The Shushan Gate
The name Shushan has a familiar ring
to it, no? Where did we see it before? How about in the Book
of Esther? Yup, Shushan was the capital of Achashvarosh's Persian
empire.
So what does it have to do with the eastern
gate of the Temple? We are told that when the Persian king (Koresh)
allowed Ezra to rebuild both the Temple and Jerusalem, he was worried about
the possibility of a Jewish rebellion. To remind his Jewish subjects
that he was boss, Koresh instructed the builders to carve a picture of
the Shushan skyline over the main entrance.
The Women's Courtyard sat before the hearth itself. Since the Eastern gate was directly opposite
the entrance to the Women's Courtyard it could have been considered the main entrance even though
most people entered and left from the south.
There was a bridge
leading out from the Shushan bridge and across the valley, connecting the Temple Mount to Har Hamishchah
(more or less the site of today's Mount of Olives). It was across
this bridge that the red heifer was led before being burned for its purifying
ashes (see Numbers 19).
The Kohen who burned the cow had to have the
hearth clearly in his line of sight (Numbers 19, 4), therefore the bridges
and gates between the Mount of Olives and the Temple had to be built so
that his vision would not be obstructed. In fact, according to Rashi,
the whole Eastern wall of Temple Mount was only
six Amos high (as opposed to the three other walls which were as high as
seventy Amos) so the Kohen could see over. Other opinions shortened
the Eastern wall to 26 Amos, and some saw it shortened only above the gate
itself, but not along the whole length.
Of note Rashi's Eastern wall of six
Amos, partly reflected the prophecy of Yechezkal (Ezekial 40) that all
four of the third Temple's walls would be only six Amos high.
The Judicial Chambers
The Temple Mount's three courthouses were located just inside the Eastern Gate (Shushan). This Judicial Chamber (along with
its twin in the Women's Courtyard) housed a Sanhedrin of twenty-three judges.
The Sanhedrin of seventy-one was located in a large basilica-like building in the main courtyard called the Lishkas
Hagazis.
When you consider that the city of Jerusalem
itself had its own courts, and that any fair-sized city throughout the
country could also boast one, then you might think of the Jews as a nation
overrun by its judicial system.
It wasn't quite so bad. All these courts
were part of a pyramid-like organization, with the lower, provincial courts
sending appeals and particularly hard cases to a higher court...and eventually
to the Lishkas Hagazis itself.
Some types of cases - see Zaken Mamre (Deut.
17; 8-13) and Sotah (Numbers 5, 15) - needed to travel through the whole
court system to be Halachically valid. Consider also, that these
courts did not meet every day but, in some cases only on Mondays and Thursdays.
Other courts met only when called into session for a particular reason.
Finally, we should realize that Jewish courts
deal with more than civil ("He owes me money") and capital ("off with his
head") cases. Questions of the laws of Shabbos, Kashrus and even
proper festival observance were all brought to the courts.
Every law in the Torah is complicated enough
to need clarification once in a while. And often the only place to
go for a good answer was to the leading Torah scholars - and they could
usually be found on one of the country's Sanhedrins...
The Floor Plan
One might picture the Temple Mount (Har Habayis)
as a series of rectangles - each bigger and lower down than the one it
encircles - all surrounding the hearth (Heichal) and the Holy of Holies.
But a picture is worth a thousand words, so before you plow through the
words, sneak a quick glance at a map.
Har Habayis (everything within the outer 500x500 Amah walls) had an elevation of 0 Amos (see a cross
section diagram). Slightly to the north and west of center, was
a large, walled courtyard which contained both the Women's Courtyard to
the east and the main courtyard to the west. Together they measured
322 x 135 Amos. This too was entirely surrounded by the Cheil (an
empty area ten Amos wide) and its outer fence (the Soreg).
The floor of Har Habayis was six Amos lower
than the floor of the Women's Courtyard. There were twelve steps
from one to the other (as each stair was one-half an Amah high, and one-half
an Amah deep). From the square Women's Courtyard, one climbed fifteen
semi-circular steps (seven and one-half Amos) to the main courtyard.
Between there and the Priests' Courtyard (which
began just 11 Amos east of the altar - and 11 Amos west of the main courtyard
wall), were four more steps rising two and one-half Amos (no, I didn't
make a mistake, one of these steps was actually one full Amah high).
West of the altar were twelve steps (six Amos) leading into the Ulam (the
antechamber of the Heichal) and from there it was a short (but rare) walk
to the Holy of Holies.
Now these divisions were not simply a product
of the architect's fancy; the further "in" you went, the greater the holiness.
Each wall and fence acted as a warning, telling us to make sure we weren't
going anywhere we shouldn't.
People affected by certain types of Tuma'ah
(impurity) were not allowed past the outer walls of Har Habayis (in fact,
a Metzorah - see Levit. 13 etc. - wasn't even allowed into Jerusalem);
those who'd been in contact with dead bodies weren't let past the Soreg
(fence); People of even lighter degrees of impurity were kept from
the Women's Courtyard; under normal circumstances, women wouldn't
go into the main courtyard; a yisroel (non-priest) was normally advised
(or according to some, ordered) not to come within eleven amos of the altar;
a priest who was not needed for the Temple service was not allowed into
the Heichal; and the Holy of Holies was out of bounds all the time except
Yom Kippur (and even then, only for the high
priest). Note see Mishna, tractate Keilim, end of first chapter
The Walls
Aside from the Eastern wall (which according to
Rashi was only six Amos high), the outer walls of the Temple Mount were
impressively high. Different accounts place the height anywhere between
forty and seventy Amos - that's about one hundred feet up!
The walls were five Amos thick at their base,
but thinner towards the top. It would probably have been more attractive
to build the walls thinner from bottom to top, but they needed a five-Amah
base for support.
We're used to visualizing
the walls of the Temple as layers of stones (as indeed they were). However,
according to the book, "Ezras Kohanim," while the Temple stood, the stones
weren't visible beneath a layer of white lime plaster. As a matter
of fact, nearly all the walls of the Temple were covered in this lime,
giving the building the appearance of snowy white
structures, glistening in the sun.
The Chulda Gates
The main part of the city of Jerusalem lay
to the south of the Temple. Therefore, there were two entrance ways along that wall, called "the Chulda Gates". It was through these gates that most of the pedestrian
traffic passed to and from the Temple.
During the later years of the first Temple, it was along this wall that Chulda the prophetess urged the people of her
city to do Teshuva. Hence, she was remembered through the names of
two of the Second Temple's gates.
In addition, some say that the tomb of Chulda was
located in front of these gates (although not in a way that would cause
problems for passing priests).
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.
