Kaisipang Hudyo sa Ezekiel 41:23: The Third Beit HaMikdash

“There were two [sets of] doors to the Sanctuary and to the Holy [of Holies]. The [sets of] doors [each] comprised two doors; these two doors would revolve [on a hinge]. The door [on] one [side] comprised two doors and the other door comprised two doors.”¹⁹Ibid.:23-24. Similarly, it was taught in Tractate Middos:²⁰Middos 4:1. “The entrance to the Sanctuary… had four doors, two on the inside and two on the outside.” Rashi explains this mishnah in depth in his commentary.

In the Second Beis HaMikdash, this place was occupied by the amah traksin,³According to Rashi (Yoma 52a), the term means “the cubit that is inside and outside,” i.e., the Sages were unsure whether its measure should be part of the Sanctuary or part of the Holy of Holies. in which there were two curtains, not a wall, as stated in Tractate Yoma.⁴See Yoma 51b-52a; see also Middos 4:7. Bava Basra 3a, b explains that they did not build a wall because the Second Temple was higher than the First. In the First Temple, the Sanctuary was only 30 cubits high, while in the Second Temple, it was 40 cubits high. A wall only a cubit thick would not be sturdy if built to such a height. Nevertheless, the width of the wall was not increased, because its original width was established by Divine revelation. Thus, they returned to the pattern established in the Sanctuary of Moses and utilized curtains as dividers. Similarly, in the Mishkan in the desert, there was a curtain separating the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies.⁵See Shmos 26:33. In the Future Beis HaMikdash, there will be a wall⁶I.e., in addition to the curtain. The curtain is required, for we are commanded (Shmos 26:31): “You shall make a curtain.” with a doorway between the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies, as it is written:⁷Yechezkel 41:23. “There were two doors between the Sanctuary and the Holy Chamber.”