Chapter 41 of Sefer Yechezkel continues the tour guided by the angel with the prophet in the Third Beis HaMikdash, and now he brings him inward from the Ulam (vestibule) into the Heichal (Sanctuary). The Heichal is the place where the Shulchan (Table), the Menorah, and the Incense Altar - also known as the Golden Altar - stood. Inward from the Heichal was the Kodesh HaKodashim (Holy of Holies), in which there was nothing except the Aron (Ark), and inside the Aron, the Luchos (Tablets). In the First Temple, there were also Cherubim there: besides the Cherubim atop the Ark, there were also Cherubim carved into the walls of the House. This chapter measures the Heichal, the Kodesh HaKodashim, the walls, and the side-chambers (the "tzelamot") surrounding the House.
וַיְבִיאֵנִי אֶל־הַהֵיכָל וַיָּמׇד אֶת־הָאֵילִים שֵׁשׁ־אַמּוֹת רֹחַב מִפּוֹ וְשֵׁשׁ־אַמּוֹת־רֹחַב מִפּוֹ רֹחַב הָאֹהֶל׃ - He brought me to the Heichal and measured the jambs, six cubits wide on this side and six cubits wide on that side, the width of the tent.
This refers to the thickness of the wall separating the Ulam from the Heichal, which is six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side. Why does the verse call it an "ohel" (tent)? Because the Heichal had double doorways, and according to the principle "from the door-hinge inward is considered inside, from the door-hinge outward is considered outside," an independent domain was created between the two doorways. Its sanctity is not like the sanctity of the Heichal, nor is it like the sanctity of the Ulam; rather, it is an intermediate space between the two levels of sanctity. This is "the width of the tent" - that six-cubit space within the thickness of the wall.
וְרֹחַב הַפֶּתַח עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת וְכִתְפוֹת הַפֶּתַח חָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת מִפּוֹ וְחָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת מִפּוֹ וַיָּמׇד אׇרְכּוֹ אַרְבָּעִים אַמָּה וְרֹחַב עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה׃ - The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the side-posts of the entrance were five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; and he measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.
Until now we discussed the thickness of the walls; now we turn to the width. The total width from right to left is twenty cubits: the opening itself is ten cubits, flanked on both sides by a wall of five cubits on this side and a wall of five cubits on that side, with the thickness of these walls being six cubits, as we have seen. The length, meaning from the entrance inward until the Kodesh HaKodashim, is forty cubits. Thus, the length of the Heichal is double its width: twenty by forty.
וּבָא לִפְנִימָה וַיָּמׇד אֵיל־הַפֶּתַח שְׁתַּיִם אַמּוֹת וְהַפֶּתַח שֵׁשׁ אַמּוֹת וְרֹחַב הַפֶּתַח שֶׁבַע אַמּוֹת׃ - Then he went inward and measured the post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits.
After traversing the forty cubits of the Heichal, one reaches the Kodesh HaKodashim. The wall separating the Holy from the Holy of Holies is two cubits thick. The Malbim explains: the Kodesh HaKodashim had two entrances, one on the outside and one on the inside, corresponding to the two Parochiyos (curtains) in the Second Temple - an inner curtain and an outer curtain. The opening of the doorway was seven cubits, and the "six cubits" was the width of the door itself.
And this was its layout: the outer partition extended along, leaving an opening on the left (the southern side), while the inner partition was shorter by one cubit toward the right side. The Kohen would enter from the southern side, turn immediately to the right, walk between the two partitions, reach the opening in the inner partition on the northern side, and turn left into the Kodesh HaKodashim. The two partitions were spaced two cubits apart, and each was one cubit shorter at opposite ends, so that the openings were not aligned with one another, preventing anyone standing outside from looking in. This was precisely the manner of entry between the two curtains according to the view of the Tanna Kamma of Rabbi Yose in Maseches Yoma (daf 51), and here the doorways and gates are fashioned after the very same design.
וַיָּמׇד אֶת־אׇרְכּוֹ עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה וְרֹחַב עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה אֶל־פְּנֵי הַהֵיכָל וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי זֶה קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים׃ - And he measured its length, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the Heichal; and he said to me: "This is the Holy of Holies."
