Middos, Chapter 3, Mishnah 7. This chapter has been leading us step by step through the measurements of the Beit Hamikdash and its structures, and now the Mishnah brings us to the great doorway that opened into the Ulam, the entrance hall of the Heichal. This was the widest and tallest opening in the entire Beit Hamikdash. Unlike the other entrances, this one had no doors set into it at all. In their place hung a curtain of great beauty.
The mishnah opens: "Pitcho shel Ulam", the entryway of the Ulam. Its height, "gavoha arba'im amah", was forty amot, and its measure across, "verochbo esrim amah", was twenty amot.
The Five Beams Above the Doorway
The mishnah continues: "Vechamesh maltera'ot", five decorated beams, "shel milat", fashioned of oak, "hayu al gabav", were positioned over it. They were arranged in tiers within the exterior facade of the Ulam, beginning where the doorway ended and continuing upward, set level with the surface of the stonework. Not one of them carried a load; nothing rested upon them and they held nothing up. Their entire purpose was decorative.
How They Widened
"Hatachtonah odefet al hapetach", the bottom beam projected past the entryway, "amah mizeh ve'amah mizeh", by a single amah to the one side and a single amah to the other. Its total span therefore reached twenty two amot.
"Shelema'ala mimena odefet aleha", the beam resting higher jutted out past the one beneath it, once again "amah mizeh ve'amah mizeh", an amah to this side and an amah to that. Its length thus came to twenty four amot, and the same increase repeated at every level, two amot gained with each step up, producing a pattern that broadened as the eye traveled higher.
"Nimtzeit ha'elyonah shloshim amah." Working upward in this fashion, the topmost beam came out to thirty amot.
The Stones Between Them
"Venidbach shel avanim", a course of masonry, was laid "bein kol achat ve'achat", between one beam and the next. The oak members never rested directly against each other; stone intervened at every level, giving each beam a frame of its own.