Middos, Chapter 4, Mishnah 7. This chapter has been describing the Heichal building of the Beit HaMikdash, its doorways, its walls and its side chambers. Now the Mishnah lays out the full dimensions of the structure, first along its length from east to west, then along its width from north to south, and it closes with a remarkable image: the shape of the building itself resembled a lion.
From East to West: One Hundred Amot
"Mehamizrach lema'arav me'ah amah." Measured from its eastern face to its western face, the building spanned one hundred amot. The Mishnah then accounts for every amah of that span:
- "Kotel haUlam chamesh." Five amot were consumed by the thickness of the Ulam's own wall.
- "VehaUlam achadasar." Eleven amot for the Ulam, the entrance hall a person crossed before reaching the main chamber.
- "Kotel haHeichal shesh." Six amot for the thickness of the sanctuary's eastern wall.
- "Vetoko arba'im amah." Forty amot for the inner space, the Kodesh.
- "Amah teraksin." A single amah for the teraksin, the divider set between the Kodesh and the Kodesh HaKodashim. In the first Beit HaMikdash that divider was a stone wall an amah thick; in the second it took the form of two curtains hung with a gap of an amah between them.
- "Ve'esrim amah Beit Kodesh HaKodashim." Twenty amot for the Kodesh HaKodashim.
- "Kotel haHeichal shesh." Six amot for the thickness of the sanctuary's western wall.
- "Vehata shesh." Six amot for the cell that lay past it.
- "VeKotel hata chamesh." Five amot for that cell's outer wall.
Added together, these figures come to exactly one hundred amot from the eastern edge of the building to its western edge.
From North to South: Seventy Amot
The previous mishnah described the building as one hundred amot wide from north to south, but that figure applied only to the Ulam. The rest of the structure was narrower, seventy amot across. Here the Mishnah gives the breakdown of those seventy amot: "Min hatzafon ladarom shiv'im amah."
- "Kotel haMesiba chamesh," five amot for the northern outer wall of the Mesiba, "vehaMesiba shalosh," and three amot for the winding ramp itself.
- "Kotel hata chamesh," five amot for the wall enclosing the cell, "vehata shesh," and six amot for the cell.
- "Kotel haHeichal shesh," six amot for the sanctuary's northern wall, "vetoko esrim amah," and twenty amot for its interior measured across.
- Now moving toward the south: "Kotel haHeichal shesh," another six amot of sanctuary wall, "vehata shesh," six amot for the cell on that flank, "veKotel hata chamesh," five amot for that cell's own wall.
- "UBeit Horadat HaMayim," the Mishnah concludes, "shalosh amot," three amot for the water shaft, "veKotel chamesh amot," and five amot for the wall enclosing it.
The Beit Horadat HaMayim was an open shaft that ran alongside the length of the building. Rain that gathered above on the sanctuary's roof was carried down through it, one component of the drainage arrangements of the Beit HaMikdash. The wall past it sealed the structure on its southern side, and adding up all these figures produces the seventy amot from north to south.
The Ulam and the Beit HaChalifot
Where, then, do the hundred amot of width come from? The answer is that the Ulam was broader than everything behind it: "HaUlam odef alav," it jutted out past the rest of the building by "chamesh esreh amah" toward the north, fifteen amot, and by a further fifteen toward the south. Join those two projections to the seventy amot of the main structure and the frontage of the Ulam comes to one hundred amot.
The Mishnah gives these two projecting wings a name: "Vehu hanikra Beit HaChalifot," this area was called the Beit HaChalifot, the hall of the knives, "shesham gonzin et hasakinim," for it was there that the knives used for shechitah were put away in storage.
Narrow Behind and Wide in Front
The Mishnah now sums up the silhouette of the building: "VehaHeichal tzar me'achorav," the Heichal was narrow toward its western rear, "verachav milfanav," and broad at its eastern front, since the Ulam spread out on both sides there, "vedomeh le'ari," so that the outline of the structure called a lion to mind.
For this comparison the Mishnah points to a verse in Yeshayahu: "Hoy Ariel, Ariel," woe, Ariel, Ariel, "kiryat chana David," the city where David encamped. The prophet is speaking of the Beit HaMikdash standing in Yerushalayim, the city ruled by David HaMelech, and he calls the Heichal by the name Ariel, a lion, because of the shape it presented.
The Mishnah spells out the likeness: "Mah ari tzar me'achorav," a lion tapers toward its hindquarters, "verachav milfanav," while its chest and shoulders spread wide, "af haHeichal," and the same held true of the Heichal, "tzar me'achorav verachav milfanav," slender behind and wide in front.