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The Eastern Wall of the Har Habayis, part 3 (the gates in the middle of the eastern wall)
The middle section of the eastern wall, from the times of Shlomo Hamelech, has one gate currently visible in it, the Shaar Harachamim. This gate, which is located around 312 meters (1023 feet) away from the southeast corner, is built on the remains of the original gate that stood there in the time of the…
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Did the Rambam enter Har Habayis (updated)
In a previous post, I tried bringing a proof that the dome of the rock is the place of the Kodesh Hakodoshim from the fact that the Rambam went onto Har Habayis. However, the Rambam does not state clearly that he went onto Har Habayis. He writes (quoted in Sefer Hacharedim מצוות התלויות בארץ פ”ג) “on…
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The height of Har Habayis part 2
In a previous post I brought down the Radvaz’s answer (שו”ת הרדב”ז סימן תרל”ט) about why the Har Habayis is now shorter than the rest of Yerushalayim. However, from that teshuva it is not clear by how tall the Radvaz holds the Har Habayis was. From the fact that he brings a proof from the Even Hashesiyah,…
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Where Was the Beis Hamikdash on Har Habayis? (part 4)
The Mishnah (Middos 2:1) says that the Har Habayis had the majority of the empty space in the south, the second biggest in the east, third in the north, and the least in the south. most Meforshim explain that this means the empty space between the Azarah walls and the walls of Har Habayis, and…
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Who Built the Kosel Hama’aravi?
In a previous post, I wrote that the Migrash of Har Habayis went until the western wall of the present day temple mount, the Kosel Hama’aravi. However, there is a problem with saying that, because the stones of the Kosel are all Herodian-style stones (stones with margins and smooth bosses), and there are no seams to…
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The Height of Har Habayis
The Gemara in Zevachim (54b) says that the Beis Hamikdash is higher than the whole Eretz Yisroel, except for Ein Eitam, which is twenty-three amos higher than the Azarah. However, there is a problem, because nowadays, the top of Har Habayis is 744 meters (2440 feet) above sea level, but all the mountains around it,…
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The Northern Seam
In the last post I wrote than in order for the northern wall of the migrash to end by the northern seam, it needs to be on a different angle than the rest of the walls of Har Habayis. However, I realized that you can make the wall the same angle as the other walls,…
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Where was the Beis Hamikdash on Har Habayis? (part 3)
I am now going to write a new way how it was, but please note, that I am not paskening halacha lima’aseh, where you could go on Har Habayis and where you can’t, and you shouldn’t go on Har Habayis at all, as said by most Poskim, that we should not go on Har…
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Where was the Beis Hamikdash on Har Habayis? (part 2)
There are four opinions where on Har Habayis the Beis Hamikdash was, they are:1) dome of the rock is where the Kodesh Hakodoshim was.2) dome of the rock is the place of the mizbeach.3) Beis Hamikdash was in the south part of Har Habayis, in the empty space between the mosques.4) Beis Hamikdash was in…
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Where Was the Beis Hamikdash on Har Habayis? (part 1)
One of the big questions about the Beis Hamikdash is where the Beis Hamikdash was on Har Habayis. The Mishna (Middos 2:1) says Har Habayis was five hundred amos by five hundred amos, and the Azarah was farther away from the south wall than from the east, farther from the east than from the…
Hashem said to Yechezkel, “Its reading in the Torah is as great as its building. Go and say it to them, and they will occupy themselves to read the form of it in the Torah. And in reward for its reading, that they occupy themselves to read about it, I count it for them as if they were occupied with the building of it.
(Tanchuma Tzav 14)