A very novel idea was put forward by Isaac Hassan ...

2011-02-06T02:45:15.426-05:00

A very novel idea was put forward by Isaac Hassan of montreal, regarding the dimentions and pillars of the courtyard, which seems to cover all difficulties. It is radical though. The explanation of the Riv"a towards the end of Parshas Terumah seems the most logical, with minor assymetries that can be easily tweaked.

I think that we can certainly agree that Mr. Sigalov's explanation is beyond reason.

Ok, so this is what I think about the dimensions o...

2010-04-07T16:15:38.556-04:00

Ok, so this is what I think about the dimensions of the Court...

In my humble opinion, the dimensions of the Chatzer of the Mishkan were 120 cubits by 60 cubits.

Here is why:

1) If we would assume that the dimensions of the Chatzer were 100 cubits by 50 cubits, we are going to run into the problems that you have nicely outlined in your post.

And since the traditional interpretations cover almost every concievable permutation of the Court parts that explicitly specified in the original text, one can also conlclude that all of of these interpretations are equaly problematic, and thus - not correct.

2) But how can this be justified? Well, imho it is pretty simple - this is a clear case of misreading of the text.
Exodus 27:9-12 & 14-16 discusses the length of fabric for each side of the court: no problems here. But Exodus 27:13 & 18 seems to be talking about an overall dimensions of the court? Wrong! It also speaks about the length and width of the fabric only!

Thus, the value of 100 cubits refers to the length of fabric on the North and South sides of the court. And the value of 50 cubits refers to the length of fabric on the East and West sides of the court.

But how can we figure out an overall dimensions of the court, if the dimensions of the pillars are not specified explicitly?

Simple! From the dimensions of the Boards of the Tent of the Mishkan!

Each board of the Mishkan was 1.5 cubits long and 10 cubits tall (with an unknown thickness).
Here is an interesting part: if we were to make a tube with these dimensions, taking 1.5 cubits for an inner circumference of the tube, we would get a pillar 10 cubits tall and 1.5/pi=0.477 cubits of inner diameter.

But the court pillars were only half as tall as the boards of the Tent... Well, amazingly, if we will cut the tube that we've calculated above in half and make one wider tube out of these two, we are going to get:
A tube 5 cubits tall, with inner circumference 1.5+1.5=3 cubits, and inner diameter of 3/pi=0.954 cubits. And since this tube obviously had some thickness, the closest whole number would be 1 cubit.

Thus, the each pillar of the court was tube-shaped, 5 cubit tall, 1 cubit in outside diameter and 0.954 cubits of inside diameter, with the thickness of wood of (1-0.954)/2 =~0.0225 cubits (a fingerbreadth).

By doing some more simple math, we get an overall dimensions of the court of the Mishkan as 120 cubits by 60 cubits. (i,e 50 cubits of fabric + 10 pillars one cubit wide each=60 cubits e.t.c)

So I guess Rashi was one of the few who asked the right questions. And of'course, the traditional commentators who identified the pillars of the court being 1 cubit, were also correct, even though they could not explain it and fit all details together.

Sorry ofr the long comment ;)

I wonder... Have seen my blog yet? thedeserttabern...

2010-03-22T20:19:42.774-04:00

I wonder... Have seen my blog yet?
thedeserttabernacle.blogspot.com

Comments on Al Pi Cheshbon: עמודי החצר

The explanation of the Riv"a towards the e...

A very novel idea was put forward by Isaac Hassan ...

Ok, so this is what I think about the dimensions o...

I wonder... Have seen my blog yet? thedeserttabern...