A gallery ran all around the Ezrat Nashim. It was added for Simchat Beit HaShoeva: the women looked on from above and the men from below, “so that they would not mingle”.
Dimensions
- all around the court, open to the west toward Nikanor, cut at the eastern gate
- at the crest of the corner chambers, 15.6 amot above the court
- 3.5 amot wide
Sources
- Middot 2:5“וַחֲלָקָה הָיְתָה בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה, וְהִקִּיפוּהָ כְצוֹצְרָה, שֶׁהַנָּשִׁים רוֹאוֹת מִלְמַעְלָן, וְהָאֲנָשִׁים מִלְּמַטָּן, כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יְהוּ מְעֹרָבִין”
- Sukkah 5:2“יָרְדוּ לְעֶזְרַת נָשִׁים, וּמְתַקְּנִין שָׁם תִּקּוּן גָּדוֹל”
- Sukkah 51b“חֲלָקָה הָיְתָה בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה. וְהִקִּיפוּהָ גְּזוּזְטְרָא, וְהִתְקִינוּ שֶׁיְּהוּ נָשִׁים יוֹשְׁבוֹת מִלְמַעְלָה וַאֲנָשִׁים מִלְּמַטָּה”
- Bartenura on Middot 2:5“כְּמוֹ גְּזוּזְטְרָא הִקִּיפוּ סָבִיב לְעֶזְרַת נָשִׁים”
- Rashi on Sukkah 51b“נתנו זיזין בכתלים בולטין מן הכותל סביב סביב וכל שנה מסדרין שם גזוזטראות לווחין”
Project decisionNo source gives its height: the tour sets it at the crest of the corner chambers, running along their walls on the court side without covering them — they remain roofless (Middot 2:5). Columns, balustrade and frieze are choices. No source says how one went up to it: the tour shows no stair. Set aside: Rashi (Sukkah 51b), for whom corbels stayed in the walls and a floor of planks was laid on them every year. Tour's choice: the gallery is shown empty, even on the night of Simchat Beit HaShoeva; no source says what became of it the rest of the year.