ts. The slaughter-house was at the north side of
the altar. And in it were eight dwarf pillars with a beam of cedar-wood
over them. And in them were fastened iron hooks--three rows to each pillar.
Upon them they hung up (the bodies), and skinned them upon marble tables
between the pillars.

6. The laver was between the porch and the altar, but inclined more to the
south. Between the porch and the altar were twenty-two cubits, and there
were twelve steps. The height of each step was half a cubit, and its
breadth a cubit--a cubit--a cubit--a landing three cubits--a cubit--a cubit and
a landing three cubits. And the upper one a cubit--a cubit, and the landing
four cubits. Rabbi Jehudah said, "the upper one a cubit--a cubit, and the
landing five cubits."

7. The doorway of the porch was forty cubits high, and twenty broad. Over
it were five carved oak beams. The lower one extended beyond the doorway a
cubit on either side. The one over it extended a cubit on either side. It
follows that the uppermost was thirty cubits; and between each one there
was a row of stones.

8. And stone buttresses were joined from the wall of the sanctuary to the
wall of the porch, lest it should bulge. And in the roof of the porch were
fastened golden chains, upon which the young priests climbed up, and saw
the crowns. As it is said, "And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to
Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen, the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial
in the temple of the Lord."(582) And over the doorway of the sanctuary was
a golden vine supported upon the buttresses. Everyone who vowed a leaf, or
a berry, or a cluster, he brought it and hung it upon it. Said Rabbi
Eleazar, the son of Zadok, "it is a fact, and there were numbered 300
priests to keep it bright."

OUR BEAUTY BE UPON THEE, O ALTAR.

Chapter IV

1. The doorway of the Sanctuary(583) was twenty cubits in height, and ten
in breadth. And it had four doors, two within and two without, as is said,
"Two doors to the temple and the holy place."(584) The outside (doors)
opened into the doorway to cover the thickness of the wall, and the inside
doors opened into the Sanctuary to cover (the space) behind the doors,
because the whole house was overlaid with gold excepting behind the doors.
Rabbi Judah said, "they stood in the middle of the doorway, and like a
pivot these folded behind them two cubits and a half; and those two cubits
and a half, half a cubit and a jamb on this side, and