What is "Sha'ar ha'Ison"?
Rashi: The gate is called Ison, for it is used for entrance and exit. Ison is the Targum of Bi'ah. Radak ? this is like "Asa Voker" (Yeshayah 21:12). People enter the Azarah via it in order to pray, for it was in the east and opposite Pesach ha'Heichal. Malbim ? the cells are included in it, for they are on the outside and one enter via them.
Targum Yonasan: The middle gate. Radak ? I do not understand this. Perhaps it is because this eastern gate of Har ha'Bayis had two small openings ? one to its right and one to its left; the gate is in the middle.
It is written ha'Yason, and we pronounce it ha'Ison!
Radak: This is like words whose letters are sometimes re-arranged like Keves Kesev, Simlah Salmah.
Why does it say "Al Pnei ha'Sha'ar"?
Radak: Mipnei (in front of), i.e. outside the gate, until "Lifnei Ulam ha'Sha'ar ha'Penimi", is 50 Amos 1 , like it says that other gates were 50 long and 25 wide, with the cells, Eilim and Ulamos. I.e. from the Saf of the outer gate until the Ayil of the inner gate (ha'Ulam) is 50 Amos. Vilna Gaon ? from east to west, the wall of the Chatzer was six Amos; three cells occupied 24 Amos (the interior of each was six, and each had a wall of one Amah on each side); there was a gap of five Amos between the first and second cells, and also between the second and third; the Ulam and its Saf occupied the last 10 Amos.
Malbim: This cannot be! Even according to Radak that the gate was 13 wide, the length until Sof ha'Ulam was only 23, for the Ulam was 10 Amos! Even if we add the thickness of the cell (11), this is only 34!
What was 50 Amos?
Rashi: It is the height of this gate.
Refer to 40:15:3:1.
Why does it say "Al Lifnei Ulam ha'Sha'ar ha'Penimi"?
Rashi: With the height of Ulam ha'Sha'ar, which is inside the gate, it is 50 Amos. I learn from the height of the other gates, which were 50, that "Al Pnei" here means height 1 .
Radak, Vilna Gaon: "Al" is like Ad (until). The same applies to "Al ha'Maberos" (Yehoshua 2:7).
Malbim: This teaches that Pnei Sha'ar ha'Ison was outside, parallel to what was in front of the gate inside. By the Ulam inside was a floor [on which an upper story was built] until the side of the gate with 30 chambers. Verse 18 teaches that the floor was along the length of the gate. This teaches that the gate is measured until the end of the cells 40 Amos from the gate. The floor was 34 Amos long (verse 18), along the length of the gate, until 40 Amos from the gate; the chambers on it were on the inside. With the 10 Amos interior of the gate there were 50 Amos. "Ha'Penimi" also excludes the Ulam of Chatzer ha'Penimis, which was outside [the Heichal]. In passing, it teaches that also inside, the floor extended until the end of the cells, 50 Amos from the beginning of the width of the gate.
Hagahah (in some texts): I.e. the height of Sha'ar ha'Chitzon was 50 along the entire Ulam, from the inner gate of the Ulam. Also the end of the Ulam is [called] Sha'ar, like it says in verse 7).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes that the height of Ulam ha'Sha'ar is 50 Amos, like the other gates. The verses do not discuss the height! No gate in Bayis Sheni was so tall. All were 10 tall and 20 wide, except for Sha'ar ha'Ulam, which was double. Why does the Navi use three expressions for height - "Al Pnei", "Al Lifnei" and "Orech", which do not mean height? Everywhere, Orech is length, and height is Govah! Why does it teach the height of the gates, but not of the walls or building?
Radak, Vilna Gaon: The length was 50; refer to 40:15:3:1.
Malbim: I explained (13) that the three cells on each side pertain to the gate. This is why he measured from the roof of the cell to the roof of the gate, for it pertains to the width of the entrance. The gate with the width of the cells 1 from west to east is called width; it was 25 Amos. Now he measured from the gate along the length of the cells; this is the length of Pnei (what pertains to) ha'Sha'ar. The gate was 10 wide, and all the cells [on one side 2 ] were 40. The outer walls of the cells towards the gate and towards the outside, each was six ? five and the Amah of border. The two walls between adjacent cells, each was five, and the interior of the three cells were six each (verse 7) ?in all this is 40. With the width of the gate, they are 50 3 .
Each cell was square! However, they were in a line, from north to south. This is their length. Their width is from east to west. (PF)
The cells in north and south all pertain to the gate. Why did he measure only the cells in one direction? Both directions should be included! (PF)
Malbim: First he measured at the south of the gate, from west to east, until the end of the south cell ? this was 25. After, from south to north, until the end of the [three] cells ? this was 50. Also in the north, he measured 25 from west to east, and from north to south, until the end of the [three] cells ? this was 50. This is why it says about each gate that the length was 50 and the width was 25 (verses 21, 25, 29, 33, 36).
