Rav Yisrael Teitel sent me a document written by Rav Michael Bar Ron and him. It convinced me that Makom HaMikdash must be to the South of the Haram. Talmud Yerushalmi in Shekalim, Perek 6, Halacha 2 effectively describes the topology. The Mizbeach is on the eastern slope of the natural hill. Therefore it cannot have been under the El Aksa mosque, as I have suggested.
If we combine shitot, I think we can pinpoint the exact place. The Mizbeach must be on the line from the top to the Gihon. This line runs in parallel to the Western wall. If we understand Yechezkel 43:12 to mean that Kodesh Kodeshim in the "plan" of Yechezkel (which Hordus followed at least in a basic sense) is on Gav HaHar, the highest point going from the Mizbeach to the West, the place is fixed if we know the Midot of Hordus' temple complex. That is where the Mishna comes in.
In the back of my mind I always thought that the fact that the width of the Haram is close to 500 Amot must mean that the southern wall was part of the Temple complex, even though the thought nagged that it is a bit too long. I think the explanation is that Hordus made things elegant. The extrapolation of the western wall of the Haram crossed the North-West corner of the Temple walls. Likewise, the extrapolation of the Eastern wall crossed the North-East corner of the Temple walls. If so, because the Haram is not an exact rectangle, the northern wall of Hordus' Temple complex would have been a welcome ten to twenty meters shorter than the southern wall of the Haram.
My mind has settled. I think we found it. Ernest Martin was right. We have to accept the truth from whoever says it, and who cannot admit mistakes will never find the truth.
After encountering the place of the Mikdash, Ya'akov was strenghtened and Edom was weakened. When David understood the place, Doeg the Edomite was weakened. May HaShem be with us.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources:
תלמוד בבלי מסכת מגילה דף כו עמוד א
דתניא: מה היה בחלקו של יהודה - הר הבית, הלשכות והעזרות. ומה היה בחלקו של בנימין - אולם והיכל ובית קדשי הקדשים. ורצועה היתה יוצאת מחלקו של יהודה ונכנסת בחלקו של בנימין, ובה מזבח בנוי
- The border between Yehudah and Benyamin was right to the East of the Mizbeach, with a small indentation precisely at the position of the Mizbeach. This border runs in North-South direction, with the area of Benyamin in the West.
יהושע פרק טו פסוק ח-ט
וְעָלָה הַגְּבוּל גֵּי בֶן הִנֹּם אֶל כֶּתֶף הַיְבוּסִי מִנֶּגֶב הִיא יְרוּשָׁלִָם וְעָלָה הַגְּבוּל אֶל רֹאשׁ הָהָר אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי גֵי הִנֹּם יָמָּה אֲשֶׁר בִּקְצֵה עֵמֶק רְפָאִים צָפֹנָה:
וְתָאַר הַגְּבוּל מֵרֹאשׁ הָהָר אֶל מַעְיַן מֵי נֶפְתּוֹחַ וְיָצָא אֶל עָרֵי הַר עֶפְרוֹן וְתָאַר הַגְּבוּל בַּעֲלָה הִיא קִרְיַת יְעָרִים
- The border between Yehudah and Benyamin runs from the top of the hill (Dome of the Rock) to the Gihon (the only open water source in the area). From North to South, indeed. Conclusion: Makom HaMikdash must be significantly lower than the top. If it is to be at the Eastern slope of the natural hill, one ends up where Martin said it was, in accordance with Flavius Yosephus.
