יומא 16 — Soncino English Talmud

¹the south-eastern was the cell wherein they made shewbread; in the north-eastern the Hasmoneans hid the stones of the altar, which the Greek kings had defiled; through the north-western they went down to the chamber of immersion! — R. Huna said: Who is the authority for [the anonymous Mishnahs in] Middoth? R. Eliezer b. Jacob, for we have learnt: The court of the women was one hundred and thirty-five cubits long and one hundred and thirty-five cubits wide. At its four corners there were four cells. What was their use? The south-eastern was the Cell of the Nazirites, where the Nazirites cooked their peace-offerings, and cut off their hair and cast it under the pot; the north-eastern was the Cell of the Wood-shed, wherein priests afflicted with a blemish were standing to examine the wood for worms-for any wood wherein a worm was found is unfit for the altar; the north-western was the Cell of the Lepers; as to the south-western, R. Eliezer b. Jacob said: I forget what its use was, whilst Abba Saul said: There they put wine and oil and it used to be called the Cell of the House of Oils. It may also be proved by reasoning that the authority for [the anonymous Mishnahs in] Middoth is R. Eliezer b. Jacob, for we have learnt: All the walls that were there [in the Temple] were high with the exception of the eastern wall, because the priest who burns the heifer stands on the Mount of Olives and looks towards the entrance of the Temple at the time the blood [of the heifer] is sprinkled. And we have learnt: All the entrances that were there; were twenty cubits high and ten cubits wide. And we have learnt: Inside this was the Soreg [a railing of lattice work]. And we have learnt: Inside this was the Hel [rampart], ten cubits broad. There were twelve steps there, the height of each step was half a cubit and the depth of each step was half a cubit. [Furthermore]: Fifteen steps which led from the Court of the Israelites to the Court of the Women, the height and depth of each step being half a cubit. [Furthermore we learnt]: Between the Hall and the altar there were twenty-two cubits, there were twelve steps, the height and depth of each half a cubit; and we have learnt: R. Eliezer b. Jacob said: There was a step one cubit high and the platform was set thereon and on it were three steps half a cubit high each. Now, if you can say that the authority for the anonymous [Mishnahs in Tamid] is R. Eliezer b. Jacob then it will be quite right, because according to him the door is concealed; but if you should say that it is in accord with [the other] Rabbis, there would be left half a cubit through which the door would be visible! — R. Adda b. Ahaba said: It is R. Judah, for it has been taught: R. Judah said: The altar was placed exactly in the centre of the Temple Court, measuring thirty-two cubits;^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ

^ᵃnote:The Hellenized Syrians under Antiochus Epiphanes, I Macc. IV, 44f.
^ᵇnote:Mid. I, 6. An obvious contradiction of the first account above.
^ᶜnote:Num.VI, 18: And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of his consecrated head, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace-offerings.
^ᵈnote:Mid. II, 5. R. Eliezer b. Jacob's statement, ‘I forget what its use was indicates that he was the authority of the anonymous Mishnah.
^ᵉnote:V. Mid. II, 4. (5) The following statement should make what follows clear. All the entrances of the buildings on the Temple mount were twenty cubits high. Inside the Hel were twelve steps, each half a cubit high. From the Court of the Women to the Court of Israel led fifteen steps, and twelve from the Hall to the Temple. Together thirty-nine steps, each half a cubit high, making nineteen and one half cubits in toto. According to this Tanna one need not assume that the eastern wall was lower, for since the height of the entrance is twenty cubits, there would still remain one half cubit of the door, which the steps (being only nineteen and one half cubits high) could not hide, so that the priest burning the heifer could look directly from the top of the Mount of Olives into the entrance to the Temple through the various entrances which were all exactly one against the other. But since we learnt that the eastern wall was lower, the Mishnah must be in accord with Eliezer b. Jacob, according to whom two and one half cubits were added to the height of the steps, for we have learnt in his name: There was a step, one cubit high, on which stood the platform with three steps of half a cubit height each. If we add that to the nineteen and a half cubits of the combined heights of the steps, we get twenty-two cubits (v. Tosaf. Jesh.) and that height would hide from view the entrance which was only twenty cubits high. The high priest burning the heifer looked westwards from the Mount of Olives, i.e. towards the eastern wall of the Temple, that is why, according to R. Eliezer b. Jacob, the eastern wall had to be lower, and that is the conclusive evidence that the anonymous Mishnah of Tamid is in accord with R. Eliezer.
^ᶠnote:Mid. II, 3.
^ᵍnote:Inside the entrance of the Temple Mount around the inner parts containing the Court of the Women and the Court of the Temple.
^ʰnote:[Or ‘a stone wall’, Mid. II, 3. The Soreg was the barrier beyond which heathens were not permitted to approach the Temple area, cf. Josephus, Wars, v. 5, 2.]
^ⁱnote:[A raised platform going around the inner precincts.]
^ʲnote:In those ten cubits of the Hel leading up to the Court of the Women.
^ᵏnote:Ibid.
^ˡnote:Ulam, leading to the interior of the Temple.
^ᵐnote:Mid. III, 6.
^ⁿnote:Between the Court of the Israelites and the Court of the Priests.
^ᵒnote:It is the platform of the Levites, on which they stood, when singing or teaching, and from which the priests pronounced the benediction, V. Mid. II, 6.
^ᵖnote:Mid. II, 2.
^ᵠnote:Whenever no teacher is mentioned in the Mishnah of Middoth it is R. Eliezer b. Jacob, or whenever a Tanna is mentioned as opposing the anonymous Mishnah, he opposes R. Eliezer b. Jacob.
^ʳnote:By the height of the steps.
^ˢnote:To the priest looking across from the Mount of Olives; what necessity then was there for the eastern wall to be lower?
^ᵗnote:The Tanna who said that the eastern Temple wall was lower.

