Kaisipang Hudyo sa Ezekiel 43:13: The Third Beit HaMikdash

It appears that Rav Yitzchak Abarbanel maintains that the Courtyard of the Kohanim and the Altar were located beyond the area described here as the Courtyard of the Israelites. According to his understanding, the area measuring 100 cubits by 100 cubits will be solely the Courtyard of the Israelites. The Courtyard of the Kohanim will be in another area. The courtyard (azarah) described in the passage concerning the Altar¹⁰Yechezkel 43:13. will be an actual courtyard – not as Rashi explains in his commentary to that passage.¹¹In that passage, Rashi and others interpret the term azarah – usually, translated as “courtyard” – as referring to portions of the Altar. As mentioned in the main text, Rav Yitzchak Abarbanel and others maintain that its usual meaning also applies here. Rav Yitzchak Abarbanel explains this in his commentary to the verse:¹²Yechezkel 40:14. “From the center of the ground until the lower courtyard were two cubits with a width of one cubit, and from the small courtyard to the larger one were four cubits with a width of one cubit.” He refers to the courtyard as the place where the kohanim would stand, and interprets the phrase, “the lower courtyard” as the area to the east of the Altar.¹³Because it was lower on the mountain of the Beis HaMikdash. The lower courtyard was also the smaller courtyard. The larger courtyard was the area between the Altar and the Ulam. This courtyard was also the upper courtyard because it was higher up the slope of the mountain. The Altar was positioned between these 2 courtyards.

“These are the dimensions of the Altar in cubits, each cubit [measuring] a cubit and a handbreadth.”²Yechezkel 43:13. I.e., ordinarily a cubit equals 5 handbreadths in measure. These cubits were 6 handbreadths. As I explained in the beginning of this work,³In the Preface. this applied with the exception of the measures of the foundation, the upper portion of the sovev, and the horns. These were smaller cubits, i.e., each comprising 5 handbreadths, as will be explained.⁴See sections 38 and 42.

Rambam,⁴Rambam’s Commentary to the Mishnah, introduction to Middos, ch. 3; see also Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 2:6-7. by contrast, explains that both the height and the width of the mold used to reduce the width of the next level of the Altar was measured in 5-handbreadth cubits. Therefore, Rambam explains that the mold was intended to produce a mass measuring 30 cubits and 2 handbreadths by 30 cubits and 2 handbreadths. Since the width of the mold was only 5 handbreadths, there would remain 30 cubits and 2 handbreadths by 30 cubits and 2 handbreadths inside the mold. Together with the mold, there would be 32 cubits to fill up the space of the foundation. Rambam writes that the mishnah states that the mold measured 30 cubits by 30 cubits because it did not want to detail the handbreadths. The height of this mold was 4 cubits. This is alluded to by the phrase,⁵Yechezkel 43:14. The azarah, usually meaning “courtyard,” is used to refer to the two lower levels of the Altar. The lower azarah (or “the smaller azarah” as mentioned in Yechezkel 43:13) refers to the foundation and “the larger azarah” to the sovev. See the end of sec. 27 above. “From the smaller azarah,” i.e., from the upper surface of the lower level, “until the larger azarah,” i.e., the upper surface of the block on it, “were 4 cubits.” This formed the sovev.