[Avodah] Who was the safety engineer for the Mikdash?

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jun 09, 2021 at 04:44:25PM +0300, Chaim Tatel via Avodah wrote:
> In Devarim 22:8, the pasuk gives the requirement to put a maakeh (safety
> rail) on the roof.

A maaqeh is not directly a safety measure. It is an exercise in
internalizing the importance of safety.

This is why only homes that are privately owned must have a maaqeh.
Not communal property, nor a privately owned storehouse or barn.

> There are many pictures if the large mizbeach (altar) where the animals
> were offered in the Mikdash.

And that's why the mizbeiach didn't require a maaqeh midin maaqeh.
It's neither a dwelling place nor privately owned.

Of course it's assur to leave a hazard in people's way, but that's
a different mitzvah.

The Tif'eres Yisrael (Tzuras haMizbeiach #14) assumes there was a maaqeh
on the soveiv. I think the top of the mizbeiach is less of an issue, as
He also writes (Middos, Yachin, 3:8) that the area between the qeronos
sloped upward a bit. This would keep them from walking within an ammah
from the ledge.

His maqor is Zevachim 62a. "Tanu rabbanan: Eizehu karkov bein qeren
leqren..."Then R Nachman says there were two -- one for decoration
and one to keep the kohanim from falling. (See Rashi ad loc.)

The Rogachover (Tzovnas Paneiach
<https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=22194&st=&pgnum=9>)
also says that that "mashma qetzas" that the karkov for kohanim
was begeder maaqeh.

R Yechiel Michl Stern (in Ezras Torah) has a peirush on Mes' Middos
called "Beis Hashem" which is illustrated with a maaqeh.


So much for the nice answer that agrees with your premise. I would
agree it's not the common assumption.

The Maasei leMelekh (Hil Beis haBechirah pereq 1) quotes the sifrei that
the kevesh did require a maaqeh. And makes a distinction between the
kevesh, that kohanim would run up, and walking around the mizbeiach
where the kohein stepped heal-to-toe.

Which seems to be saying that the problem is one of safety alone, not
also mitzvas maaqeh, and the deliberate, stately, walk of the kohanim
meant that the risk was minimal.


Side-note:

For a while I belonged to a shul where the duchan was 6 steps up and
ran the full length of the front of the shul. It didn't have a railing.

I asked the rav, who had inherited this layout, why that is. After all,
the shul has a mezuzah and it isn't obligated in mezuzah either! If we
simply cannot picture a Jewish room without a mezuzah, why should it be
okay to picture a Jewish balcony without a maaqeh?

No answer.

But perhaps my train of thought is why the roof of the heikhal did have
a maaqeh, 3 amos high. Or maybe it was just decorative.


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Friendship is like stone. A stone has no value,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   but by rubbing one stone against another,
Author: Widen Your Tent      sparks of fire emerge. 
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                - Rav Mordechai of Lechovitz