בית המקדש · Beit HaMikdach

Heikhal

Gates of the Heikhal

דלתות ההיכל

Daltot HaHeikhal

See it in the tour

The entrance of the Heikhal measures 20 amot high by 10 wide and has four doors: two outer and two inner. Their gold plating is taken from the First Temple. In front of the entrance, Ketubot 106a and the Rambam (Klei HaMikdash 7:17) further place a curtain, an outer parokhet. During the avoda the doors are open, the outer leaves folded back into the thickness of the embrasure, the inner ones into the Heikhal, against the wall.

Dimensions

  • entrance 20 amot high × 10 wide
  • four doors (two outer, two inner)
  • embrasure of 6 amot

Sources

Project decisionTour's choice: the four doors are shown open, as during the service, and the curtain is not shown. First Temple: I Kings 6:34–35; Middot 4:1 does not say what the doors were made of. Set aside: R. Yehuda (Middot 4:1), for whom the doors stood within the embrasure and folded back on themselves.