Category: All Teachings
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Introduction to the Mishnah Part 2-3, Introduction to the Mishnah Conclusion, Tractate Bikkurim, Chavurah January 2015
I: 01/06/15
A – Introduction to the Mishnah Part 2
B – Introduction to the Mishnah Part 2
II: 01/13/15
A – Introduction to the Mishnah Part 3
B – Introduction to the Mishnah Part 3
III: 01/20/15
A – Introduction to the Mishnah Conclusion
B – Introduction to the Mishnah Conclusion
IV: 01/27/15
A – Tractate Bikkurim
B – Tractate Bikkurim
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The Mystery of Gan Eden Vol. 1 of 2 : Chavurah Jan 2013
I: 01/02/13
A – Tree of Life – Idolatry Part 1
B – Tee of Life – Idolatry Part 1
II: 01/08/13
A – Tree of Life – Idolatry Part 2
B – Tree of Life – Idolatry Part 2
III: 01/16/13
A – Tree of Life – Idolatry Part 3
B – Tree of Life – Idolatry Part 3
IV: 01/23/13
A – The Sign of Adam
B – The Sign of Adam
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The Inner Courtyard according to Rambam
The two T shaped cisterns are mikvaot. It is thought that the smaller of the two was for women. Just below the smaller mikvah is a grid of conduits. Thesee are believed to be toilets. There is a separation between the conduits were the building was obviously divided into two sections. The smaller section is believed to be for women. 
Note the columns within the Parbar. 
The wall to the right is the Ulam (Porch) of the Temple. 
This building directly behind the Temple Building was were some of the offerings pf the Kohanim were kept. 
This was the chamber where the kohanim on duty for the week slept. The two lambs for the daily Tamid were kept in the southwestern corner of the building. The Bakery for the Lechem haPanim (Bread of the Face was in the southeastern corner). The Chamber of the Tokens was in the northeastern section. In or beneath this chamber was where the stones of the desecrated altar were kept. 
In this building there were chambers that held salt for the Korbanot, a room for processing the hides of the Korbanot for the Kohanim, and a washing chamber for rinsing the hides, a flame was kept in the building in case the fire of the Altar went out. There was a special Chamber known as the Beit Even (House of Stone) where the kohen who was going to slaughter the Red Heifer stayed the week before the ceremony. 
This building housed the Lishkat haGazit (Chamber of Hewn Stone where the Sanhedrin Gedolah sat, the Lishkat haEitz (Chamber of the Wood – the quarters for the High Priest), the Beit Kior (House of the Laver) Beit Osei Chavittim (House of the Pancake Offering Bakery), Chambers for the singers and more. 
First Temple Period this building was called Beit Yair haLevanon (House of the Forest of Lebanon. 
In the Tractate Negaim of the Mishnah we are told that there was a Mikvah below the Lishkat haMetzoraim. This chamber was on the northwestern corner of the Ezrat Nashim. 
This is an example of one of the signs in Greek. Josephus states they were in Greek and Latin. Two signs in Greek have been discovered. 
The Mishnah states that the wall was 10 handbreadths high, while Josephus states it was 3 cubits high. Both are correct. 
Note the Monumental Stairway as well as plaza between buildings. 
This diagram shows measurements from Cheil to Corner Buildings. 
This is a piece of a sign housed in the Israel Museum. It is 19.2 inches high. That equals 1 five handbreadths cubit. 
note on the left the two structures in front of the Royal Stoa. These are the exits for the Chuldah passageways. Then the Wall for the original Temple Mount, the Mikvaot and Toilets followed by the Soreg. The fourth chapter of Hilchot Beit haBechirah by Rambam describes the Temple building while Chapter Five lists the structures of the Azarah or Inner courtyard. In this Rambam mostly follows the information provided in Middot of the Mishnah. Several areas of his commentary need to be amended to provide a better view of the Azarah.
1) There are additional structures not listed by Rambam found in the Tanach, other texts of the classical Oral Torah (such as other buildings and chambers referenced in other tractates of the Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud Bavli and Talmud Yerushalmi). Also throughout the Tanach many buildings are mentioned that are not described here. You must be careful to determine the exact location of a structure as it was common for buildings, chambers, and gates to have more than numerous names defining either different time periods or multiple functions of buildings. Josephus provides the names and locations of several of these. The Temple Scroll (from the Dead Sea Scrolls) describes many structures that are not listed in Middot or Hilchot Beit haBechirah).
2) Rambam lists seven gates to the Azarah as described in Middot. However, Middot also lists the number of gates to the Azarah as five and thirteen while Josephus describes both eight and nine gates. All these listings are essentially correct and are described according to different functions that are being expressed. Basically it deals with perspective. There were a total of thirteen gates to the Azarah.
3) Rambam states there were six chambers (Lishkot) to the Azarah. In fact there were numbers of other chambers to the Azarah. These six chambers are in reference to two of the corner buildings. The three chambers Rambam describes on the south are actually on the north and those Rambam lists on the north are on the south. The southern chambers are within the Beit Avtinas on the southeast corner and the northern chambers are within the Beit haNitzotz on the northeast corner. Rambam reversed the order of these chambers as listed in Middot due to a comment made in Pesachim 19a of the Talmud Bavli. From other texts we are able to determine that the listing in Middot was correct.
4) The Cheil is described by Rambam as a wall. Rather it was a pavement ten cubits wide that surrounded the Azarah. It is the stabilizing level that is equal on all sides. The Azarah continually goes up from this point so the Cheil provides both a common area to the Azarah and gives a base that you calculate all rises in elevation from.
With the above understandings and corrections, the work of Rambam is extremely valuable primarily to a concise reading of the order of the structures of the Azarah
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Hanoch Young/Sabra Joines, Rabbinic Texts, Yeshua v.s. The Pharisees- Conclusion, Introduction to Mishnah, Chavurah December 2014
I: 12/02/14
A – Hanoch Young/Sabra Joines
B – Hanoch Young/Sabra Joines
II: 12/10/14
A – The Rabbinic Text
B – The Rabbinic Text
III: 12/16/14
A – Yeshua V.S. the Pharisees Conclusion
B – Yeshua V.S. the Pharisees Conclusion
IV: 12/30/14
A – Introduction to the Mishnah
B – Introduction to the Mishnah
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The Altar of the Temple
From the various texts of the Tanach, Mishnah, Tosefta, Talmud Bavli, and Talmud Yerushalmi, Rambam has collected the assorted halachot of the Altar in a concise presentation. These are found in Chapter Two of Hilchot Beti haBechirah of the Mishneh Torah. This illustration allows you to see the Altar from different points of view allowing you to understand the halachot.
With Kohen on Saviv of Altar a perspective is gained.