במסכת מידות פרק ב', משנה ו', המשנה מספר על 13 השערים של בית המקדש
...שער העליון, שער הדלק, שער הבכורות, שער המים. ולמה נרקא שער המים? שבו מכניסין צלוחית של מים של נסוך בחג. ר' אליעזר אומר: בו המים המפכים עתידין להיות יוצאין מתחת מפתן הבית
תלמוד ירושלמי מסכת שקלים פרק ו דף נ טור א /ה"ב
כתיב והיה ביום ההוא יצאו מים חיים מירושלם וגו' תני בית קודש הקדשים עד הפרכות כקרני סיליי וכיליי מן הפרכות עד מזבח הזהב כקרני חגבים ממזבח הזהב ועד העזרות כחוט של שתי מן העזרות ועד מפתן הבית כחוט של ערב מיכן והילך כמפי הפך והנה מים מפכים מן הכתף הימנית כתיב בצאת האיש קדים וקו בידו וימד אלף באמה ויעבירני במים
רמב"ם בתחילת פרק ו' בהלכות בית הבחירה
המקדש כולו לא היה במישור, אלא במעלה ההר: כשאדם נכנס משער מזרחי של הר הבית, מהלך עד סוף החיל בשווה; ועולה מן החיל לעזרת הנשים בשתים עשרה מעלות, רום כל מעלה חצי אמה ושלחה חצי אמה
יוסף בן מתתיהו, מלחמות היהודים
(בציטוטו של הניאום האחרון של אלעזר במצדה)
איפה העיר אשר... ה' שכן בתוכו? עכשיו היא נחרבת עד יסודותיה ואין בה שום דבר חוץ מן המצבת זיכרון הנשמרת, אני מתכוון המחנה של אלו שהרסו אותה, שהיא עדיין עומדת על שרידיה. ספר 7, 8:7
בית המקדש היה מבצר ששמר על העיר, ואנטוניה שמר והשקיף על המקדש מן הצפון—המבצר של המבצר. חסם את הנוף של המקדש מן הצפון. החיילים השקיפו על העם בבית המקדש מן המבצר, שלא יעיזו למרוד. ספר 5, 5:6
השתמשו בה כבסיס צבאי של הלגיון העשירי... מדובר בעיר בתוך עיר... נבנה מסביב סלע ענק. ספר 5, 5:8
עכשיו המקדש הזה, כמו שאמרתי כבר, היה בנוי על הר חזק. לראשונה, המישור בפסגה לא היה מספיק לבית המקדש ולמזבח, כי השטח מסביב לא היה ישר, וכמו צוק תלול. החומה המזרחית אשר שמלה היה צריך לבנות על מנת לחזק ולהרחיב את ההר, החומה הגיעה לתחתית ההר. ספר 5, 5:1
משנה מסכת יומא פרק ה משנה ב
משניטל הארון אבן היתה שם מימות נביאים ראשונים ושתיה היתה נקראת גבוהה מן הארץ שלש אצבעות ועליה היה נותן
תהילים קטז:יח-יט
נְדָרַי, לַה' אֲשַׁלֵּם; נֶגְדָה-נָּא, לְכָל-עַמּוֹ. בְּחַצְרוֹת, בֵּית ה'-- בְּתוֹכֵכִי יְרוּשָׁלִָם: הַלְלוּ-יָהּ
מלכים א פרק ג :א
וַיִתְחַתֵּן שְׁלֹמֹה אֶת פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ מִצְרָיִם וַיִּקַּח אֶת בַּת פַּרְעֹה וַיְבִיאֶהָ אֶל עִיר דָּוִד עַד כַּלֹּתוֹ לִבְנוֹת אֶת בֵּיתוֹ וְאֶת בֵּית יְקֹוָק וְאֶת חוֹמַת יְרוּשָׁלִַם סָבִיב
רב עזריה דרוסי, מאור עיניים
מקום הקדוש שלנו לא נהפך לבית תפילה לשום עם אחר
יוטיכיוס, בשנת 876 למניין הכללי ,מתוך ספרו של ארנסט ל. מרטין
אז עומר אמר לסופרוניוס (ארכיבישוף הביזנטי של ירושלים): "אתה חייב לי חוב. תן לי מקום שבו אני יכול לבנות מסגד." הארכיבישוף אמר לו: "אני אתן ל'מפקד הנאמנים' [הח'ליף] מקום לבנות מסגד במקום שמלכי ה'רום' [הרומאים] לא היו מסוגלים לבנות. הוא היה אבן איפה שה' דיבר עם יעקב, אשר יעקוב קרא 'שער השמיים' וקראו קודש הקודשים. הוא המרכז של העולם ומקדש לישראלים... הביזנטים הזניחו אותו, ולא הייתה להם יראת כבוד לו, וגם לא בנו כנסייה עליו
Flavius Yosephus, Antiquities of the Jews 15, 11:4-5:
4. Now on the north side [of the temple] was built a citadel, whose walls were square, and strong, and of extraordinary firmness. This citadel was built by the kings of the Asamonean race, who were also high priests before Herod, and they called it the Tower, in which were reposited the vestments of the high priest, which the high priest only put on at the time when he was to offer sacrifice. These vestments king Herod kept in that place; and after his death they were under the power of the Romans, until the time of Tiberius Caesar; under whose reign Vitellius, the president of Syria, when he once came to Jerusalem, and had been most magnificently received by the multitude, he had a mind to make them some requital for the kindness they had shewn him; so, upon their petition to have those holy vestments in their own power, he wrote about them to Tiberius Caesar, who granted his request: and this their power over the sacerdotal vestments continued with the Jews till the death of king Agrippa; but after that, Cassius Longinus, who was president of Syria, and Cuspius Fadus, who was procurator of Judea, enjoined the Jews to reposit those vestments in the tower of Antonia, for that they ought to have them in their power, as they formerly had. However, the Jews sent ambassadors to Claudius Caesar, to intercede with him for them; upon whose coming, king Agrippa, junior, being then at Rome, asked for and obtained the power over them from the emperor, who gave command to Vitellius, who was then commander in Syria, to give it them accordingly. Before that time they were kept under the seal of the high priest, and of the treasurers of the temple; which treasurers, the day before a festival, went up to the Roman captain of the temple guards, and viewed their own seal, and received the vestments; and again, when the festival was over, they brought it to the same place, and showed the captain of the temple guards their seal, which corresponded with his seal, and reposited them there. And that these things were so, the afflictions that happened to us afterwards [about them] are sufficient evidence. But for the tower itself, when Herod the king of the Jews had fortified it more firmly than before, in order to secure and guard the temple, he gratified Antonius, who was his friend, and the Roman ruler, and then gave it the name of the Tower of Antonia.
