Meilah 34 – The Dimensions of the Temple (Middot)

The study of the construction of the Temple is the current substitute for actually building it.

The Kohanim stood honorary guard in three places in the Temple, and the Levites – in twenty-one more places. The Officer of the Temple Mount would make rounds to each and every guard, with torches lit before him. The Levite guards, being posted on the Temple Mount rather than in the Courtyard, had the permission to sit there, but it was expected that they would rise to their feet, when they perceived the light of the torches. If they did not stand, the Officer would tell them, “Peace unto you,” to preclude the possibility that the guard was too absorbed in his thoughts. If it was apparent that the guide was sleeping, the Officer had the right to strike him with his staff, or even burn his outer garment.

The walls surrounding the Temple Mount had five gateways, each with its own name and function. The Temple Courtyard, too, was enclosed by walls on all four sides, and there were seven major gateways that  led to the Courtyard. The Hall of Fire – where, as we have described, slept the Kohanim during the night – had four chambers that opened into it, like suites that open into a ballroom. Two of them were in the consecrated portion – The Chamber of Sacrificial Lambs, and the Chamber of the Vision Bread, and two in the unconsecrated part – in one they hid the pieces of the Altar defiled by idol worship, and the other one led to the Immersion Room.

Art: Simon Kick - Guards from a Guild