אוטם

(Otem / Foundation)

The Mishna in Middos 4:6 says that the height of the 2^nd Bais HaMikdash included a 6 cubit Otem upon which the Ulam, the Heichal and the Kodesh HaKodashim were built.[1] The Otem extended into the Ulam. That is why there were 12 steps, each 1/2 cubit high, leading from ground level up to the Ulam.[2]

There is a debate if the Otem extended under the Ta’aim as well or if the floor of the Ta’aim was at ground level.[3] The Ezras Kohanim says,”The Otem was the Otem of the Heichal and the Kodesh HaKodashim and the Ulam which was 6 cubits high. Upon the height of this Otem began the walls of these structures. However, regarding the Ta’aim there is a disagreement if their walls also began on top of the Otem just like the Heichal or if they stood on the ground and thus the Otem would only be in the place of the Heichal, the Kodesh HaKodashim and the Ulam. According to this opinion the height of the lowest level of the Ta’aim would have corresponded with the Otem and only from the 2nd level of the Ta’aim would it correspond with the walls of the Heichal.”

This description does not specially say that the Otem extended under the Bais HaChalifos, however we are assuming it does for two reasons:

1. When the Ezras Kohanim talks about parts of structure where the Otem does not extend. He only discusses the Ta’aim and does not mention the Bais HaChalifos as a place where it does not extend. We did not find any source suggesting that the Bais HaChalifos were on a lower level than the Ulam.
2. It clearly extended under the Ulam and in the Mishna there are places where the Bais HaChalifos are referred to as if they were part of the Ulam.[4]

LEGO INFORMATION:        The Otem is 5 full bricks high which is the equivalent of 6 cubits.

 

בית החליפות

(Bais HaChalifos / House of Knives)

The rooms on either side of the Ulam were called the Bais HaChalifos. These rooms were lined with lockers where the Kohaim would keep the ritual knives used for slaughtering the animal offerings. “It was called the Bais HaChalifos for that is where they kept the knives.”[5]

 

1. The height of the room is 24 cubits. The height of the Bais HaChalifos with the Otem is 30 cubits.

The height of the Ulam in The 2^nd Bais HaMikdash was 100 cubits.[6] Some representations of the The 3rd Bais HaMikdash show the Bais HaChalifos to be the same height as the Ulam. However, we are using the opinion of the Ezras Kohanim who says, “It seems to me that the height of 100 cubits suggested for the Ulam is only for the Ulam proper but the additional area of the Ulam, referred to as the Bais HaChalifos, was not as high………for only corresponding to the Heichal would be 100 cubits but the areas corresponding with the Ta’aim was only as high as the Ta’aim, which was either 24 or 21 cubits high, so it would seem to me….”[7] Given the choice of 21 or 24 cubits high we are using 24 cubits high in our model based on visual aesthetics.

There is a question if the height given for the Bais HaChalifos mentioned in Ezras Kohanim (24 cubits or 21 cubits) includes the height of the Otem. If the height includes the Otem then it would create a problem with the door between the Bais HaChalifos and the Ulam. There is a presumption that all doors in the 2nd Bais HaMikdash were 20 cubits high.[8] If the 24 cubit height included the 6 cubits of the Otem that would only allow for an 18 foot door. If there was a 20 cubit door from the Ulam to the Bais HaChalifos then the top of the door would be above the height of the Bais HaChalifos. Therefore, we are presuming that the the 24 cubit height of the Bais HaChalifos is the height above the Otem.[9]

One of the Batei Chalifos from the inside [view from within the Ulam]

LEGO INFORMATION:        The Bais HaChalifos is 25 full bricks high which is the equivalent of 30 cubits.

 

2. The length of each wing of the Bais HaChalifos is 34 cubits.

The length of the whole front is 100 cubits. Since the Ulam was 32 cubits that leaves 34 cubits for each wing of the Bais HaChalifos.

Yechezkel – Ezekiel 41:14

וְרֹחַב פְּנֵי הַבַּיִת וְהַגִּזְרָה לַקָּדִים מֵאָה אַמָּה

“And the width of the front of the House and the fortress to the east was one hundred cubits.” This refers to the whole front of the building based on Rashi’s statement that the house and the fortress refer to the same building.” (Rashi on Ezekiel 41:14) [10]

LEGO INFORMATION:        The length of the Bais HaChalifos is 34 Lego studs long. Each stud is one cubit.

