Hilchos Beis Habechira (5779/ 2019)

Hilchos Beis Habechira (5779/ 2019) Given at Beis Hamidrash Linashim Ubanos 770

Class One: Introduction and Perek 1 Halacha 1-4 The Beis Hamikdash is about peace and work (Tefilla; Korbanos.) All בתי מקדש are connected, they are all both a משכן and a מקדש (which is the two levels of שכינה and קדושה). Temporary, semi-permanent and absolutely permanent. Why the RaMbaM explains only the design of the second Beis Hamikdash and not the Mishkan and first and third Batei Mikdash.

Class Two: Perek 1 Halachos 5-7 1) This class discusses the “עיקר” of the building: 1) Holy of Holies, 2) Holies 3) The great Hall 4) and the Courtyard. (everything else is details). They represent the way human beings live down here: 1) Yard 2) Living area 3) Private area, and the three fires that represent the three worlds: 1) BY”A 2) Atzilus 3) Ain Sof 2) The vessels, their purpose, and their place 3) Rooms and jobs, partitions and de-markers.

Class Three: Perek 1 Halachos 8-12. A) The stones from which the Beis HaMikdash was built. They used metal in pre-cutting the stones, but it needed to be done before they arrived on location where the Beis HaMikdash stood. The Mizbeach’s stones couldn’t encounter metal at all, ever. Metal “shortens people’s lives.” B) There was no exposed wood at all in the Beis HaMikdash, (this is indirectly connected to the prohibition of לא תטע לך אשרה כל עץ אצל מזבח הוי’ אלוקיל C) Tiled floor. D) it must be as big and beautiful as we can afford. E) Who, what, where, and when was the (mitzvah of) building the Beis HaMikdash.

Class Four: Perek 1 Halachos 13-20. 1) The Mizbeach also needed to be perfect, in fact it couldn’t encounter metal at all and needed to be utterly smooth. They had to “dig deep” to find stones worthy of the Mizbeach. 2) The Kevesh (ramp) of the Mizbeach protected it from any kind of the opposite of Tznius. 3) All the Keilim needed to be of metal, preferably gold if it was affordable. 4) The vessels and materials in the Besi HaMikdash were prepared initially “lishma” for the sake of the Beis HaMikdash.

Class Five: Perek 2 Halacha 1-9. The Mizbeach: 1) Its location was very precise. It is where even the greatest people brought their Karbanos. Yitzchok was tied there in “the Mikdash.” 2) The prophets who knew the location, the measurements, and the permission to offer Karbanos before the Bayis was built. 3) The height of the Mizbeach: 10 Amos which equaled 58 Tefach. There were two types of Amma (big (6 Tefach) and small (5 Tefach)) used here. 4) At the midway point, 29 Tefach, was the Chut Sikra. 5) The Kranos on each edge. The blood the of Chatas was placed there.

Class Six: Perek 2 Halachos 10-15 1) the Yesod was cut out (so that it should be only in Shevet Binyamin 2) The two holes (like nostrils) at the base of the Mizbeach. All the blood was drained out there. The Nachal Kidron and people paid to have rights to the blood etc. 3) Shittin, that is where the blood actually went down beneath the Azarah. 4) The Three כבשים (ramps) and their uses.

Class Seven: Perek 2 Halachos 16-18 1) The Mizbeach was solid. 2) Made with a mix (like a cement mix) poured into a mold 3) The four things requirements: A. square B. corners, C. Ramp, D. foundation 4) Blemished cement (and stone) Perek 3 Halachos 1-11 The Menorah: 1) The middle pole and the branches 2) The cups, buttons, and flowers 3) One piece of gold, a Kikar in weight, 4) The vessels that supported the Menorah 5) The “western light” that all the other candles faced 6) The height of the Menorah 7) three steps.

Class Eight: Perek 3 Halachos 12-18 1) The Shulchan: its dimensions, the “vessels” that served it: A. Ksavos between the breads, B. Minakiyos supporting the breads on the sides so they shouldn’t fall off, C. Kapos for Levona, Kearos to hold the bread (after baking) until it is placed on the Mizbeach. The way the bread was laid: TAMID, 2) The inner Mizbeach its shape, (height) location, and purpose. 3) Kiyor: 12 were able to wash at once Two meanings of מוכני “machine” 1) to provide more water, 2) to prevent it from becoming Tamei by being out לינה at night.

Class Nine Perek 4 Halachos 1-5 A) The ארון הקדש and its two “Holy of Holies”: revealed and hidden, but never destroyed. B) אמה טרקסין 3) measure of the בית המקדש’s height and floor dimensions east to west and north to south. 4) RaMbaM disagrees with other ראשונים about quite a bit.

Class Ten Perek 4 Halachos 6-9 This class speaks of: 1) the entering into the היכל through an indirect route, through the פשפש and then opening the doors from the inside out. 2) The אולם, its dimensions and the decorations above it. 3) [a most controversial issue in רמב”ם הלכות בית הבחירה] the staggered nature of the exterior of the בית המקדש it two areas: A. the famous יציעים issue and controversy By the outer walls of the אולם.

Class Eleven Perek 4 Halachos 10- 13. 1) The תאים according to the רמב”ם were five deep rather than five by five. 2) The מסיבה’s journey to get to the entrance to the עלי’ה and to fix the בית המקדש and paint it. Perek 5 Halachos 1- 9. 3) The הר הבית 500 X 500, five doors, covered with a roof. 4) The סורג Five) The חיל according to the רמב”ם was a platform called a parapet. 6) The gates, doors, and שער נקנור Seven) The עזרת נשים it’s לשעכות the balcony etc.

Class Twelve Perek 5 Halachos 9-17  1) Beis HaMoked, the “dormitory”, the secondary rooms, where they slept, if one becomes Tamei 2) The doors and rooms around the Azara 3) Lishkas Hagazis, Torah in the Beis Hamikdash, where the Sanhedrin sat. Perek 6 Halacha 1-5 4) Climbing the steps into the slowly ascending House of G-d. 5) The many series of steps. 6) Seeing over the outer wall to see into the Beis HaMikdash when doing the Para Aduma.