Yoma 16a — the Talmud in English

Southern ![](pamud.bmp "

exact column location")

eastern -

it is the chamber in which they would make the showbread.

Northeastern -

in it the Hasmoneans concealed altar stones that the Greek kings had defiled,

because they profaned them by offering upon them a sacrifice to idolatry.

Northwestern -

in it

there was, in its floor, an opening through which they would

go down to the immersion chamber.

And it follows that this Mishna in tractate Middot, which says that the chamber of the lambs was in the southwestern corner of the Chamber of the Hearth, contradicts the Mishna in tractate Tamid, which places it in the northwestern corner of the Chamber of the Hearth.

Rav Huna said: Who is the tanna

of tractate

Middot -

it is Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov.

But a different tanna taught tractate Tamid.

And the proof that Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov is the tanna who taught tractate Middot is::

as we learned

in it [2:5]:

The Women’s Courtyard was: one hundred and thirty-five

cubits

by one hundred and thirty-five

cubits.

And there were four chambers in its four corners

its corners.

And what purpose did they serve?

a.

Southeastern -

it was the chamber of the nazirites.

For there the nazirites would cook their peace-offerings,

since they had to give the priests the cooked foreleg of the ram of their peace-offerings, and therefore they had to cook all the rest of the ram in a sacred place.

And

also

they would shave

the nazirites

their hair and send

it

under the cauldron

in which they cooked the meat of the ram of their peace-offerings.

b.

Northeastern -

it was the chamber of the wood house, where priests who were blemished

and unfit for the service

would stand and “worm-check”

inspect

the wood, for any wood in which there was a worm was unfit for the altar,

since a worm is something unfit to be burned upon the altar.

c.

Northwestern -

it was the chamber of the lepers,

where the lepers would immerse a second time, after they had already immersed outside, in preparation for bringing their thumbs into the Israelites’ Courtyard, at the Nicanor Gate.

d.

Southwestern -

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov said: I forgot

for what purpose

it was

this chamber

used.

Abba Shaul says: In it they would place wine

for the libations

and oil

for the menorah and for the meal-offerings.

And it was called the Chamber of the House of Oil.

It follows, then, that the tanna who taught tractate Middot is Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, whom the Mishna cites as having forgotten this matter, and it is implied that he taught the other Mishnayot up to this point.

This too is reasonable,

we must prove that the anonymous Mishna in tractate Middot, according to

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, is.

And this is the proof:

As we learned [

in tractate Middot, chapter 2, Mishna 4]:

All the walls that were there,

on the Temple Mount,

were high

far above twenty cubits [for the entrances of the Temple Courtyard’s gates themselves were twenty cubits high, and above them was built the wall above the opening in the wall].

Except for the eastern wall,

which was low.

Because

the priest who burned the red cow

was

standing at the

head of

the Mount of Olives, directing his gaze and looking toward the entrance of the Sanctuary at the time of sprinkling the blood.

As it is written: “And he shall sprinkle—opposite the face of the Tent of Meeting.” And if the eastern wall were as high as the height of the other walls, it would conceal the entrance of the Tent of Meeting from the eyes of the priest who sprinkles the blood of the red cow.

And the Gemara proves, by calculating the height of the Sanctuary entrance, that this Mishna was taught specifically according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov. For only according to his view does the eastern wall of the Temple Mount conceal the entrance of the Sanctuary from the priest standing on the Mount of Olives, and therefore they had to lower the eastern wall.

And this is the calculation:

And we learned [

there, Mishna 3]:

All the entrances that were there: their height was twenty cubits, and their width was ten cubits.

And we learned [

in that same Mishna]:

Inside it,

within the area of the Temple Mount, east of the Courtyard, adjacent to it, at a distance of ten cubits from the Courtyard wall, there was a fence called

“the soreg” [

because it was made of wooden boards interwoven with one another diagonally].

And we learned [

there]:

Inside it,

inside the soreg, between it and the wall of the Courtyard, there was a platform called

the heil.

And the width of the heil -

ten cubits.

And there were twelve steps there

on the heil, opposite the entrance in the wall of the Women’s Courtyard.

The height

of every

step [

stair]

was half a cubit, and its tread

the width of the step,

was half a cubit.

It follows that the Women’s Courtyard was six cubits higher than the platform of the Temple Mount.

