Herod Refurbishes the Mikdash (2) Once Herod cajoled, persuaded, browbeat and bullied his subjects and the Mikdash authorities into agreeing to his grandiose proposal of refurbishing the Mikdash, the work could begin. Herod promised the people "that he would not pull down their temple until all things were gotten ready for building up entirely again. And as he promised this beforehand, so he did not break his word with them, but got ready a thousand wagons, that were to bring stones for the building, and chose out ten thousand of the most skillful workmen, and bought a thousand sacerdotal garments for as many of the priests, and had some of them (the Kohanim) taught the art of stone cutters, and others of carpenters, and then began to build: but not until everything was well prepared for the work" (Antiquities b.15:11;2). But what exactly was Herod's role? The historian Peter Richardson (Herod, King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans, p.185,195) comments, "The rebuilding's organization and careful preparations, the quality and the enormous quantity of materials used, the vast scale and drama of the Temple, its innovations, its integration into the existing cityscape, the demand to continue regular worship - all are truly staggering." Richardson continues, "All of Herod's structures were up-to-date in both materials and methods of construction. Some of the design elements were ahead of their time; some of the innovations had no earlier Roman antecedents… The organization needed to gather the materials, obtain the technical experts, and coordinate the work was prodigious. And early on, Herod imported other innovations for wall, floor and roof construction… His designs were innovative also. The building of the Temple in Jerusalem best exemplifies this - not only its vast size, but such elements as the retaining walls, the brilliantly varied entrances and exits (including a bridge to the western hill, two pedestrian overpasses at the southern corners, a dramatic pair of tunnels and stairs to dramatize the holy place itself…) …and so on… There remains an unanswerable question: Who was responsible for this remarkable body of work? We do not know if it was Herod or someone acting under him - and if the latter, was it one person or a whole stable of architects? Several factors point to Herod's important role: the combination of influences that reflected Herod's own background, the wide-ranging innovations, and the absence of references to architects when there must have been popular comment on the structures. At the least Herod must have been a remarkable patron…." Having received the go-ahead (in one way or another), Herod and his architectural staff spent the next eight years preparing reams of technical drawings, gathering the requisite materials, and putting thousands of quarry men and stone cutters to work to ready the incredibly huge numbers of precisely carved stones necessary for execution of such an ambitious project. Armies of workers attacked the quarry site, clearing away the soil and other debris above the embedded limestone. Working in teams of five or six, skilled quarriers cut "slits" 10 cm. wide using especially designed picks to hew out thin channels into the newly exposed limestone. After completing the side, they also cut additional channels underneath the stone. By placing iron wedges in the newly carved channels and then driving them in deeply with mauls - extremely heavy sledgehammers - they were able to "blast" the stone from the rock formation. Where the limestone was in thinner layers, the quarriers were able to drill holes into the rock and insert wooden pegs and then added water. The water caused the wooden pegs to slowly expand and the resultant force cracked the stone along a rough line. Then the quarriers loosened the thin layers of limestone and dressed them. The thicker layers were used for building blocks; the thinner sheets were used for paving stones. As years passed, Herod's stone cutters prepared tens of thousands of carved building blocks for the rebuilt Mikdash compound and the associated adjacent buildings on Har HaBayit. Usually the large blocks for major construction projects were dressed at the buildingsite, however Melachim Alef notes that the stones destined for the Temple of Solomon were dressed at the quarry instead. The Torah banned the use of iron tools in the Mizbei'ach's construction. (Sh’mot 20:22, D’varim 27:5) The Gemara has a detailed description as to how the Mizbei'ach was constructed (Z’vachim 45a). Iron was not even permitted to come in contact with the altar stones. "For iron was created to shorten man's days, while the altar was created to prolong man's days. What shortens man's life may not be rightly lifted up against what lengthens life." For this same reason, even an iron trowel was not used for plastering (Midot 3:4). (This total ban could lead to complications in day to day "Mikdash logistics". The Mishna in Tamid 2:5 notes that every morning the Kohanim had to clear away unburned sacrificial meat from the top of the Mizbei'ach, move it aside and then and add additional wood for the fire. "Then they put back on the fire the limbs of the sacrificial animals and fat that had not been consumed since the evening. Tif'eret Yisrael 46 poses a fascinating question. "They (the Kohanim used shovels and hooks. If you tell me that they were made of copper, in any case, they still used iron knives. How was it possible that these knives never touched the stones of the Mizbei'ach?" His only answer was that the Kohanim had to be very careful indeed!) Melachim Alef gives an account of the building of Bayit Rishon. "For the house when it was in building, was made of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was being built." (Melachim Alef 6:7) Professor Hanoch Albeck in his Introduction to the Mishna (Bialik Institute and Devir Co. Tel Aviv 1967 p.5) points out that the stones for Temple of Solomon were possibly hewn at the quarry but certainly not at the actual building site because of the sound of iron tools was not heard. "They chiseled the stones outside" and then transported them to the building site. Professor Albeck continues, "The prohibition of the Torah forbidding the building of the altar with (iron-) hewn stones was expanded to include the entire Temple but only partially. It was forbidden for the iron to come into contact with the stones in the Temple area - (at the building site) - but not outside" And of course it was forbidden for iron tools to come into contact with stones destined for the altar at any time. It is likely that Herod, as much as it was practical emulated King Solomon in having as much work done at the quarry if only to reduce the noise and clutter around the Mikdash. The Kohanim warned Herod, and he understood perfectly, that the daily Avoda was not be disturbed. (Incidentally one can only wonder at the skill of King Solomon's - and Herod's - engineers and masons who shaped the stones and were able to implement the specifications of the architectural drawings and plans with such exactitude at the quarry. "All" that remained was to fit the various elements- stone, wood, etc. - together at the building site like a gigantic puzzle without recourse to iron tools.) Herod's preparations continued.
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