 

3. The alcoves where each watch of Kohanim kept their knives are 3 3/5 cubits high (in our model).

There are alcoves where the Kohanim kept their knives. “That extension is called the Bais HaChalifos because it contained 24 alcoves[11], an alcove for each watch of priests, where they would store the knives of the sanctuary. [12] A knife is referred to as a “chiluf” in Arabic. The space behind that extension to the west and the space between the north of the wall of the extension and the wall of the courtyard is referred to as “from the chalifos inward”.[13]

Rashi on Yoma 36a

ואותו עודף קרוי בית החליפות שהיו בהן עשרים וארבע חלונות חלון לכל משמר ששם גונזים סכינים של קודש וסכין קרוי חילוף בלשון ערבי ואויר שאחורי אותו עודף למערב ואויר שבין צפון כותל העודף לבין כותל העזרה קרוי לפנים מן החליפות

We made the alcoves accessible from the outside based on Rashi on Zevachim 55b “And in the western wall of that extension there were windows to store the knives from the outside. Therefore the corresponding courtyard all the way to the western wall of the Azarah was called the Bais HaChalifos.” [14] We made them 3 3/5 cubits high for purely aesthetic reasons. We found no source for the size or shape of the alcoves.

LEGO INFORMATION:        The height of each of the alcove is 3 full bricks high and one brick wide.

 

4. The width of the Bais HaChalifos is 11 cubits.

In the book, The Third Beis HaMikdash it says that the Bais HaChalifos in the 2nd Temple was only 10 cubits from east to west “including the walls”.[15] They site Rash Bava Metzia 33a, Tosafos Rosh HaShanah 24a and Ezras Kohanim 3:7, 4:7. However, upon investigation, these sites do not seem to support this conclusion.

Rashi on Zevachim 55b gives its extent from east to west as 11 cubits, but does not specify if the walls are included. Rashi on Yoma 36a suggests that it was 10 cubits. “But from the Chalifos inward the width of the Ulam extended beyond the width of the Heichal 15 cubits to the north and correspondingly to the south but the extent of that extension is only 10 cubits from east to west. That extension is called the Bais HaChalifos…”[16]

However, the Rashash on Yoma 36a suggests that Rashi in Yoma was talking about the first temple when he said it was 10. The Mishna in Middos 4:7 clearly states that in the 2^nd Bais HaMikdash was the width of 11 cubits. The Rashash suggests that the measurement of 10 cubits was a clerical error in the Rashi. Further support for a width of 11 cubits comes from the Rashi on Yoma which seems to contradict the Rashi on Zevachim 55b. “There were two apertures in the Bais HaChalifos. For the Ulam extended beyond the width of the Heichal to the north and to the south 15 cubits in each direction.[17] But its extent from east to west was only 11 cubits.”

LEGO INFORMATION:        The width of the Bais HaChalifos is 11 Lego studs long. Each stud is one cubit.

 

5. The walls of the Bais HaChalifos are 2 cubits wide.[18] 

The Mishna had said that the walls of the Ulam were 5 cubits thick. Ezras Kohanim suggests that since the Bais HaChalifos was much shorter than the Ulam thus the walls of Bais HaChalifos could be much less than 5 cubits thick.[19] We found no source to say how much thinner the walls would be, so we made them 2 cubits thick.

LEGO INFORMATION:        The walls of the Bais HaChalifos are 2 studs wide. Each stud is one cubit.

 

6. Each פִּשׁפֵּשׁ (Pishpesh, Access Door) is 8 cubits high. [20] The opening in the corner is 4 cubits by 4 cubits. [21]

Mishnah Zevachim states, “There were two Pishpeshim in the Bais HaChalifos and their elevation was eight cubits, in order that the whole of the Temple court might be made fit for the consumption of sacrifices of higher sanctity and the slaughtering of sacrifices of lower sanctity. [The Gemara asks], “Does this not mean that eight [cubits] stood before them [i.e. that the bottom of the doorway was 8 cubits off the ground]? No, it means that they were eight cubits high. [i.e. the height of the doorway was 8 cubits] An objection is raised: [the Gemara asks,] all the gates there were twenty cubits high and ten cubits wide? [The Gemara answers,] the Pishpeshim were different. [The Gemara asks,] but there were the sides? [The Gemara answers,] they were built at the corners.”[22]

Rashi explained, “There were two apertures in the Bais HaChalifos. For the Ulam extended beyond the width of the Heichal to the north and to the south 15 cubits in each direction.[23]But its length from east to west was only 11 cubits. And in the western wall of that extension there were windows to store the knives from the outside. Therefore the corresponding courtyard all the way to the western wall of the Azarah was called the Bais HaChalifos. Within those two walls there were two small doorways and this is as we have learned in the Tosefta that Rabbi Yossi the son of Reb Yehudah said there were two apertures in the Bais HaChalifos open to the west.”[24]

Tiferes Yisroel tells us that, “each mishmar (a family of Kohanim assigned to a watch at the Temple) had an alcove in the wall to store their knives…and to each of the two Bais HaChalifos of the Ulam there were two doors, one leading into the Ulam and one in the corner, meaning that the Bais HaChalifos to the north of the Ulam had a second door in the northwest corner while the Bais HaChalifos to the south of the Ulam had a door in the southwest corner. Each these doors was 8 cubits tall and would allow that whole area to be used for slaughtering.”[25]

LEGO INFORMATION:        The Pishpeshim 6 and 2/3 bricks high. This is equal to 8 cubits. The openings in the corners are 4 studs wide off of the east-west wall and 4 studs long off of the north-south wall.