The Heichal was twenty by forty cubits, whereas the Holy of Holies was square: twenty by twenty. And what is meant by "This is the Holy of Holies"? In the Second Temple, the space between the two curtains was called the amah teraksin (the dividing cubit), and there was an unresolved doubt regarding it: did it share the sanctity of the Holy of Holies or the sanctity of the Heichal? If the outer curtain was primary, then this space belonged to the Holy of Holies; but if the inner curtain was primary, it belonged to the Heichal. To this, the angel said: "This is the Holy of Holies" - specifically the twenty-by-twenty area, but the two cubits in the space between the two doorways are not included in the Holy of Holies. In the Second Temple this remained uncertain, but in the Third Temple it is revealed that the passageway through which the Kohen passes between the two doorways is not considered part of the Holy of Holies.
וַיָּמׇד קִיר־הַבַּיִת שֵׁשׁ אַמּוֹת וְרֹחַב הַצֵּלָע אַרְבַּע אַמּוֹת סָבִיב סָבִיב לַבַּיִת סָבִיב׃ - And he measured the wall of the House, six cubits; and the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the House on every side.
Now he measures the northern and southern walls of the Heichal and the Holy of Holies, for the Ulam (vestibule), the Heichal, and the Holy of Holies all shared a single continuous wall. One entering from the east, like someone approaching from the direction of the Mount of Olives, having passed through the outer courtyard and the inner courtyard where the Altar stood, and entering the Ulam - to his right was the northern wall and to his left the southern wall, each six cubits thick. Likewise, the western wall at the back of the Holy of Holies, the rear wall facing in the direction of our Western Wall (even though the Western Wall itself is the outer retaining wall of the Temple Mount), was also six cubits thick. "And the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits" - what the side chamber (tzela) was will be explained in the next verse.
וְהַצְּלָעוֹת צֵלָע אֶל־צֵלָע שָׁלוֹשׁ וּשְׁלֹשִׁים פְּעָמִים וּבָאוֹת בַּקִּיר אֲשֶׁר־לַבַּיִת לַצְּלָעוֹת סָבִיב סָבִיב לִהְיוֹת אֲחוּזִים וְלֹא־יִהְיוּ אֲחוּזִים בְּקִיר הַבָּיִת׃ - And the side chambers were side chamber upon side chamber, three and thirty times; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the House for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the House.
The side chambers (tzela'ot) were compartments surrounding the Temple: five rooms adjacent to the wall on the north side, followed by a dividing wall and five more outer rooms; likewise on the south side, five adjacent rooms and another five outer rooms behind them; and on the west side, one room. Thus, the rooms adjacent to the wall numbered eleven: five on the right, five on the left, and one on the west. Since each chamber had three stories, eleven times three equals thirty-three, which is the meaning of "three and thirty times."
When one includes the outer layer of chambers as well, the tally would seemingly double to sixty-six. However, the Malbim writes that each one was divided into two along its length, thirty-three times, making sixty-four chambers. This calculation requires explanation: is it a scribal error, or did he mean that the final section on the western side was not divided into two, so that two were subtracted from sixty-six, leaving sixty-four?
"That they had not hold in the wall of the House" - in the Temple built by Shlomo, it is said: "For without the house he made rebatements (ledges) round about, that the beams should not have hold in the walls of the house." In ancient times, cast concrete did not exist, and to build an upper floor, beams had to be laid from wall to wall and the structure built atop them. This method did not permit massive vertical construction, as the ceiling did not fuse with the walls but merely rested upon them. The usual method was to bore holes into the wall and insert beams, as can still be seen today at the Western Wall in places where residences were built against it. Shlomo did not wish to pierce the walls of the Temple, so he built the wall to narrow as it rose, creating a ledge along its entire length. Upon this projection the beams were placed, and the upper stories rested on them. These are the winding passages (lulim) surrounding the Ulam, the Heichal, and the Holy of Holies.
In the Third Temple, Scripture states, it will not be so: they will not lay the beams widthwise, but lengthwise, from east to west. Because the chambers were arranged in a row from east to west with dividing walls between them, they stretched the beams from one dividing wall to the next, building the upper story upon them. In this manner, there was no need to anchor into the wall of the Heichal at all; for had they stretched beams from north to south, they would have been forced to pierce the outer surface of the northern or southern wall of the Ulam and Heichal. All this applies specifically to the side chambers adjacent to the Heichal; in the five outer rooms, however, there was no issue with laying beams from north to south, since they rested on the walls of the chambers themselves and did not touch the wall of the Heichal.
וְרָחֲבָה וְנָסְבָה לְמַעְלָה לְמַעְלָה לַצְּלָעוֹת כִּי מוּסַב־הַבַּיִת לְמַעְלָה לְמַעְלָה סָבִיב סָבִיב לַבַּיִת עַל־כֵּן רֹחַב־לַבַּיִת לְמָעְלָה וְכֵן הַתַּחְתּוֹנָה יַעֲלֶה עַל־הָעֶלְיוֹנָה לַתִּיכוֹנָה׃ - And there was a widening and a winding upward, higher and higher to the side chambers, for the winding ascent of the house went upward higher and higher round about the house; therefore the house widened upward, and so one went up from the lowest story to the highest by the middle story.