And further we learned [there, Mishna 5]:

Fifteen steps ascend from within it

from the Women’s Courtyard to the Israelites’ Courtyard [to the Nicanor Gate, through which they enter from the Women’s Courtyard into the Israelites’ Courtyard].

And these steps are those same fifteen steps that

“descend” from the Israelites’ Courtyard,

from the Nicanor Gate,

to the Women’s Courtyard,

as explained in tractate Sukkah, upon which the priests stood at the time of the water libation during the festival of Sukkot.

The height

of every

step

of the fifteen steps

was half a cubit.

And its tread,

the width of the step,

was half a cubit.

It follows that the Israelites’ Courtyard was elevated seven and a half cubits above the Women’s Courtyard, which is thirteen and a half cubits’ height from the platform of the Temple Mount.

And

further

we learned [

there, 3:6]:

Between the Entrance Hall and the altar

there were

twenty-two cubits.

And there were twelve steps there,

in order to ascend from the Courtyard to the entrance of the Entrance Hall.

The height

of every

step was half a cubit, and its tread was half a cubit.

And it follows that the entrance of the Sanctuary was six cubits higher than the Israelites’ Courtyard, which is nineteen and a half cubits from the platform of the Temple Mount.

And according to this calculation, the priest standing on the Mount of Olives could see the floor of the entrance of the Sanctuary through the entrances in the walls surrounding the Temple Mount and the Courtyards.

For the height of the open space of all the entrances was twenty cubits, whereas the floor of the entrance of the Sanctuary was only nineteen and a half cubits higher than the platform of the Temple Mount.

And only according to the method of Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, which will be explained below, according to whose view the floor of the entrance of the Sanctuary was higher by another two and a half cubits, was the priest prevented from seeing the entrance of the Sanctuary through the open space of the entrances. And therefore, according to him, they had to lower the eastern wall, so that the priest would see the entrance of the Sanctuary above the wall.

For

and

further

we learned

in tractate Middot [2:6]:

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says:

The floor of the Courtyard was not level. Rather,

one step

additional

was there

in the Courtyard, and it served as a dividing line between the eleven cubits of the Israelites’ Courtyard and the priests’ Courtyard.

And

it was

higher

that step

one cubit

in height.

And the platform -

was placed upon it,

on which the priests stood to bless Israel.

And the platform that stood upon that step extended across the entire width of the Courtyard,

and in it

there were

three steps, each half a half-cubit

in height for each step.

And behind the platform, in the priests’ Courtyard, toward the Sanctuary, the area of the Courtyard was elevated by a height of two and a half cubits above the Israelites’ Courtyard.

And from now it follows that, according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, the area of the priests’ Courtyard was elevated above the Israelites’ Courtyard by two and a half cubits [one cubit of the step, and another three half-cubits of the platform’s steps].

And now let us arrange the calculation of the height of the floor of the entrance of the Sanctuary:

The Women’s Courtyard was six cubits higher than the Temple Mount.

The Israelites’ Courtyard was seven and a half cubits higher than the Women’s Courtyard.

The priests’ Courtyard was two and a half cubits higher than the Israelites’ Courtyard.

The floor of the entrance of the Sanctuary was six cubits higher than the priests’ Courtyard.

And altogether, the floor of the entrance of the Sanctuary was twenty-two cubits higher than the platform of the Temple Mount.

And it follows that the eastern wall, whose entrance opening was twenty cubits high, with a wall built above it above the opening, prevented the priest from seeing from the Mount of Olives toward the floor of the entrance of the Sanctuary through the open space of the gate. And therefore they had to lower it, so that he would see the floor of the entrance of the Sanctuary above the wall.

If you grant

that the Mishna in Middot which says that the eastern wall had to be lowered so that the priest could see the entrance above it,

is Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov -

this is how the entrance was concealed from him.

But if you grant that it is the Rabbis

it is -

there is half a cubit [

between nineteen and a half and twenty cubits in the open space of the entrance of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount],

through which it is visible to him

as it appears to the priest on the Mount of Olives,

the entrance

of the Sanctuary

within it

through it.

Rather, is it not evident from this:

tractate Tamid -

is Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov.

Rav Adda bar Ahava said: Whose is this -

it is Rabbi Yehuda.

And they had to lower the eastern wall because of the altar, which blocked the possibility of seeing, as will be explained.

As it was taught in a beraita, Rabbi Yehuda says:

The place of

the altar -

was centered and stood

exactly

in the middle of the Courtyard.

And it had thirty-two cubits

the altar in its width.