 

7. Door from the Bais HaChalifos to the Ulam is 20 cubits high (16 2/3 bricks high) [26]We have made the entry 7 cubits wide. [27]

Ezras Kohanim explains that the all the commentaries seem to assume that there was a wall between the Ulam and the Bais HaChalifos through which one would enter through a door. [28]All the doors and the gates of the 2nd Temple were 20 cubits high with the exception of the front door of the Ulam. [29]

LEGO INFORMATION: Door from the Bais HaChalifos to the Ulam is 16 2/3 bricks high. This is equal to 20 cubits. The width of the door is 7 studs.

 

 

[1] The Otem refers to the part of the foundation above the ground. “Six cubits is not enough for the Otem of such a tall building so it seems to me that we are only counting the Otem that rises above the ground” (Rosh on Mishna Middos 4:6)

[2] Tosfos Yom Tom on Mishna 4:6

[3] Ezras Kohanim Middos 4:6 Nachlas Yehoshuah 3

[4] “The Ulam was wider than The Beis HaMikdash itself, 15 cubits to the north and 15 cubits to the south and that area was called the Bais HaChalifos ” (Mishna Middos 4:7)

[5] Mishna Middos 4:7

[6] The height of the Ulam in The 3rd Bais HaMikdash is not specified in Ezekiel’s vision. Rashi says that the height of the Heichal in 3rd Bais HaMikdash will be 100 cubits. (Rashi on Ezekiel 41:8). We are following the presumption in Rabbi Shalom D. Steinberg, The Third Beis Hamikdash: The Third Temple (Moznaim Pub Corp, 1993) that the height of the Ulam is the same as the Heichal.

[7] Middos 4:7 Bnei Yosef 2 D’”H V’HaUlam Here he also mentions an alternative view in The Tosefta on Menachos that suggests that the Bais HaChalifos was the same height as the Ulam.

[8] All the doors and the gates of The 2nd Bais HaMikdash were 20 cubits high with the exception of the front door of the Ulam. (Mishnah Middos 2:3)

[9] This is much like the height of the Cells themselves which were 24 above the base they were on. (see section on Cells)

[10] Based on Yechezkel’s vision of the 3^rd Temple.

[11] Ezras Kohanim Middos 4:7 B’nai Yosef 4 Bais HaChalifos 4 D”H V’Raisi cites the Kuntreis Habayis 28 that the 24 alcoves were 12 on the north HaChalifos and 12  on the south. We are following that opinion.

[12] Ezras Kohanim (Middos 4:7 Bnei Yosef Bais HaChalifos 4 D’H V’gam) cites the Tavnis Heichal who gives an alternative view that in the Bais HaChalifos there were 24 alcoves in which the Kohanim would place their knives and also the knives which broke or became blemished. The 24 alcoves of the north side were for the knives that could be used to slaughter and the 24 alcoves on the south were for the broken knives.

[13] The Ezras Kohanim Middos 5:4 B’nai Yosef D”H B”Maseches Tamid and D”H V’Zeh cites an opinion that the clothing of the Kohanim was also kept in the Bais HaChalifos.

[14] Based on the 2^nd Temple.

[15] Rabbi Shalom D. Steinberg, The Third Beis Hamikdash: The Third Temple (Moznaim Pub Corp, 1993), p 106.

[16] The 3^rd Temple is 100 cubits wide, so in the 3^rd Temple the Bais HaChalifos will be longer from North to South.

[17] This is in the 2^nd Temple. The 3^rd Temple will be longer as mentioned above.

[18] No source

[19] Ezras Kohanim (Middos 4:7 Bnei Yosef 2 D’H V’HaUlam)

[20] This is based on the 2^nd Temple.

[21] No source

[22] Zevachim 55b.This is based on the 2^nd Temple.

[23] This is 2^nd temple. The 3^rd Temple will be longer.

[24] Rashi on Zevachim 55b. This is based on the 2^nd Temple.

[25] Tiferes Yisroel Middos 4:7 Yachin 72. This is based on the 2^nd Temple.

[26] This is based on the 2^nd Temple.

[27] No Source

[28] Ezras Kohanim Middos 3:7 Bnai Yosef D’H Govho. This is based on the 2^nd Temple.

[29] Mishnah Middos 2:3. Also, see the discussion in the section above on the Bais HaChalifos regarding the possibility that this door would be shorter.

 

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