Seven gates pierce the wall of the Azara: three in the south, three in the north, and Nikanor in the east. They measure twenty amot high by ten wide. They are counted starting from the westernmost: in the south, Sha'ar HaDelek, Sha'ar HaBekhorot, then Sha'ar HaMayim, the easternmost; in the north, Sha'ar HaNitzotz, Sha'ar HaKorban, then Beit HaMoked.
Dimensions
- 7 gates: 3 in the south, 1 in the east, 3 in the north
- 20 amot high × 10 wide
- three gate structures 20 amot wide, projecting 12 amot beyond the wall (tour's choice, without source)
Sources
- Middot 1:4“שֶׁבַּדָּרוֹם, שַׁעַר הַדֶּלֶק. שֵׁנִי לוֹ, שַׁעַר הַבְּכוֹרוֹת. שְׁלִישִׁי לוֹ, שַׁעַר הַמָּיִם”
- Middot 1:5“וְשֶׁבַּצָּפוֹן, שַׁעַר הַנִּיצוֹץ… שֵׁנִי לוֹ, שַׁעַר הַקָּרְבָּן. שְׁלִישִׁי לוֹ, בֵּית הַמּוֹקֵד”
- Middot 2:3
- Middot 2:6“שְׁעָרִים דְּרוֹמִיִּים סְמוּכִים לַמַּעֲרָב, שַׁעַר הָעֶלְיוֹן, שַׁעַר הַדֶּלֶק, שַׁעַר הַבְּכוֹרוֹת, שַׁעַר הַמָּיִם”
- Shekalim 6:3
- Yoma 19a
- Rambam, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 5:4“שְׁלֹשָׁה מִן הַצָּפוֹן הַסְּמוּכִין לַמַּעֲרָב. וּשְׁלֹשָׁה מִן הַדָּרוֹם סְמוּכִין לַמַּעֲרָב”
Project decisionAdopted: seven gates, following Middot 1:4–5. Set aside: the thirteen gates of Abba Yossi ben Chanan (Middot 2:6, Shekalim 6:3); yet it is his list that gives the direction of counting, « סְמוּכִים לַמַּעֲרָב », which the Rambam (Beit HaBechirah 5:4) repeats without the names, while Middot 1:4–5 gives none. The southern names are in Middot 1:4, the northern ones in Middot 1:5; Yoma 19a reads Sha'ar HaDelaka and Sha'ar HaKorban in the south, without changing the place of Sha'ar HaMayim, and Sha'ar Beit HaMoked in the north. Tour's choice: the spacing of the gates, which no source gives, and the 20 × 12 amot gate structure with its twenty steps, which have no source.