5. Now in the western quarters of the enclosure of the temple there were four gates; the first led to the king's palace, and went to a passage over the intermediate valley; two more led to the suburbs of the city; and the last led to the other city, where the road descended down into the valley by a great number of steps, and thence up again by the ascent for the city lay over against the temple in the manner of a theater, and was encompassed with a deep valley along the entire south quarter; but the fourth front of the temple, which was southward, had indeed itself gates in its middle, as also it had the royal cloisters, with three walks, which reached in length from the east valley unto that on the west, for it was impossible it should reach any farther: and this cloister deserves to be mentioned better than any other under the sun; for while the valley was very deep, and its bottom could not be seen, if you looked from above into the depth, this further vastly high elevation of the cloister stood upon that height, insomuch that if any one looked down from the top of the battlements, or down both those altitudes, he would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth. This cloister had pillars that stood in four rows one over against the other all along, for the fourth row was interwoven into the wall, which [also was built of stone]; and the thickness of each pillar was such, that three men might, with their arms extended, fathom it round, and join their hands again, while its length was twenty-seven feet, with a double spiral at its basis; and the number of all the pillars [in that court] was a hundred and sixty-two. Their chapiters were made with sculptures after the Corinthian order, and caused an amazement [to the spectators], by reason of the grandeur of the whole. These four rows of pillars included three intervals for walking in the middle of this cloister; two of which walks were made parallel to each other, and were contrived after the same manner; the breadth of each of them was thirty feet, the length was a furlong, and the height fifty feet; but the breadth of the middle part of the cloister was one and a half of the other, and the height was double, for it was much higher than those on each side; but the roofs were adorned with deep sculptures in wood, representing many sorts of figures. The middle was much higher than the rest, and the wall of the front was adorned with beams, resting upon pillars, that were interwoven into it, and that front was all of polished stone, insomuch that its fineness, to such as had not seen it, was incredible, and to such as had seen it, was greatly amazing. Thus was the first enclosure. In the midst of which, and not far from it, was the second, to be gone up to by a few steps: this was encompassed by a stone wall for a partition, with an inscription, which forbade any foreigner to go in under pain of death. Now this inner enclosure had on its southern and northern quarters three gates [equally] distant one from another; but on the east quarter, towards the sun-rising, there was one large gate, through which such as were pure came in, together with their wives; but the temple further inward in that gate was not allowed to the women; but still more inward was there a third [court of the] temple, whereinto it was not lawful for any but the priests alone to enter. The temple itself was within this; and before that temple was the altar, upon which we offer our sacrifices and burnt-offerings to God. Into none of these three did king Herod enter, for he was forbidden, because he was not a priest. However, he took care of the cloisters and the outer enclosures, and these he built in eight years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yosephus' description of Hordus' Temple complex makes no sense if it was a square around the top of the hill on the Haram. If it would be there, how would one get dizzy of looking down from the south side. Why could the walks along the southern wall not reach any furter? Which suburbs of the city would be to the West without going through the valley?
טו
