For the reading, a large wooden bima is brought and set up in the middle of the Ezrat Nashim; the king goes up and sits on it, so that his reading is heard, and all Israel who came up for the festival gather around him. The Mishnah says “in the Azara”; but no one sits in the Azara except the kings of the house of David — so it was the Ezrat Nashim, the Gemara answers with Rav Chisda.
Dimensions
- a large wooden bima
- in the middle of the Ezrat Nashim
Sources
- Sotah 7:8“עוֹשִׂין לוֹ בִימָה שֶׁל עֵץ בָּעֲזָרָה, וְהוּא יוֹשֵׁב עָלֶיהָ”
- Sotah 41b“וְהָאָמַר מָר: אֵין יְשִׁיבָה בַּעֲזָרָה אֶלָּא לְמַלְכֵי בֵּית דָּוִד בִּלְבַד… כִּדְאָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא: בְּעֶזְרַת נָשִׁים, הָכָא נָמֵי בְּעֶזְרַת נָשִׁים”
- Rambam, Hilchot Chagigah 3:4“וּמְבִיאִין בִּימָה גְּדוֹלָה וְשֶׁל עֵץ הָיְתָה וּמַעֲמִידִין אוֹתָהּ בְּאֶמְצַע עֶזְרַת נָשִׁים וְהַמֶּלֶךְ עוֹלֶה וְיוֹשֵׁב עָלֶיהָ כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּשְׁמְעוּ קְרִיאָתוֹ וְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל הָעוֹלִים לָחֹג מִתְקַבְּצִין סְבִיבָיו”
Project decisionTour's choice: no source gives its measurements — six amot square, three high, five steps on the west; the king's seat, and his face turned east, where the people come in.