intended to increase the knowledge, interest, and anticipation of the reader, thereby hastening the realization of our hopes and prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash.

The Heichal and Kodesh HaKodashim (2)
In the morning, the Kohanim in the Beit Hamikdash never opened the Sha'ar HaGadol, the entrance to the Heichal (the Sanctuary), from without. Instead a Kohein, standing in the Ulam, would walk through a small wicket located in the wall to the north, enter a small "cell", turn left and thereby enter the Heichal. Only then would he unlock the Heichal doors - from within. But the Mishna also specifically refers to a sealed door on the southern side of the Sha'ar HaGadol. "No man ever entered by the wicket on the south, because concerning (this southern wicket), Ezekiel expressly said, 'And the Lord said unto me, 'This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, nor shall any man enter by it, for the Lord the G-d of Israel, has entered by it, therefore it shall be shut" (Middot 4:2). Perhaps the existence in the Mikdash of a sealed passage, barred to the Kohanim, had the salutary effect of teaching them humility.

The floor of the Heichal of Bayit Rishon was "covered" with planks of cypress wood and overlaid with gold. The floor of the Heichal of Bayit Sheini was composed of large square marble flagstones of indeterminate size and shape. Somewhat to the right of the entrance was a flagstone, one Amah by one Amah, (an Amah is roughly a half a meter) topped with a ring-handle used to lift the stone. Underneath this removable stone was dust used as an ingredient in the preparation of the Bitter Waters - Mayim HaM’ar’rim (given to a Sota, suspected adulteress, to drink to prove her innocence or ascertain her guilt). It is likely that the gold plaque with the passages from the Torah concerning the Sota, donated by Queen Helena of Adiabene, was hung above this particular stone. The Mishna relates that the ceiling between the Heichal and the second floor of the Bayit was five Amot thick.

The five Amot included a two Amot thick layer which functioned as a kind of drainage receptacle in the event that heavy winter rains caused the second floor to flood, thus preventing leakage into the lower floor. A layer of strong wooden beams one Amah thick, provided the supporting understructure which bore the considerable weight of the second floor of the Bayit. There was also a layer of plaster one Amah thick. The lowest layer of the Heichal ceiling, the Kiyor, was also one Amah thick. (Note that the same word Kiyor was used for the lower ceiling and for the Laver which stood in the Azara.)

This lower visible part of the ceiling was composed of deeply carved panels, possibly similar to designs in Bayit Rishon. The carvings were floral designs and were overlaid with gold. Rambam (Middot 4:6) posits that the Kiyor consisted of "the kind of carvings that builders make in plaster or stone". Teferet Yisrael (ib., 54) suggests that the design on the tablature consisted of "open flower buds." While it was possible that there were window-like openings built into the western wall of the Ulam, high above the entrance to the Heichal, our sources do not specifically mention windows anywhere else. The open entrance of the Bayit, forty Amot tall, was only eleven Amot further to the east of the Sha'ar HaGadol (which was twenty Amot tall) These colossal openings allowed a substantial amount of daylight into the Heichal. This outside light was augmented and glorified by the warm glow of the golden ceiling and walls of the Heichal. The seven oil lamps of the Menorah illuminated the southwest corner and added a soft mellow light.

Three accoutrements, essential to the Avoda were positioned in the Heichal. These were the Mizbach HaZahav (Golden Altar) for the offering of incense, the Menora and the Shulchan (Golden Table) for the Showbread. The exact instructions for their construction are recorded in the Torah which also ordained their precise placement. "And you shall place the Shulchan outside the Parochet, (the veil separating the Heichal from the Kodesh HaKodashim) and the Menora opposite the Shulchan on the south side of the Mishkan and the Shulchan you shall place on the north side" (Shemot 26:35). The Gemara (Yoma 33b) notes, "...as he - the Kohein - entered the Heichal, he first reached the Mizbach HaZahav. As it was taught, 'The Shulchan was to the north two and one half Amot from the wall, the Menora was to the south, two and a half Amot from the wall. The Mizbach HaZahav stood in the exact middle extending somewhat outward (towards the east - the entrance to the Heichal)." The Mizbach HaZahav played an essential role in the Avoda of the Kohein Gadol on Yom Kippur.

Moses was commanded, "You shall make an altar to burn incense on, of acacia wood shall you make it. Its length shall be an Amah and its width an Amah - it shall be square - and its height shall be two Amot; from it shall its Keranot ("horns") be. You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its walls all around and its Keranot and you shall make for it a circlet golden edging all around (the top). You shall make for it two gold rings under its circlet edging for its corners, you shall make it on its two sides; and it shall be a housing for the staves with which to carry it…" (Shemot 30:1-4). Although the Mishna contains an extremely graphic description of the Sacrificial Altar of Bayit Sheini, there is no detailed description of the Mizbach HaZahav in the Mishna or anywhere else in the Talmudic literature. While the Sacrificial Altar of Bayit Sheini differed considerably from the small portable altar of the Mishkan - in size, material and construction, we have no evidence that there were significant differences between the Mizbach HaZahav of the desert and that of Bayit Sheini. The only sketch we have of the Mizbach HaZahav from Bayit Sheini is an account of Josephus, ostensibly describing the Mizbach HaZahav of the Mishkan, but very likely depicting the Golden Altar of his own time. "Now between the candlestick and the table, which… were within the sanctuary, was the altar of incense, made of wood indeed… (but) it was entirely encrusted with golden plate. Its breath on each side was a cubit, but the height double. Upon it was a grate of gold which protruded above the altar. It had a golden crown encompassing it around, where there were rings and bars, by which the priests carried it when they journeyed." (Needless to say, the Mizbach HaZahav was carried only in the wilderness, in the Mikdash it was stationary.)

In Bayit Sheini, two enormous parallel curtains separated the Heichal from the Kodesh HaKodashim, each forty Amot high and twenty Amot wide. The outer Parochet was configured so that it bent slightly inward at the top so that it "looked like a covering." Possibly by the end of Bayit Sheini, the Cheruvim design on the Perachot of the Biblical Mishkan and Bayit Rishon had "evolved" into an indefinable abstraction. While Josephus' pen elaborated on virtually everything else in Bayit Sheini with real panache, he did not venture to describe the Cheruvim woven into the Parochet which divided the Heichal from the Kodesh HaKodashim in his day.
<to be continued>

Catriel Sugarman (acatriel@netvision.net.il, 02-652-7531) gives illustrated lectures on the Beit Hamikdash and related topics. Catriel is in the process of writing a book:
The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrim's Perspective: A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service.

[The Parshat Ki-Teitzei Homepage]
[The TORAH tidbits Homepage] [How to use TORAH tidbits]
[About The OU/NCSY Israel Center] [About TORAH tidbits]
 [www.ou.org]