ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף יחזקאל 40:25

The Book of Kings makes a point of stating that the windows in the Temple were very narrow on the inside and wide on the outside suggesting that their purpose was not to let light enter, but on the contrary, to illuminate the outside world with the spiritual light contained therein. Our sages (Tanchuma Behaa-lotcha 2) phrased it thus: when the average person builds himself a house he arranges for the windows to be narrow on the outside and wide on the inside in order to admit the maximum amount of daylight. Solomon did the reverse. He made the windows narrow on the inside and wide on the outside in order for the Temple to radiate the maximum amount of spiritual light to the outside world. This conveyed the message that the entire Temple was a source of light, and that G’d most certainly did not require man-made light to light up the interior for Him. The meaning of the words שקופים אטומים in the verse from Kings I 6,4 we referred to earlier is: ”they were open toward the outside, but closed toward the inside,” i.e. short. This prompted Ezekiel 40,25 to write that both it and its vestibule had windows כהחלונות האלה. The extra letter ה in the word כהחלונות, is an allusion to something “faint, dim,” in other words these windows provided faint light. The prophet indicates that the windows are in the shape of the letter ה, narrow on the inside and wide at the outside. This was to enable the light to escape to the outside.
This is the reason the Temple was also known as the אריאל, (Isaiah 29,1) an allusion to the lion which is narrow at its rear but broad at its front.
This paragraph teaches us three things: 1) the lamps should be facing the center shaft of the Menorah. This light on the center shaft is known as the נר המערבי, “the lamp of the West.” 2) The Menorah ought to be constructed of gold, if at all possible; in the absence of suffficient gold, other metals would be acceptable (Sifri Nasso 61). The principal restriction was that one must not have more or fewer than the seven lamps prescribed. The third lesson we learn from this paragraph is that the whole Menorah was to be cast in one piece of metal. In order to make this point clear the Torah repeated the words מקשה היא, “it is to be a (single) casting.” Whereas a Menorah of more than one piece would not be acceptable for use, a Menorah which was not of gold would be acceptable.