The side chambers had three stories, and it was necessary to ascend from one level to the next. In the First Temple, they ascended by means of winding stairs (lulim), a type of ladder or winding staircase. Here, Scripture informs us that this will not be the case; rather, the wall itself projected outward like steps, and upon them people ascended round and round. This is similar to the large cisterns of ancient times, which were not simple wells with a bucket, but vast room-like spaces with stairs built along the perimeter walls, descending step by step to the water. So too here, stairs ran along the wall all around - "the winding ascent of the house went upward higher and higher round about" - ascending and climbing to the uppermost part of the side chambers. The Malbim calculates that to rise one amah in height requires three amot in length of stairs; thus, to rise a height of one hundred amot requires a perimeter circumference of three hundred amot.
וְרָאִיתִי לַבַּיִת גֹּבַהּ סָבִיב סָבִיב מוּסְדוֹת הַצְּלָעוֹת מְלוֹ הַקָּנֶה שֵׁשׁ אַמּוֹת אַצִּילָה׃ - And I saw that the house had an elevation round about; the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed, six amot to the joint.
Until this point, the Malbim notes, the prophet did not contemplate the height at all, but measured only length and breadth; from here on, he begins to measure height. As he gazes upon the winding ascent going round and round, he sees that the height is immense: three hundred amot of circumference for every one hundred amot of elevation, and seeing that this perimeter winds around repeatedly, he realizes the height reaches several hundred amot.
"The foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six amot" - the Beit HaMikdash stood atop the mountain, and as one approaches it the mountain rises higher, ascending by steps from terrace to terrace. Along the side chambers, he saw that the foundation - the point where the steps began - protruded six amot above the ground on the exterior, while inside the chamber the foundation was level with the ground. How then did one ascend to such a height? The Malbim explains that on the western side, the foundation was level with the terrain, and from there they mounted the single amah by which the foundation rose above the ground to reach the entrance of the gallery (yatzia), and from there they walked to the beginning of the winding terrace (sovev). In simpler terms: since the mountain slopes from lower to higher ground, they approached from the lower terrain and began climbing from there, because at the high point where the foundation was exposed by six amot, one could not have begun climbing at all without a ladder.
רֹחַב הַקִּיר אֲשֶׁר־לַצֵּלָע אֶל־הַחוּץ חָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת וַאֲשֶׁר מֻנָּח בֵּית צְלָעוֹת אֲשֶׁר לַבָּיִת׃ - The width of the wall of the side chambers toward the outside was five amot, and that which was left open was the place of the side chambers belonging to the house.
Since the side chambers were arranged "chamber against chamber" - five compartments adjacent to the Heichal wall, a dividing wall, and another five outer compartments - there were two walls: the outer wall of the side chamber (outer relative to the Heichal), and the inner wall separating the outer compartments from the inner ones, which is the munach (open space or dividing structure). In addition, the Malbim explains, there were walls separating each side chamber from the next along its length, for along each side there were five compartments in a row, with a dividing wall between each room.
וּבֵין הַלְּשָׁכוֹת רֹחַב עֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה סָבִיב לַבַּיִת סָבִיב סָבִיב׃ - And between the chambers was a width of twenty amot round about the house, all around.
The Malbim explains that they consecrated twenty cubits of the outer courtyard. As we have already mentioned, the inner courtyard is the Azarah, the sacred area designated for offering the sacrifices, whereas the outer courtyard possessed a lesser degree of sanctity - though not in its entirety, since twenty cubits outward from the wall of the inner courtyard were sanctified with the sanctity of the Azarah. In the outer courtyard there were also chambers: just as we saw chambers upon entering the outer courtyard from the east, so too were there chambers all around, adjoining the inner courtyard from the outside.
At first glance, this is puzzling: having already brought us into the Heichal and into the Holy of Holies, why suddenly jump outside to the chambers in the outer courtyard? Rather, the Malbim explains, Scripture is providing an essential preface for the upcoming verse.
וּפֶתַח הַצֵּלָע לַמֻּנָּח פֶּתַח אֶחָד דֶּרֶךְ הַצָּפוֹן וּפֶתַח אֶחָד לַדָּרוֹם וְרֹחַב מְקוֹם הַמֻּנָּח חָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת סָבִיב סָבִיב׃ - And the entrance of the side chamber opened toward the open space (munach), one entrance toward the north and one entrance toward the south; and the width of the open space was five cubits all around.
