Kaisipang Hudyo sa Ezekiel 40:15: The Third Beit HaMikdash

There was a gateway in the middle of the eastern side of the wall surrounding the Women’s Courtyard, which is called Shaar HaEisun, “the Gateway of the Entrance.”¹Yechezkel 40:15. The term “eisun” has the same root as the phrase, “asa boker,” “the morning came.”²Yeshayahu 21:12. This gate was called “the Gateway of the Entrance” because it was the primary gateway for entering and departing the Beis HaMikdash. One who entered through this gateway would prostrate himself directly opposite the Holy of Holies.

The narrative continues:³Ibid.:15. V’al pnei HaShaar HaEisun…chamishim amah. Rashi explains that the words v’al pnei mean “and the height”. Thus, the verse should be translated as, “And the height of the Entrance Gate was 50 cubits.” He states: “From the fact that the other gateways mentioned in the narrative were 50 cubits high, I derived that the words al pnei here refer to a height of 50 cubits.” Rashi also interprets the term al as referring to height in I Melachim 7:6, וְאוּלָם עַל פְּנֵיהֶם, which he understands as meaning, “He made a high vestibule above the entire building.”

Concerning the height of this gateway, Radak writes:⁴In his commentary to Yechezkel 40:15. I am amazed at [Rashi’s] interpretation, for nowhere in the narrative is a measure for the height of the gateways mentioned. Similarly, in the Second Beis HaMikdash, there was no gateway that was 50 cubits high. All of the gateways were 10 cubits wide and 20 cubits high, except for the gateway to the Ulam (the Entrance Hall),⁵Middos 2:3. which was 40 cubits high. [Moreover,] where [in Scripture] is the term orech used to refer to height?⁶Further in the narrative, in his commentary to Yechezkel 40:36, Rashi interprets the words orech chamishim amah as referring to a height of 50 cubits. Orech always refers to one of the coordinates of area. The term govah, by contrast, refers to height or depth.