Beit HaMitbachayim

The slaughtering area, north of the Mizbeach, in three successive strips: first eight low pillars (ninnasin) topped with cedar blocks carrying three rows of iron hooks, then eight marble tables, then twenty-four rings fixed to the ground. It is part of the “north” of the Azara, where the most holy offerings are slaughtered, among them the bull and the goat of Yom Kippur.

Dimensions

• from the north wall to the first pillar: 8 amot
• the 8 pillars (ninnasin): a 12.5-ama strip (Rambam)
• the 8 marble tables: an 8-ama strip (Rambam)
• the 24 rings: a 24-ama strip
• from the rings to the Mizbeach: 8 amot

Sources

• Middot 3:5“וּמַפְשִׁיטִין עַל שֻׁלְחָנוֹת שֶׁל שַׁיִשׁ שֶׁבֵּין הָעַמּוּדִים”
• Middot 5:2“מִן הַטַּבָּעוֹת לַשֻּׁלְחָנוֹת אַרְבַּע, מִן הַשֻּׁלְחָנוֹת וְלַנַּנָּסִין אַרְבַּע”
• Tamid 3:5
• Rambam, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 5:13–15“בֵּית הַמִּטְבָּחַיִם י"ב אַמּוֹת וּמֶחֱצָה… מְקוֹם הַשֻּׁלְחָנוֹת שְׁמוֹנֶה אַמּוֹת”
• Zevachim 5:1“פַּר וְשָׂעִיר שֶׁל יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים שְׁחִיטָתָן בַּצָּפוֹן”

Project decisionAdopted: the Rambam's division (Beit HaBechirah 5:13–15), which gives 12.5 amot to the ninnasin and 8 to the tables. Set aside: Middot 3:5 and Tamid 3:5 place the tables between the pillars, and Middot 5:2 counts four amot from the rings to the tables, then four from the tables to the ninnasin, with no 12.5-ama strip. Choice of the tour: stone pillars; the Mishnah says only “עַמּוּדִים נַנָּסִין”.