The very last half-meter of the building: an ama of iron at the ridge, to keep birds from landing there. The Rambam describes it in place — an iron band one ama high that girds the Heikhal above the parapet on its four sides, sharp as a sword, so that no bird lands on it, its feet being cut off. A continuous blade, then, and not a row of spikes. The hundred amot of height are not a hundred amot of wall: the masonry stops at 96, and the last four amot are the parapet, for three, and this anti-crow device, for one.
Dimensions
- 1 ama
- the wall stops at 96 amot; the last 4 are the Ma'ake (3) and the Kaleh Orev (1)
Sources
Project decisionAdopted: the anonymous view of the mishna (Middot 4:6) — a parapet of three amot and a kaleh orev of one ama. Set aside: R. Yehuda, for whom the kaleh orev is not counted in the hundred amot and the parapet is four amot.