Sha'ar Hanitzotz
This gate had two names (just to confuse you!).
The name, Sha'ar Hanitzotz (the Gate of the Spark) tells us of the twenty-four
hour flame that was kept burning in the gateway. This flame was always lit just in case the eternal
flame of the altar should have gone out.
The other name, Sha'ar Yechaniya, is named
after the great Judean king, Yechaniya. Of course, Yechaniya
also had two names: Yechaniya and Yehoyachin. But if you think
this is bad, wait till you see how many names there are for the Mizbayach
(altar)!
Why was this specific gate named after this specific
king? Because it was through this gate that Yechaniya, in the last years
of the first Temple period, was led into captivity at the hands of Nevuchadnezzar.
Our people chose to remember Yechaniya for his final acts of courage and
heroism in his terrible captivity.
Outside the gate, overlooking the Temple Mount,
was a balcony built on two pillars. For a view of this balcony's
twin, that of "Bais Avtinus", see this. Priests regularly
stood in this attic keeping watch over the Temple (it wasn't that the Temple
needed watching - they weren't usually afraid of an attack - but ceremonial
guards lend a place an aura of importance).
There were three places where Kohanim kept
an honor guard: here, in Bais Avtinus (a.k.a. the Sha'ar
Hamayim) and in the Bais Hamoked.
Many other places were guarded by Levites (see the first Mishna in Midos).
The Sha'ar Hamayim - (Gate of Water)
This gate, like the Sha'ar Hanitzotz, had more
than one purpose. It too, had a balcony on the outside from which
a priest stood guard over the Temple Mount.
Above the gate itself were two rooms.
One, Bais Avtinus, was used by members of the Avtinus family who were experts
at preparing the ingredients for the Ketores incense.
The second room contained the
Mikvah used by the
high priest for his first of five Yom Kippur immersions.
Sha'ar Nikanor
Each of the two doors that made up this gate measured
five Amos wide by twenty high. That's pretty big. Unlike the
other doors in the Temple (which, as the Jews gained wealth, were covered
in gold), these were left in their original form; solid copper.
And there's a story behind that.
Nikanor was a Jew who was charged with traveling
to Alexandria, Egypt to buy doors for the main entrance
to the main courtyard. On his return boat voyage, there was a fierce
storm. The sailors threw out the first of the massive doors to try
to lighten the load, but the ship was still in danger.
When they came for the second door, Nikanor
embraced it, begging the sailors that, if the door had to go, he should
go with it. A miracle occurred and the storm subsided. Nikanor
was terribly upset about the loss of the first door - that is, until the
ship arrived safely in port and they all saw the heavy copper door floating
along beside the ship.
In honor of the miracle, the doors were never
covered in gold.
The reason you can't
see any copper doors in the images of the Temple
is because they were blocked by the blue
curtain hanging in front!
The Ketores
The Mishna in Yoma (38a) tells us about Bais Avtinus.
This family possessed the closely-guarded secret recipe for mixing Ketores
(incense) so that, when it was burnt, its smoke would go straight up, then,
at the ceiling, drift horizontally in all directions. Despite
early misgivings, our sages later understood and agreed with the reasons of why
they kept the secret to themselves (they were worried lest the wrong people
use it for the wrong purposes).
From the words of the sages, it seems clear
that the smoke rose, not as a miracle, but from the way the ingredients
were mixed.
There is another Mishna In Pirkei Avos
(5, 5) where we learn that there were ten regular miracles in the Temple. One
caused the smoke from the altar to rise straight without being blown about
by the wind. This, we are told, was a miracle.
If it was a miracle, then of what use were
the special ingredients? And if it was the ingredients that did it,
why did they need a miracle?
The answer, if you did not already guess,
is that these two Mishnayos are describing two different altars - granted,
with similar names. The Avtinus
family produced the incense for the golden altar in the Heichal.
They helped the smoke from the incense rise in just the right way.
The smoke from the large alter in the courtyard outside rose straight by
way of a miracle from G-d.
The moral of the story? You always have
to check your sources before asking questions.
The Mikvah
The room next to Bais Avtinus contained a Mikvah
used by the high priest on Yom Kippur. Where, you might ask, did all the water come from? We are referring to the drawn
water in which the priest actually immersed, but the 40 Se'ah (a unit of liquid measure) of the Mikvah itself was most
likely rainwater.
Even modern plumbing requires pumps to raise
water to upper levels of a building against the force of gravity and this
Mikvah in particular had to be at least 23 Amos (about four stories) above
the floor of the courtyard (twenty Amos of the gate itself and three Amos
of height to contain enough water for a Kosher Mikvah suitable for immersion).
What pushed the water up that great height?
Our sages (Yoma 31a) tell us that the water
for the Mikvah (as well as much of the water used in the Temple) came from
a well (called Eyn Eitom) that sat at the top of a neighboring mountain,
some miles away. The water was brought by way of underground pipes.
Since this other mountain was slightly higher than that of the Temple,
it produced just enough pressure (thanks to gravity) to force the water
to rise to the top of the Mikvah.
Just try getting your plumbing contractor
to do that!
Where was Alexandria
Now when the Gemara tells us that Nikanor was
sent to Alexandria, we have to wonder when this whole story took place.
For at the time of the building of the Second Temple, Alexander the Great
was not yet born - and before he was born, Alexandria had a different name!
After all, it was named after that famous Greek general.
It isn't very likely that the Gemara was telling
us how Nikanor was sent to the city which one day would be called Alexandria
(it would more likely give us its actual, contemporary name, or leave out
the city name altogether).
The odds are that the mission took place some
years after the original construction while those in charge of the Temple
were looking to renovate. So it seems that the main gate to the main
courtyard was without copper doors for some time before that...
The Talmud is very deep. If you don't
keep your eyes open, you could easily miss some seemingly insignificant
detail - a detail which could reveal an interesting historical point...
Rabbi Boruch Clinton teaches at the Ottawa Torah Institute yeshiva high
school and Machon Sarah high school for girls (both in Ottawa, Canada).
You may reach him with comments and questions at
bclinton@torah.org.
You can now read some of Rabbi Clinton's essays on Torah life at
http://www.ncf.ca/~es625/essays
You can also buy his collection of essays on
the Book of Shmuel (Samuel) in printed form at
www.lulu.com/marbitzmedia
Copyright © 2000 by Rabbi
Boruch
Clinton and Project Genesis, Inc.
