Undoubtedly, these divine measurements were not chosen randomly. Every measurement certainly represents an important teaching about Torah, the world, or the fear of G-d. Happy is the person to whom Hashem reveals the secrets of His Temple. For the average reader, though, it must suffice to simply take them as measurements. I would like to present here an interesting insight into a few of these measurements as noted by a commentator some three-hundred years ago. His intriguing suggestion at the same time provides us with a beautifully original interpretation of a Gemara [= Talmudic passage] in Eruvin.

"The hearts of the earlier Sages were as broad as the gateway to the Ulam [= the entrance hall to the Beit Hamikdash]. The hearts of the later Sages were as broad as the gateway to the Hechal [= the main sanctuary of the Temple]. And our hearts are no broader than the opening of a seamstress's needle."

(Eruvin 53a)

The Gemara in Eruvin (21a) purports that the "length and breadth" of the Torah (the Written Law and Oral Laws combined) can be measured in cubits. (Rashi explains that these cubits are not the standard human arm's length cubits. Rather, these cubits are measured in mysterious "divine," metaphorical arm's lengths.) Based on descriptions of a length of parchment, representing the Torah, that is seen by the prophets Zecharyah and Yechezkel in a vision, the Gemara contends that the Torah is 10 x 20 cubits. Since Zecharyah informs us that the parchment was doubled over on itself, the Gemara infers that unfolded, it would measure 20 x 20 cubits. Yechezkel adds that the parchment was covered with writing on both sides. The Gemara infers from this that, were all the written area of the parchment to be put side by side (the outer, visible, text and the text that was doubled over; the front of each page and its back), the entire area covered by the parchment would be equivalent to an area of 20 x 40 cubits. This, then, is the full length and breadth of the Torah.

The Maharsha (Eruvin 21a) teaches why the parchment was seen to be doubled over and had writing on both sides. All of the Torah that we learn can be extracted from the Written Law through four distinct approaches to the verses of the Torah: "Peshat," "Remez," "Drush," and "Sod" (hinted at by the acronym "PaRDeS," see Chaggigah 14b). Peshat means understanding the simple meaning of the verses of the written Torah. Drush is the exegetical methodology for extracting the Oral Law from the Written Law. These two, says the Maharsha, are suggested by the doubled up parchment. The side of the parchment that could be seen on top represents the Peshat, the most obvious and clearest meaning of the verses. By unfolding the parchment, one uncovers Drush, or the exegetical derivations of the Torah. This deeper meaning of the verses of the Written Law is not quite as apparent as the Peshat. It can only be found by peering "under" the Peshat.

The other two facets of the Torah were written on the back of the parchment and not on its face. This denotes the fact that they are harder to grasp and that they require a greater effort to find them. It is through Remez and Sod that the hidden teachings of the Torah are learned. Remez refers to a metaphorical or a deep, philosophical approach to the Torah. Sod refers to the Kabbalistic meaning of the verses. These two approaches to the Torah complete the four "faces" of Torah which were represented in the parchment of Zecharyah's vision.

By contrast, the hearts of the later Sages are compared to the smaller gateway to the Hechal, which was only 10 x 20 cubits. This is meant to hint that they fully mastered only one of the four aspects of the Torah -- Peshat, or the simple meaning of the text of the Written Law. They did not grasp the rest of the Torah as fully as the earlier Sages, who were able to comprehend all four facets of the Torah. Their hearts are compared to the gateway to the Hechal, which was 10 x 20 cubits, or the exact dimensions of the top layer of the folded parchment that Zecharyah saw. Our hearts, however, are no wider than the eye of a needle. We don't even fully grasp the Peshat, or simple meaning of the verses!

(This interpretation is presented by the Maharsha's son-in-law in "Mahadura Batra" -- Eruvin 21a and 53a. The same thought can be found, quoted from an unstated source, in the introductions to "Kohellet Yitzchak" and "Margoliot Hatorah.")

The verse describes the Temple's windows as being "Shekufim Atumim" (I Kings 6:4). The Gemara (Menachot 86b, see also Vayikra Rabba 15:1) explains this to mean that these windows were built in a manner contrary to the accepted method of construction. Normally, windows are wider on the inside than on the outside, in order to let the light that enters them spread through the building. The Temple windows, however, were wider on the outside than on the inside. The reason for this, the Gemara explains, was in order to demonstrate that the Temple did not need light from the outside. It was from the *Temple* that "light" spread to the entire world -- the light of the Torah and the fear of G-d.

We may suggest a similar interpretation for the sizes of the two Temple gateways. The light of Torah-understanding can be said to have emanated from within the Temple. Its source was the Holy Ark that held Moses' two stone tablets, which rested in the Holy of Holies. The inner gateway of the Temple was narrower than the outer one, to symbolize that the light of Torah emanated from within the Temple. The gateway to the Hechal, which was 10 x 20 cubits, was built to the proportions of the Peshat, the openly visible part of the Law, as we have seen above (section III). The gateway to the Ulam, which was the outer gateway of the Temple, was 20 by 40 cubits, or the dimensions of the *entire* Torah according to Zecharyah's vision. This symbolized that the four approaches to the Torah, all of which emanated from the Temple building, started with a firm understanding of the Peshat. This understanding could then be expanded to include all the other teachings of the Torah as well!

As we have seen, all the proportions of the Beit Hamikdash hint at deep secrets of Judaism, involving the Torah and the fear of G-d. The Maharsha's son-in-law adds that perhaps this is why the Torah was presented to Zecharyah as a parchment of specific proportions. Where do we find that the entire collected teachings of the Torah were ever written on a parchment? And how can the Torah can be represented by a parchment of finite dimensions?

Perhaps this parchment was none other than the scroll that King David gave to his son Shlomo which described the dimensions of the various parts of the Temple. This is the parchment which represented the full extent of the Torah that Zecharyah was shown! Through elaborating on the connotations of the various measurements in the Temple plans, one could infer every teaching that could possibly be inferred from the Written Torah through the various traditional approaches!