Hypermikdash
THE HEICHAL
And finally we arrive at the center of it all;
the building towards which we face every day in our prayers. As we imagine
ourselves passing through the Antechamber, through the double golden doors
and into the huge, silent, gold-covered hall, how can we not suck in our
breath from sheer awe?
Sixty feet ahead hangs the first of two plush
curtains. The beautifully
woven material measures nearly sixty feet wide by sixty high and - along
with its twin hanging just behind it - divides the ninety foot chamber
into two. The section in which we now stand, the Hearth (or the Heichal
or sometimes, Kodesh) takes up two thirds of that length. Beyond the curtain-wall
lie the thirty feet of the Holy of Holies. see the
map
In the Heichal there are three golden objects.
In the center (twenty amos from each of the east and west ends, and ten
amos from both the northern and southern walls) sits the golden altar (mizbayach
hazahav). Not imposing by virtue of its size, the altar rises only
two amos from the ground and is only one and a half long and wide.
It was to this altar that the morning and afternoon ketoros
(incense offerings) were brought and burnt daily.
To the right and further back (to the west) than
the altar, is the table (shulchan). It too, isn't enormous, but it,
too, is crafted of the finest wood and completely covered with gold.
The table itself is only one and a half amos
high, two amos long and one and a half wide. From out of the top
of the table come poles between which were two columns of golden trays.
On each tray was a loaf of the lechem hapanim (show bread). Every
Shabbos new loaves were baked and brought into the heichal to replace the
old ones. The week-old bread was eaten by kohanim - and enjoyed as
if it was fresh out of the oven.
To the left (the south) is the golden menorah.
Each of the seven stems (not the eight of our Chanuka menoras - which commemorate
the eight day miracle) is topped with a cup. The finest olive oil was poured
into the menorah each night and is expected to keep its wick burning through
'till the morning.
This most holy room was the domain of only
those kohanim involved with their appointed work. One couldn't just
walk in when the mood came.
But this room, too, was just a path to the
real heart of the Temple; to the chamber where Israel's greatest treasure
lay; where the Divine Presence rested - the Kodesh
Hakedoshim ...the holy of holies.