²ten cubits opposite the door of the Temple, eleven cubits toward the north, and eleven cubits toward the south. With the result that the altar was exactly opposite the Temple and its walls. But,if you should consider that the authority for Middoth is in accord with R. Judah, how could the altar possibly have stood in the centre of the Temple? Surely we have learnt: The Temple Court in all had a length of a hundred and eighty-seven cubits and a width of a hundred and thirty-five cubits. From east to west it extended over a hundred and eighty-seven cubits; the space which [lay] Israelites trod was eleven cubits; eleven cubits was the space which the priests trod; the altar occupied thirty-two; between Hall and altar were twenty-two cubits; the Sanctuary a hundred cubits and eleven cubits behind the place of the mercy seat. From north to south was a hundred and thirty-five cubits; the ramp and the altar occupying sixty-two cubits, from the altar to the rings eight cubits; the place of the rings twenty-four; from the rings to the tables four; from the tables to the columns four; from the columns to the walls of the Temple Court eight cubits and the remainder lay between the ramp and the wall and the place of the columns. Now if you were to consider that the authority for Middoth is R. Judah, how is it possible that the altar be in the centre of the Temple, since the bigger part of the altar lies towards the south?6^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ

^ᵘnote:The inside of the Temple was twenty cubits, the walls were six cubits in depth, and the height of the altar was nine cubits to which must be added the thirteen and a half cubits rise in the level of the Court of the Israelites where the altar stood making a total of twenty-two and a half cubits; thus the altar would hide the Temple door, hence the lower eastern wall. V. Zeb. 58b.
^ᵛnote:[An empty space beyond the Holy of Holies, the purpose of which is not stated anywhere.]
^ʷnote:They were set in the ground in the slaughter-house, north of the altar, and the necks of the animals were placed in them. The most holy sacrifices were slain on the north side of the altar, Zeb. 47a.
^ˣnote:Low columns placed in the ground, to which iron hooks were attached, on which the animals were hung for flaying.
^ʸnote:Mid. V, 1, 2.
^ᶻnote:[The figures given here as from south to north make a total of a hundred and ten cubits. To this must be added the space of four cubits occupied by the table, which is not mentioned here, then leaving a remainder of twenty-one cubits which lay equally between the ramp and the wall and the place of columns. This allows for ten and a half cubits for the space between the ramp (which was on the south of the altar) and the southern wall of the court. Deducting this from sixty-seven and a half cubits which was half the breadth of the court from south to north, we are left with fifty-seven cubits within which lay the ramp, thirty cubits in length, and twenty-seven out of the thirty-cubits of the altar proper, with the result that the larger part of the altar lay in the southern half of the court. V. Rashi.]