Meilah 35 – A Trip To The Temple (Middot)

The area of the Temple Mount was five hundred by five hundred amot, or about 14-20 acres. Most chambers there were in the south, and most people would enter from the south. They would then turn to the right and circle around to their destination, because of the rule that all turns that one takes should be to the right.

The exception to this rule were mourners and people excommunicated by the court. They would turn to the left, and immediately evoke the compassion of the onlookers, who would say to the mourners, “May the One Who dwells in this House console you.” If he told them that he was excommunicated, they would say to him, “May the One Who dwells in this House instill compassion in the judges' hearts,” - these are the words of Rabbi Meir. However, Rabbi Yehudah said to him, “You have made the judges out as if they overstepped the bounds of the law.” Rather, they said to him, “May the One Who dwells in this House put reason into your heart, and you listen to the words of your colleagues.”

Inside the Temple Mount wall was a lattice-work fence. At one point in history there were thirteen breaches in it, made by the Greek kings. Later these were repaired, and the Sages instituted thirteen prostrations corresponding to them.

Further inside the Temple were the Women's Courtyard with the balcony, Israelite's Courtyard, the Courtyard of the Kohanim, the Altar, and the Temple proper.

Art: Carl Wilhelm Hübner - Mourning Their Loss

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