ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף יחזקאל 40:6

The narrative in Yechezkel³Yechezkel 40:6. mentions that the angel “ascended its steps.” In his commentary, Rashi refers to the mishnah in Middos,⁴Middos 2:3. which relates that there were twelve steps leading to the Women’s Courtyard. Each step was half a cubit high and half a cubit wide. Indeed, all of the steps in the Beis HaMikdash had these dimensions. The only exception was the steps leading to the Ulam. This is Rashi’s version of the mishnah. However, it seems that Rambam’s version of the text did not include the words “except the steps to the Ulam.”⁵See his commentary to the Mishnah.

The narrative in Yechezkel continues,¹Yechezkel 40:6. “And he measured the threshold of the gateway,” i.e., the width of the doorposts that cover the thickness of the wall. “It was one measuring rod wide and the [other] threshold was one measuring rod wide.” “And he measured the width of the entrance to the gateway; it was 10 cubits.”²Ibid.:11.

“He measured the width of the structure,” i.e., the thickness of the wall. “It was one measuring rod and its height was one measuring rod.” Thus, this was a low wall, as the Mishnah states with regard to the Second Beis HaMikdash:²⁶Middos 2:4. “All the walls that were there were tall with the exception of the eastern wall [to enable] the kohen who would burn the red heifer standing on the Mount of Olives to see the entrance to the Sanctuary.” Rashi also interprets the above verse in this manner. True, from the simple meaning of the above verse, it is possible to understand that the wall around the entire Temple Mount was low, not only the eastern wall. Nevertheless, since the builders of the Second Beis HaMikdash built their structure to correspond – at least partially – to this Future Building, as we explained at length in the introduction, it is possible to say that this verse refers only to the eastern wall. Therefore, when explaining the above verse, Rashi quotes this mishnah without making a distinction between one structure and another since it is possible to interpret the verse as corresponding to the building of the Second Temple. And indeed, the angel describing the structure to Yechezkel was standing in the east, as can be derived from the context.²⁷Yechezkel 40:6 describes the angel ascending through the Eastern Gate. Thus, he would be describing the eastern wall.