Cheil and its Twelve Steps

The Cheil is the ten-ama strip that runs between the Soreg and the wall of the Ezrat Nashim. Twelve steps cross it, each half an ama high and half an ama deep.

Dimensions

• 10-ama strip between the Soreg and the wall of the Ezrat Nashim
• 12 steps
• each step: ½ ama high × ½ ama deep

Sources

• Middot 2:3“לִפְנִים מִמֶּנּוּ, הַחֵיל, עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת. וּשְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה מַעֲלוֹת הָיוּ שָׁם”
• Bartenura Middot 2:3“מֵאוֹתוֹ סוֹרֵג הָיָה מָקוֹם פָּנוּי עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת, וְהוּא נִקְרָא חֵיל”
• Rambam, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 6:1“וְעוֹלֶה מִן הַחֵיל לְעֶזְרַת הַנָּשִׁים בִּשְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה מַעֲלוֹת רוּם כָּל מַעֲלָה חֲצִי אַמָּה וְשִׁלְחָהּ חֲצִי אַמָּה”
• Rambam, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 5:3“וּלְפָנִים מִן הַסּוֹרֵג הַחֵיל [גָּבְהוֹ] עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת”

Project decisionAdopted: a strip ten amot wide, as Bartenura reads it (Middot 2:3). Set aside: the text of the Rambam (Beit HaBechirah 5:3), which reads « הַחֵיל [גָּבְהוֹ] עֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת », a height; the word is in brackets, a textual variant. Tour's choice: the ten amot of the Cheil are measured from the projecting gatehouses of the Azara, the outermost part of the wall. Measured from the wall itself, the Soreg would cut through those gatehouses.