Middos, Chapter 2, Mishnah 6. The previous mishnah brought us up the fifteen steps that led from the Ezrat Nashim into the Ezrat Yisrael, a rise of seven and a half amot between the two courtyards. Our mishnah now shows us what was done with the empty space created underneath that elevated floor, and then moves on to measure the inner courtyard and to count its gates.
Storage space under the floor
Since the floor above was raised, there was hollow space below it, and two rooms were built there. The mishnah calls them "lshachot," chambers, and situates them "tachat Ezrat Yisrael," underneath the Israelites' courtyard. Their entrances did not face west into the azarah; they were "ptuchot," open, eastward, toward the Ezrat Nashim on the lower level.
What were these rooms for? "Shesham haLevi'im notnim": this is where the Levi'im deposited their instruments when they were not being played. The mishnah names some of them, "kinorot unvalim umtziltayim," harps, lyres and cymbals, and then includes "vechol kley shir," every other instrument belonging to the orchestra of the Beit Hamikdash.
The two strips of the inner courtyard
From here the mishnah turns to the eastern portion of the azarah, which was divided into two bands running side by side: the strip set aside for Israelites in front, and behind it the strip belonging to the kohanim. A full description of the azarah itself, with everything that stood in it, is saved for Perek Heh.
The nearer of the two strips, the Ezrat Yisrael, was a long and shallow rectangle set just inside the eastern wall. The mishnah gives its dimensions: "me'ah ushloshim vechamesh," one hundred and thirty five amot, stretching the full width of the courtyard from north to south, and no more than "achat esreh," eleven amot, from east to west.
Immediately west of it lay the strip of the kohanim, and the mishnah says of it "vechen," the same: an identical rectangle of one hundred and thirty five amot by eleven.
What separated one strip from the other? "Rashey pispasin": the tips of wooden beams jutted out of the northern and southern walls at the point where the Israelites' area gave way to the area of the kohanim, and the mishnah says that these were "mavdilin," they formed the dividing line. A marker was needed because the kedushah of the two areas was not equal.
Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov: a step and a platform
Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov adds a further detail to the boundary. West of those projecting beam ends there was a "ma'alah," a step, "gvoha amah," a single amah in height, extending across the courtyard from north to south, and this step formed the western edge of the Ezrat Yisrael.
"VehaDuchan natun aleha." Resting on that step, along its entire length, was the duchan, the platform on which the Levi'im stood to sing.
"Uva shalosh ma'alot shel chatzi amah." Cut into the eastern face of the platform were three steps, each one half an amah high.
Now add the numbers together, and the mishnah's conclusion follows: "nimtzet," it emerges, that the level of the kohanim was "gevoha," higher, by "shetey amot umechetza," two and a half amot, than the level on which the Israelites stood: one amah for the step, plus three stairs of half an amah each on the face of the duchan.
The mishnah then gives the overall size of the inner courtyard. "Kol ha'azarah," the entire azarah, ran "me'ah ushmonim vasheva," one hundred and eighty seven amot, along its length, with a width of "me'ah ushloshim vechamesh," one hundred and thirty five amot.
Thirteen bowings
"Ushlosh esreh hishtachavayot hayu sham." Thirteen locations within the azarah called for a bowing. The first Tanna understands them as corresponding to the thirteen gaps that had once been torn in the soreg and were afterward repaired, which the mishnah taught us back in Mishnah Gimmel.
Abba Yose ben Chanan traces them elsewhere: the bowings, he says, were "keneged shelosha asar shearim," set opposite the thirteen gates of the azarah. A person reaching each gate would bow there, expressing his praise for the splendor of the Mikdash.
The Tanna Kamma does not dispute that there were thirteen gates. His objection is that six of them were minor doorways, not significant enough to call for a bowing. Having thirteen bowings to account for, he therefore links them to the repaired breaches in the soreg rather than to the gates.
The thirteen gates
The mishnah now lists all thirteen gates, including those already mentioned earlier in the masechet.
"Shearim deromiyim smuchin lema'arav": the mishnah begins with the gates on the southern side, counting from the western end. They were Sha'ar HaElyon (the Upper Gate), Sha'ar HaDelek (the Gate of the Kindling Wood), Sha'ar HaBechorot (the Gate of the Firstborn) and Sha'ar HaMayim (the Water Gate). All four were listed already in the first perek.
Why was it called the Water Gate? Because through it they would "machnisin tzlochit shel mayim," bring in the flask of water, "shel nisuch beChag," used for the libation on the festival. On each day of Sukkot the drawn water was carried in by way of this entrance and poured over the mizbe'ach.
Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov explains the name from a different direction: "uvo hamayim mefakim." The gate is called after something still in the future rather than something in the present. Water is destined to issue from this gate in the third Beit Hamikdash, and at that point along its path the quantity flowing will match the thin stream that trickles out of the narrow mouth of a jug.
The mishnah continues that the waters are "atidim liheyot yotzim," destined to flow out, "mitachat miftan haBayit," from beneath the threshold of the House. The Gemara, building on Yechezkel's prophecy, maps the route: the flow starts in the Kodesh HaKodashim as thin as the feeler of a locust, passes into the azarah below the doorway of the Heichal, bends toward the south, and exits by the Water Gate, widening steadily as it goes.
"Ule'umatan batzafon smuchim lema'arav." Opposite these, on the north, again counted from the west, stood four more gates. First Sha'ar Yechonyah, the Gate of Yechonyah, which is the gate we earlier met as Sha'ar HaNitzotz, the Gate of the Spark. Then Sha'ar HaKorban, the Gate of the Offering; Sha'ar HaNashim, the Women's Gate, by which a woman who brought a korban to the Beit Hamikdash would come in; and Sha'ar HaShir, the Gate of Song, the very gate of the Beit HaMoked, the chamber of the fire, spoken of earlier. It was through this last one that the Levi'im brought their instruments into the azarah.
The mishnah explains where the name Yechonyah comes from: "shebo yatza Yechonyah," through this gate Yechonyah left, "begaluto," when he went into exile. Yechonyah was the final Jewish king of the period of the first Beit Hamikdash, and Bavel took him away captive. Before he was led out of the city he came into the Beit Hamikdash to daven one last time, and he made his exit through this gate, which bore his name from then onward.
"Shebamizrach, Sha'ar Nikanor." On the eastern side there was the gate of Nikanor, with which we are already familiar from earlier in the masechet.
"Ushney pishpashin hayu lo": two small doors belonged to it, "echad mimino ve'echad mismolo," set in the wall to its right and to its left. People made use of them when they wished to leave the azarah.
"Ushnayim bama'arav": two more openings stood in the western wall, and about them the mishnah says "lo haya lahem shem," no name was ever attached to them. They served for going out, and since so few people passed through, nobody ever named them.