The term munach includes, according to the Malbim, both the dividing wall between the side chambers and the interior space of the outer side chamber itself. Until now, it was not explained where the entrance to the chambers was located; after all, a room enclosed by walls requires an entrance. Scripture therefore tells us that the entrance was in the side chamber facing outward, one entrance on the north and one entrance on the south. Yet we must still ask: were these entrances in the chambers nearest the east, at the point of entry, or in the chambers facing the side of the Holy of Holies? It stands to reason, the Malbim explains, that the entrances were at the point of entry, to the right and left of one who enters, and through them one would go inside.
This is why that preface was necessary: in the Third Temple, we do not find the structure known as the Beit HaChalifot (slaughter-knife chamber). In the Second Temple, the Ulam (Vestibule) extended beyond the width of the Heichal by sixteen cubits on each side, which is how it is depicted in diagrams viewed from above: the entrance to the Ulam is broad on the right and left, whereas the Heichal and the Holy of Holies are narrower. Our Sages likened this shape to a crouching lion, broad in front and narrow behind. In the Third Temple, this was not the case; thus, one could enter directly from the right and left into the side chambers on either side.
"And the width of the open space was five cubits" - as noted, munach is also the term used for the outer chambers themselves, and the width of their interior was five cubits, whereas the width of the inner chamber was four cubits, as we saw earlier.
וְהַבִּנְיָן אֲשֶׁר אֶל־פְּנֵי הַגִּזְרָה פְּאַת דֶּרֶךְ־הַיָּם רֹחַב שִׁבְעִים אַמָּה וְקִיר הַבִּנְיָן חָמֵשׁ־אַמּוֹת רֹחַב סָבִיב סָבִיב וְאׇרְכּוֹ תִּשְׁעִים אַמָּה׃ - And the building that was before the separate area (gizrah) on the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits wide all around, and its length ninety cubits.
We are presented here with three terms: gizrah (the separate area), binyan (the building), and the wall of the building. Gizrah is a specific designation for the Ulam, the Heichal, and the Holy of Holies along with their surrounding walls; it is called this because it was cut off and set apart by itself (from nigzar) and was extremely tall, unlike the chambers surrounding it, which were only fifteen cubits high. The width of the gizrah from north to south was thirty-two cubits: twenty cubits of interior space, plus six cubits of wall on one side and six cubits on the other. Its length from west to east was ninety cubits, from the western edge of the western wall of the Holy of Holies to the outer eastern wall of the Ulam.
"The building" - this refers to the chambers attached to the gizrah on the north and south, which spanned nineteen cubits on each side: the two walls of the chamber totaled ten cubits, the interior space of the outer chamber was five cubits, and the interior space of the inner chamber was four cubits. Beyond them, at a distance of ten cubits from the chambers, stood the wall of the inner courtyard, measuring five cubits in width, and this is what is called "the wall of the building."
Here we find several measurements. The first measurement: the building facing the gizrah on the western side, opposite the western wall of the Holy of Holies, where its width was seventy cubits; and if one measures as far as the surrounding wall of the building, it reaches one hundred cubits. The second measurement: the length of the building was ninety cubits. The chambers extended from the beginning of the Ulam's wall to the end of the western wall; including the walls, this reaches one hundred cubits, and without them, ninety.
וּמָדַד אֶת־הַבַּיִת אֹרֶךְ מֵאָה אַמָּה וְהַגִּזְרָה וְהַבִּנְיָה וְקִירוֹתֶיהָ אֹרֶךְ מֵאָה אַמָּה׃ - And he measured the House, a length of one hundred cubits; and the gizrah (separate area), the building, and its walls, a length of one hundred cubits.
This is the third measurement. After measuring the length of the building facing the gizrah - that is, the length of the side chambers on both sides of the House, which was ninety cubits - he now measures the length of the House itself from east to west, from the Ulam (Porch) to the western edge of the Kodesh HaKodashim (Holy of Holies), which is one hundred cubits. The difference arises because the side chambers end ten cubits before the end, and those ten cubits consist of five cubits of the final chamber and five cubits of the final wall, and thus ninety becomes one hundred.
