Double Porticoes

Covered porticoes line the Har HaBayit on all four sides. “The Har HaBayit was a double stav… a stav within a stav” (Pesachim 13b), which Rashi explains: one colonnade runs all around, and inside that circuit another. The model therefore sets two rows of columns along each wall. The same page speaks of the “roof of the itztaba”, on which the two loaves were placed; Rashi specifies that this roof was built against the rain, and the Rambam says the whole Har HaBayit was covered (Beit HaBechirah 5:1). The number of columns, their spacing, profile and height are choices.

Sources

• Pesachim 13b“הר הבית סטיו כפול היה… סטיו לפנים מסטיו”
• Rashi on Pesachim 13b“האיצטבא סביב סביב מקפת ובתוך אותו הקף עוד אחר”
• Pesachim 13b“על גג האיצטבא”
• Rashi on Pesachim 13b“גג האיצטבא - גג היה בנוי למעלה מפני הגשמים”
• Rambam, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 5:1“וְכֻלּוֹ הָיָה מְקֹרֶה סְטָיו לְפָנִים מִסְּטָיו”

Project decisionTour's choice: no column stands in front of the five gates of the Har HaBayit or on the east-west axis, to keep clear the view that the low east wall is there to allow (Middot 2:4).