Hypermikdash
THE BEAMS
From somewhere around half way up the eastern
wall of the Antechamber, two beams stuck out and reached across to the
outer (eastern) wall of the hearth. They were there to help support
the walls themselves. But that wasn't their only purpose...
From the floor to either side of the door
into the hearth, "grew" golden grape vines. The long vines were hung
across the beams all the way to the front wall. From the vines were
suspended clusters of golden grapes - the "fruits" (if you'll excuse the
expression) of public contributions to the Temple treasury. When
money (or gold) was needed, one of the grapes would simply be plucked.
Of note: the Rabbis tell us that in
the first Temple, King Solomon actually planted golden vines and that they
actually grew like the real thing!
Who says money doesn't grow on trees?
From the ceiling (one hundred amos off the
floor), hung golden chains. Young priests used to climb these chains
for one of two reasons: either to check the walls and fixtures for
signs of wear, or to get a good look at golden crowns hanging from the
top of the hearth's windows (probably the eastern windows - the ones visible
from the front of the Antechamber.
Why the younger priests? Either because
they were more able (and willing!) to climb to the great heights, or because
they hadn't yet seen the crowns close up, and enjoyed the adventure.
THE OFFICE DOORS
From the Antechamber into the hearth were three
doors. The main passageway was through the doubled doors in the
middle. The entrance measured ten amos wide, twenty amos high
and six amos deep (that is to say, the six-amah thickness of the hearth
wall left a short corridor in the doorway).
There is an ancient argument over what the
doors actually looked like. Rabbi Yehuda (Midos 4, 1) pictured two
sets of articulated doors (doors that fold over each other), one at the
front end of the corridor and the other at the hearth end.
The Rabbonim (whom the halacha follows in
this case) saw the doors as double doors, each five amos wide and meeting
in the middle of the corridor. When opened, the outer doors would
fold back into the corridor and cover its wall. The inner doors would
fold back to cover five amos of the inner wall of the hearth.
Aside from these short stretches of wall,
the entire inner wall of the hearth was covered with
golden tiles.
Besides the main door, to either of its sides
were smaller doors. These both led into the first of rows of offices
or storage rooms. We are told by the prophet Yechezkal that only
one of these doors was ever used. The door to the south of the main
entrance was for G-d's "use" alone. It was never even opened by the
priests. Every Shabbos, with sunset, and every rosh chodesh (new month)
the doors would, however, open by themselves.
THE HEICHAL WALLS
Although the Mishna (Midos 3, 4) describes how
once every year (before Passover) the walls of the hearth (heichal) were
plastered with white lime, from a later Mishna (4, 1) we see clearly that
the inside of the heichal was covered from top to bottom in gold.
We must, therefore, assume that only the outer walls (those visible from
outside the building) were covered in lime, while the inside was all gold.
When Ezra first began the rebuilding of the
Temple, he didn't have the means to splash gold and silver around the way
he might have liked. From where, then, did all the gold come?
Well...how shall I put this delicately?
It seems there were some priests (members of the family of kohanim) who
had more than a healthy appetite for the finer things in life. And some
of the finer things in life came their way in the form of the skins of
burnt offerings. The skins of these offerings were meant for the
priests of whichever watch happened to be on duty. Our friends -
the more...discerning priests, however, managed to muscle their way to
the front of the line and usually got the best pick.
The Gemara (Pesachim 57a) tells us that those
in charge of the priests decreed that the hides would only be distributed
at the end of the week's watch, when everyone would be there together and
things could be controlled. Still, however, the priests with "connections"
would consistently come out ahead. So the whole "family" together
stood and dedicated their shares - wherever they might be - to the Temple
treasury.
It wasn't long, the Gemara continues, before
there was enough money from sales of the hides to cover the whole heichal
with tablets of gold. That's where all the money came from.
Just so people shouldn't think that the Temple
treasury was mismanaged, or that the workmanship of the heichal was in
any way inferior, these golden tiles were removed from the walls of the
heichal every yom tov and piled up on the Temple Mount for everyone
to see.
THE VIEW FROM THE BLEACHERS
So the tiles of gold from the wall of the hearth
(heichal) were put on exhibit every pilgrimage festival...
The Gemara (Yoma 54a) tells us how - also
on festivals, when so many Jews were in the Temple - the curtains of the
heichal were pulled back to allow everyone to see the ceruvim (cherubim)
in the Holy of Holies.
Isn't it interesting that at just the time
when everyone would be looking in, the golden walls were resting at another
end of the building and the poor, bare walls of the heichal were exposed
for all to see!
And isn't it interesting that common Jews
would be allowed to see into the Holy of Holies in the first place?
Even workmen were lowered into this holy room in special elevators so they
couldn't see any more than necessary for their work (Midos 4, 5).
And one more side point: Which cherubim
did the people see? It couldn't have been those on the Ark because
in the second Temple there was no Ark - it had been hidden for its protection
before the destruction of the first Temple. Therefore the Gemara in Yoma
tells us that it was the cherubim that were carved or drawn into the walls
of the Holy of Holies that we were all allowed to see. This Gemara
also relates that when the Roman leader entered the Holy of Holies upon
his victory over the Jews, he saw these cherubim facing each other, and
ripped them off the wall to take them outside.
JUST WHERE WERE THE BLEACHERS?
For the more technical-minded among you, lets
try to work out how the thousands of Jews in the Courtyard could have seen
anything of the heichal. We'll leave aside the halachic questions
(how could the priests have opened up the holy of holies for just anyone
to see...) and examine the logistics.
Except when necessary, a Yisroel (i.e. non-kohen)
was not allowed further west than midway between the eastern wall of the
Courtyard and the large altar. This was an area measuring eleven
amos by about eighty amos (that's 135 minus the space taken up by the Sanhedrin
chambers on the north and various buildings to the south). Not a
whole lot of people are going to be able to squeeze into that area - at
best around two thousand.
The floor of the Ezras Yisroel (Jews' Courtyard)
was eight and one-half amos lower than the floor at the entrance to the
Antechamber. That's more than the height of two tall men. Doesn't do
much for the average guy on the floor, does it?
The ten-amah-high altar blocked the view of
anyone standing in the southern half of the Courtyard. That would
cut the viewing crowd by half.
Ok. So even if you're carrying a periscope
or are sitting on someone's shoulders and are lucky enough to be one of
the few in direct line of sight of the action...but you'll need pretty
good eyesight. Think about it: Between the front row of spectators
and the Holy of Holies, lay the Priests' Courtyard (11 amos), the east-west
length of the altar (32 amos), the 22 amos between the altar and the Antechamber,
the 16 amos of Antechamber (with its wall) and a good 46 amos further before
you even get into the Holy of Holies. That's at least 127 amos all
told.
127 amos. Let's call that 200 feet.
And what are you trying to see? Three-foot-high carvings on the wall.