The fourth measurement is in width. Initially, he measured across the width only the gizrah and the building, which totaled seventy cubits: the Ulam with its walls was thirty-two cubits (twenty cubits of interior space, plus six and six for the walls), plus the side chambers at nineteen cubits on each side, which makes thirty-eight, totaling seventy. And if we add the open space leading to the wall of the inner courtyard, ten cubits on each side - an additional twenty cubits; and the wall of the inner courtyard itself, five cubits on each side - an additional ten cubits. Seventy plus twenty plus ten equals one hundred cubits. Thus, the width of the entire building including the outer walls is one hundred cubits, and its length is one hundred cubits, and the entire compound - the Ulam, the Heichal, the Kodesh HaKodashim, and all the side chambers and walls surrounding them - is one hundred by one hundred.
וְרֹחַב פְּנֵי הַבַּיִת וְהַגִּזְרָה לַקָּדִים מֵאָה אַמָּה׃ - And the width of the front of the House, and of the gizrah toward the east, was one hundred cubits.
This is the fifth measurement. "The front of the House" refers to the eastern side, as the west is called the back. He measures from south to north on the eastern side, at the entrance to the Ulam, and arrives at the figure of one hundred cubits. From here, Scripture teaches us that along the sides as well, where the side chambers stand, the calculation also reaches one hundred cubits - even though ostensibly there were only ninety, since the side chambers terminate ten cubits before the western end.
וּמָדַד אֹרֶךְ־הַבִּנְיָן אֶל־פְּנֵי הַגִּזְרָה אֲשֶׁר עַל־אַחֲרֶיהָ וְאַתִּיקֶיהָא מִפּוֹ וּמִפּוֹ מֵאָה אַמָּה וְהַהֵיכָל הַפְּנִימִי וְאֻלַמֵּי הֶחָצֵר׃ - And he measured the length of the building facing the gizrah which was behind it, and its galleries on this side and on that side, one hundred cubits; along with the inner Sanctuary and the porches of the court.
The sixth measurement: He stretches the measuring line from east to west and measures the length of the building, meaning the side of the chambers. Initially, we saw only ninety cubits there, because he had not measured up to the western edge. And what was situated past the end of the chambers? Its "attikim" (galleries or upper structures) on both sides.
What are the attikim? Targum translates this as "its corners," and the Malbim explains further: "The term attik refers to a structure built aloft upon pillars, or when beams are laid across the roofs of two buildings facing each other, extending beams from one to the other, and building aloft upon them." As explained: in ancient times there was no concept of self-supporting poured concrete, so any vertical construction required strong load-bearing walls at the base upon which thick wooden beams were laid (today this is done with steel girders), over which mortar and plaster were spread until a solid floor was formed, creating a second story that could be walked upon. Sometimes there was a room on the right and a room on the left, and they stretched beams from one edge to the other; consequently, the area below was not an enclosed room, while above it there was already a ceiling - and this is the attik.
Here we find ourselves in a situation where the side chambers on the right and left came to an end, yet an open space of ten cubits remained up to the western wall. Therefore, beams were stretched from the edge of the chambers on the right and from the edge of the chambers on the left to the western wall, creating an upper chamber of sorts, a functional space aloft. These are "its attikim on this side and on that side" - the continuation of the right and left chambers all the way to the end, spanning ten cubits. When measuring from end to end including the attikim, one reaches one hundred cubits.
And so too from the other direction: if we measure not from the sides, but from the Ulam inward, through the Heichal and the Kodesh HaKodashim and continuing westward, there too we reached ninety; but behind the Kodesh HaKodashim there was a cell five cubits wide and an additional wall of five cubits, which makes ten cubits, and here too the total is completed to one hundred cubits. And this is the meaning of "the inner Heichal and the porches of the court" - that together with them, one ultimately arrives at the measurement of one hundred cubits.
In this part of Chapter 41, we entered with the prophet from the Ulam into the Heichal: the wall's thickness is six cubits and within it is "the Tent," a place whose sanctity is intermediate between the Ulam and the Heichal; the Heichal is twenty by forty cubits, and its doorway is ten cubits with side walls of five and five; and from there to the square Kodesh HaKodashim, twenty by twenty, whose two doorways are not aligned opposite each other, corresponding to the two curtains, and the passageway between them - the amah traksin regarding which there was uncertainty in the Second Temple - is reduced here from the sanctity of the Kodesh HaKodashim. Afterward, we saw the side chambers surrounding the House, two rows of cells across three stories, whose beams rest lengthwise on the dividing walls and are not fastened into the wall of the House at all, as well as the winding staircase that wraps around and ascends higher and higher. Finally came the measurements: the Gizrah, the building and its walls, the galleries in the west, and everything combines into a single calculation - one hundred cubits by one hundred cubits, a complete House, measured on all its sides, speedily in our days, Amen.