“What is Parva? A magus,” says Rav Yosef, and the chamber where the hides are salted bears his name. What he did, each commentator tells in his own way. For Rashi, he built the chamber. For the Rambam, he broke through the wall of the Azara in this chamber to watch the service, and was killed there. For the Arukh, quoted by Tosafot, he dug a tunnel under the ground of the sanctuary to watch the Kohen Gadol at his service; the kohanim heard him digging, found him, and the chamber took his name. This is where the Kohen Gadol is brought on Yom Kippur for his second immersion, and the chamber is within the sacred area; a non-Jew did not even pass the Cheil. So the tour starts the tunnel from the esplanade, beyond the Soreg, and leads it under the Cheil to the foot of the south wall, where a shaft climbs to the breach. From the chamber, all one sees is a few stones that do not match the wall.
Dimensions
- start: the esplanade, three amot beyond the Soreg, under a slab unlike the others
- a tunnel 2 amot wide and 4 high, 2 amot below the paving, 30 amot long
- a shaft of 22 amot under the south wall of the Lishkat HaParva, with footholds
- the breach, 2 amot by 2.5, at the foot of the wall, walled up
Sources
- Yoma 35a“מַאי ״פַּרְוָה״? אָמַר רַב יוֹסֵף: פַּרְוָה אַמְגּוּשָׁא”
- Rashi on Yoma 35a“מכשף אחד בנאה ושמו פרווה”
- Tosafot on Yoma 35a“פי' בערוך וזה לשונו יש מן החכמים שאומרים כי חפר מחילה תחת הקרקע בקדש עד שיראה עבודת כהן גדול והרגישו הכהנים בחפירה ומצאוהו וקרא אותה הלשכה על שמו”
- Rambam on Middot 5:3“שם איש אמגושי שחתר בקיר העזרה בלשכה זו כדי לראות העבודה ונהרג על כן נקראת הלשכה על שמו”
- Bartenura Middot 5:3“אָדָם מְכַשֵּׁף שֶׁשְּׁמוֹ פַּרְוָה בָּנָה אוֹתָהּ לִשְׁכָּה עַל יְדֵי מְכַשֵּׁפוּת, וְנִקְרֵאת עַל שְׁמוֹ. כָּךְ מָצָאתִי. וְרַמְבַּ"ם כָּתַב, שֶׁהָיָה חוֹתֵר בַּקִּיר כְּדֵי לִרְאוֹת מִשָּׁם הֵיאַךְ הָיָה כֹּהֵן עוֹבֵד הָעֲבוֹדָה וְנֶהֱרַג שָׁם”
- Tosafot Yom Tov Middot 5:3“ואני תמה שיקיימו בקדש בנין הנעשה ע"י כשוף”
- Yoma 3:6“הֱבִיאוּהוּ לְבֵית הַפַּרְוָה, וּבַקֹּדֶשׁ הָיְתָה”
- Kelim 1:8“הַחֵיל מְקֻדָּשׁ מִמֶּנּוּ, שֶׁאֵין גּוֹיִם וּטְמֵא מֵת נִכְנָסִים לְשָׁם”
Project decisionAdopted: the Arukh and the Rambam together — the tunnel under the ground, and the breach in the wall of the Azara, in this chamber. Set aside: Rashi and Bartenura, for whom Parva built the chamber; Tosafot Yom Tov wonders that a building made by sorcery would be kept in the sacred area. Tour's choice: the whole course — the start beyond the Soreg, the depth, the section, the shaft and its footholds, the place of the breach between the bench of hides and the east wall, its plugging stones and the slab on the esplanade. No source says where he started from, nor that the tunnel was left open: it is there to be seen.