Beneath the Ezrat Yisrael, chambers opened onto the Ezrat Nashim: the Levites kept their kinorot, their nevalim, their metziltayim and all the instruments of song there. They lie at the foot of the fifteen steps, on which the Levites stood with their instruments to sing.
Dimensions
- beneath the Ezrat Yisrael, opening onto the Ezrat Nashim
- two chambers, one on each side of the fifteen steps
- doors of 3 × 6 amot
Sources
- Middot 2:6“וּלְשָׁכוֹת הָיוּ תַחַת עֶזְרַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, וּפְתוּחוֹת לְעֶזְרַת הַנָּשִׁים, שֶׁשָּׁם הַלְוִיִּם נוֹתְנִים כִּנּוֹרוֹת וּנְבָלִים וּמְצִלְתַּיִם וְכָל כְּלֵי שִׁיר”
- Sukkah 5:4“כְּנֶגֶד חֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת שֶׁבַּתְּהִלִּים, שֶׁעֲלֵיהֶן לְוִיִּם עוֹמְדִין בִּכְלֵי שִׁיר וְאוֹמְרִים שִׁירָה”
- Numbers 10:8“וּבְנֵי אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֲנִים יִתְקְעוּ בַּחֲצֹצְרוֹת”
- Sukkah 5:4“וְהַלְוִיִּם בְּכִנּוֹרוֹת וּבִנְבָלִים וּבִמְצִלְתַּיִם וּבַחֲצוֹצְרוֹת”
Project decisionWhat the Mishnah says: chambers beneath the Ezrat Yisrael, opening onto the Ezrat Nashim, where the Levites put down their instruments; neither how many nor where. Tour's choice: two chambers, one on each side of the steps, with doors of 3 × 6 amot — the size in Middot 2:3, twenty by ten, is that of the gates of the Azara, and these chambers are only six and a half amot high —, the cedar shelves, the hooks and where each instrument sits. No chatzotzrot: the mishnah does not name them among what is put down there, and the kohanim blow them (Numbers 10:8). At Simchat Beit HaShoevah, however, the Levites play them on the fifteen steps (Sukkah 5:4). Modeled: two chambers of 10.5 × 6 amot under the paving of the Ezrat Yisrael.