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With the English translation
of the Kehati Commentary on The Mishnah
Masechet Midot
Chapter 4
Mishnah 2
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The Great Gate had two wickets, one in the north, and one in the south.
The one in the south, no person ever entered through it, and it is to
this that Ezekiel specifically refers, as it says: "And the Lord
said to me: this gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened and no person
shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, enters by it, and
it shall be shut" (Ezek. 44:2). He took the key and opened the wicket,
and he entered the compartment, and from the compartment to the Sanctuary.
R. Yehudah says: He walked inside the thickness of the wall, until he
found himself standing between the two gates, and opened the outer ones
from the inside, and the inner ones from the outside.
Kehati
The Great Gate - i.e., the main gate of the Sanctuary,
discussed in the previous mishnah - had two wickets -
small service doors neat it - one in the north - to the
right of a person facing it - and one in the
south - to his left. The one - wicket - in
the south, no person ever entered through it, and it is to this that the
prophet Ezekiel specifically refers - that it remain
dhut - as it says: " And the lord said to me: This gate shall
be shut, it not shall be opened and n person shall enter by it, for the
lord the of israel entered by it, and it shall be shut."
This was to illustrate that the many gates of te temple were for human
entery, and not for God's, as God remains unaffected by a locked door
(tiferet israel). He - the one opening the great Gate
in the morning - took the key and opened the - northen
- wicket, and he entered the compartment - nearest the
gate, which had an opening to the interior of the sanctuary, crodding
over to the great gate, which he had an interier of the sanctuary (see
4:3) and from the compartment he went in to the
interior of the sanctuary, crossing over to the great gate, which he opened
from the inside (this mishnehappears also in tam. 3:7 see our commentary
there). R. Yehudah says : He - did not from the wichet
into the compartment, but rather turned left through a passae (Rashi)
- walked inside the thicknexs of the - eastern - wall
- of the sanctuaryand through another opening - until he found
him self standing in the enterace of the sanctuary, in the corridor
between the two sets of gates, and opened the outer ones from
the inside, and the inner ones from the outside.
Masechet Midot
Chapter 4
Mishnah 3
Kehati
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