In Tosfos on 105b it mentioned that workmen were allowed inside the Kodash Kodashem to repair whatever might be needed. I have been given to understand that the workman were put in a sort of protective barrel and lowered from a hole in the top of structure and lowered by rope to appropriate height and then they were able to repair or fix whatever necessary.
This brings up the following question:
In BABA BASTHRA 14 it mentions a disagreement between Rebbe Meir and Rebbe Yehudah on how the ark was formed and where everything was placed and how it was placed. In the course of the discussion it mentions a Torah that Moses wrote and this Torah according to Rashi was known as the courtyard Torah because it was taken out and read by the Kohen Godol on Yom Kippur and by the King at the seven year ceremony of Hakhel. My question is how were the King and the Kohen Godol able to take this Torah out of the Holy of Holies and how were they able to return the Torah to its proper place because this area was off-limits to all except to the kohen Godol at certain times on Yom-Kippur.
Also are there any other references to this matter discussed in other part of Shas???
Thanking you in advance and wishing you a Gut Shabbos, I remain, Sincerely yours,
Avrohom Eliezar haCohen
newtonville, mass. u.s.a.
Tosfos there in Bava Basra asks why did the Torah have to fit easily into the Aron if it was never taken out? He suggests that it could be taken for maintenance, citing the Gemara you mentioned in Eruvin. Tosfos writes that it could have not been taken out on Yom Kippur for no such procedure is not mentioned in the Mishnah in Yoma which details the Seder of Yom Kippur.
The Achronim note the words of Rashi that you mentioned. Some write that Rashi is referring to the second Beis ha'Midkash when there was no Aron. Alternatively, they write that in Shilo they read from this Torah. The Ya'avetz writes that they definitely read from this Torah although it was kept in the Kodesh Kadoshim but he does not write how it was taken out. Rashash disregards Tosfos' proof that it was not mentioned in the Mishnah, for the Mishnah in Yoma is speaking about the procedure of Yom Kippur as performed in the second Beis ha'Mikdash where there was no Aron. The Achronim also make note of Rashi on the Mishnah in Yoma 68b, who seems to allude that the Torah from which the Kohen Gadol read was kept in a Beis Knesses next to the Azarah.
D. Zupnik