The Beit HaMoked has two gates facing each other: one onto the Azara, to the south, the other onto the 'Heil, to the north. One guard suffices for both, says Abaye, because each can be seen from the other. In the golden leaf of the south gate a wicket is cut, the pishpash: every morning, before dawn, the officer opens it and enters the Azara with two torches, to make sure every vessel is in its place. Opening the great gate at night would have been too heavy.
Dimensions
- south gate of 10 × 20 amot, two golden leaves swung into the hall
- wicket of 2 × 4.5 amot in the west leaf, with its iron ring
- north gate onto the 'Heil, at the top of twenty steps
Sources
- Middot 1:7“שְׁנַיִם שְׁעָרִים הָיוּ לְבֵית הַמּוֹקֵד, אֶחָד פָּתוּחַ לַחֵיל וְאֶחָד פָּתוּחַ לָעֲזָרָה. אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוּדָה, זֶה שֶׁהָיָה פָתוּחַ לָעֲזָרָה, פִּשְׁפָּשׁ קָטָן הָיָה לוֹ, שֶׁבּוֹ נִכְנָסִין לִבְלֹשׁ אֶת הָעֲזָרָה”
- Tamid 1:3“נָטַל אֶת הַמַּפְתֵּחַ וּפָתַח אֶת הַפִּשְׁפָּשׁ, וְנִכְנַס מִבֵּית הַמּוֹקֵד לָעֲזָרָה, וְנִכְנְסוּ אַחֲרָיו וּשְׁתֵּי אֲבוּקוֹת שֶׁל אוּר בְּיָדָם”
- Bartenura Middot 1:7“פִּשְׁפָּשׁ קָטָן. שַׁעַר קָטָן בְּתוֹךְ הַשַּׁעַר הַגָּדוֹל”
- Tamid 26b“אָמַר אַבָּיֵי: כֵּיוָן דְּגַבֵּי הֲדָדֵי הֲווֹ קָיְימִי – סַגִּי לְהוּ בְּחַד שׁוֹמֵר, דָּוֵי לְהָכָא וְדָוֵי לְהָכָא”
- Melekhet Shlomo Middot 1:7“שקשה היה להם לפתוח פתח גדול בלילה”
- Lechem Shamayim Tamid 1:3“אבל זה מפתח קטן של פשפש. לא היו מצניעין אותו שם. אלא היה מזומן בידיהם”
Project decisionAdopted: the pishpash is a small door cut into the large one (Bartenura, Melekhet Shlomo), as the Rambam explains on Tamid 1:3; on Middot 1:6 he also gives the word the sense of a lattice. Lechem Shamayim infers from the text that its key was not under the slab with those of the Azara, but kept at hand. Not followed: another reading, reported by Melekhet Shlomo on Tamid 1:1 with the Rosh, puts the Azara gate near the north-east corner and the other in the middle of the east wall. Tour's choice: the wicket in the west leaf, its dimensions, and the twenty steps.