot is Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov (the first).

וחלקה היתה בראשונה – Maimonides explained, broken through/breached, that it was not surrounded by a partition.

כצוצטרא – like a balcony/כזוזטרא – that surrounded the women’s court (see Tractate Sukkah, Chapter 4, Mishnah 1), that the women who were standing above on the balcony and the men were below to see the Rejoicing of the House of the Water-Drawing, in order that they would not come to frivolity.

חמש עשרה מעלות – the height of the ground of the Israelite court from the Women’s Court.

לא היו טררוטות (they weren’t half-closed, round) – long and filled with corrrners like the path of all the steps, but rather round like a round half-circle.

וראשי פספסין (the tops of the flag-stones in the pavement) – the tops of the beams that protrude and come out from the wall to distinguish between the Israelite Courtyard and the Priest’s Courtyard.

Introduction Our mishnah is mostly about the Court of Israel, which was a smaller court leading from the Court of Women to the Court of the Priests.

מעלה היתה שם (a step) – in the Israelite Courtyard.

There were chambers underneath the Court of Israel which opened into the Court of Women, where the Levites used to keep lyres and lutes and cymbals and all kinds of musical instruments. Underneath the Court of Israel there were chambers where the Levites would deposit their instruments.

וגבוהה אמה – and its length was as the length of he entire Courtyard.

The Court of Israel was a hundred and thirty-five cubits in length by eleven in breadth. Similarly the Court of the Priests was a hundred and thirty-five cubits in length by eleven in breadth. Both of these courtyards were the same breadth as the Court of Women, but they were much shorter, extending only eleven cubits. In a sense they were just strips.

והדוכן (platform) – of the Levites is built upon it and is made like a kind of portico/balcony, and the height of the platform is a cubit-and-a-half.

And a row of mosaic stones separated the Court of Israel from the Court of the Priests. There was a partition separating the Court of Israel from the Court of Priests, for Israelites would not typically go into the Court of Priests. They would enter only when they were going to either slaughter a sacrifice or lay their hands upon it, or wave it.

ובו שלש מעלות של חצי חצי אמה – that they ascend upon them to the platform.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says: there was a step a cubit high on which a platform was placed, and it had three steps each of half a cubit in height. In this way the Court of the Priests was made two and a half cubits higher than that of Israel. According to Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob, there was a step with a platform on it between the two courts. On this platform the Levites would stand and sing when the tamid sacrifice was being offered (see Tamid 7:3). The Court of Priests was thus slightly higher than the Court of Israel.

כל העזרה – from the beginning of the Israelite Court until eleven cubits is a free space that was behind the House of the cover of the Holy Ark.

The whole of the Court was a hundred and eighty-seven cubits in length by a hundred and thirty-five in breadth. The entire Courtyard in which the Temple was located was 187 cubits long. This included the entire area of the Court of Priests, and then the area of the Temple, all the way past the Holy of Holies and to the western side of the Temple.

על רוחב – from north to south.

And thirteen prostrations were made there. There were thirteen places to prostrate, as we learned in mishnah three. According to this opinion, the thirteen places of prostration were at the places where the Soreg had been broken through by the Greeks.

שלשה עשר שערים – as he considers them and then moves on. And the one who states that there were seven gates in the Temple courtyard (see Tractate Middot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 4) gives the reason for the thirteen prostrations corresponding to the thirteen breaches that the Grecian kings made in the Soreg/one of the approaches of the Temple fortification, as we stated above in our Chapter (see Mishnah 3). And all of our Mishnah is explained in the first chapter [of Tractate Middot].

Abba Yose ben Hanan says: they were made facing the thirteen gates. On the south beginning from the west there were the upper gate (1), the gate of burning (2), the gate of the firstborn (3), and the water gate (4). And why was it called the water gate? Because they brought in through it the pitcher of water for libation on the festival. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says: in it the water welled up, and in the time to come from there it will come out from under the threshold of the Temple. Corresponding to them in the north beginning in the west were the gate of Yehoniah (5), the gate of the offering (6), the women's gate (7), the gate of song (8). Why was it called the gate of Yehoniah? Because Yehoniah went forth into captivity through it. On the east was the gate of Nicanor (9); it had two doors, one on its right and one on its left (10 + 11). There were further two gates in the west which had no special name (12 + 13). Abba Yose ben Hanan disagrees with the anonymous mishnah found in 1:4-5, who held that there were seven gates around the Temple Court. Abba Yose ben Hanan says that there were thirteen, and at each they would prostrate. He now lists these gates. Some of them are repeats of those listed above. The upper gate: Was called “upper” because it was at the highest point on the Temple Mount. The gate of the first-borns: Through which they would bring the first-born animals to be slaughtered, for they can be slaughtered on the south. The water gate: The mishnah gives two reasons why it was called the water gate. The first is practical through this gate the water was brought in for the water libation on Sukkot. The second is more messianic: Ezekiel 47:1-2 prophesies that in the time of redemption water will burst forth from the Temple. This water will come forth from this gate. Yehoniah’s gate: Yehoniah, as will be explained later in the mishnah, is the king who was exiled to Babylonia in II Kings 24:15. He went out, according to legend, through this gate. Commentators say that this is the same gate that is called “the gate of kindling” in 1:4. The gate of the offering: Through here they would bring in any sacrifice that needed to be slaughtered on the north side. The gate of women: Women who needed/wanted to lay their hands on their sacrifices could go in through this gate. The gate of song: Through which the Levites would bring in their musical instruments. Commentators identify this gate with the gate of the sparks in 1:5. Nicanor’s gate: As we have already learned, this gate was named after Nicanor who brought the gates from Egypt. On each side of the gate was a small door, and these doors were included in the overall count. Thus Nicanor’s gate gets credit for being three gates. The no-name gates: These gates were behind the Temple and were rarely used and therefore had no names.