Har Habayit
- The Temple Mount
At the time of King Solomon this mountain was 500
x 500 cubits. It had 5 points of entry:
South - Two Chuldah gates.
West - The Kiphonus gate.
North - The Tadi gate.
East - The Shushan gate.
(King Herod, who extended the Temple Mount area, added
3 additional gates to its western side.)
The focal point of the Temple
Mount was a central courtyard containing the structure
of the Bet Hamikdash. The rest of the Temple Mount
area contained various rooms and buildings, including:
• House of Study, in which
the Talmudic law was taught and discussed.
• Lounge for minor Temple officials.
• Weapons room, in case of enemy invasion.
• Tool room for repair work.
• Trumpet place. The shofar (ram's horn) was
sounded from the roof of this building before the
onset of the Sabbath to let the people know when they
must refrain from work.
Chuldah Gates
These were the main doorways used to access the Temple
mount, one gate was used as the entrance, while the
other gate served as an exit.
The Prophetess Chuldah, would
sit near this area during the final years of the first
Temple, admonishing Jewish women to give up their
idolatrous ways. When the Second Temple was built,
these gateways were named after her.
Kiphonus Gate:
This gate took the visitor through a tunnel which
led to the top of the Temple Mount. Near the outside
of the gateway was a magnificent garden with many
types of roses used in the compounding of the Temple
incense - hence the name Kiphonus - rose garden in
Greek.
Tadi Gate:
All the Temple gateways shared the same basic
rectangular design. The Tadi gate, however, had a
unique triangular shape. The name Tadi comes from
the Greek word meaning "high". The angle formed at
the top made this doorway higher or taller than the
others.
Shushan Gate:
The Eastern Temple Wall had one gateway called the
Shushan Gate. The Persian emperor Darius II, the child
of Achashverosh and Esther (Xerxes), gave
the Jews permission to rebuild the Second Temple.
As a token of indebtedness (or at the insistence of
the emperor), the Jews placed a carving of the city
of Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire, above
the gateway.
Engraved onto the wall outside
the Shushan Gate were two markings indicating the
length of a cubit. One marking was to the right of
the gateway, one to the left. The marking on the wall
to the right was half a "fingers' width" (etzbah)
smaller than a true cubit. The marking on the left
wall was a full "fingers' width" larger than a true
cubit. Workers, who were paid in lengths of wood,
were paid according to the smaller marker. Workers
hired to cut a certain length of wood would measure
it according to the larger marking. Whoever pledged
a length of inexpensive material to the Temple would
measure it according to the larger marking, while
those who pledged a length of expensive material,
such as a precious metal, would use the smaller marker.