The number 13 is the thread that ties the entire chapter together. There were 13 shofarot, tzedakkah boxes, 13 tables, and 13 times the priests would prostrate themselves as they circled the Temple courtyard. A Mishnah on today’s daf TY Shekalim concerning those prostrations appears again in a slightly different form in TB Middot 2:6.
“Abba Yosi ben Chanan says, [these prostrations]
corresponded to the thirteen gates [of the Courtyard]. [The names of the gates] The southern [gates] that were
close to the west [were called] the Upper Gate,
the Kindling Gate, the Firstborn's Gate and the Water Gate. Why was it called the Water Gate? Because it was through that
gate that the jug of water was carried
for the libation of the festival [Sukkot]. Rabbi Eliezer ben
Yaakov says, because there the water
became a stream and in the future it will
come out from underneath the Temple. And
opposite [the southern gate] on the northern
[side] close to the west was the Gate of Yechoniah, the Gate of the
Sacrifices, the Gate of the Women and
the Gate of Song. Why was it called the gate
of Yechonia? Because it was through that gate that [King] Yechoniah left [the
Temple] on his way into exile. On the eastern
side was the Gate of Nikanor, and there
were two smaller doors next to it one on its right and the other on its left. There were also two
gates in the west that had no name.[1]” (TB Middot 2:6, Art Scroll
translation)
The rabbis disagree and claimed that there were only
seven gates to the courtyard. The Gemara asks the obvious question where were
the 13 prostrations performed?
In the times of the Hasmoneans (the descendants of the Maccabees-gg) There
were 13 breaches in (the Soreg), that were breached by the Greek Kings,
and after successfully driving out the Greeks, the Hasmoneans repaired (those sections), and decreed 13 prostrations
opposite them. (Art Scroll translation)
The rabbis recognized that the holiday of Hanukkah not
only celebrates the miracle of the oil, but also the miracle of our military
victory as described in the Al Hanisin
prayer in our prayer book. “You delivered the strong into the hands of the weak,
the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the
wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the arrogant into the hands of
those who were engaged in the study of your Torah.”
One of the greatest archaeological finds in Jerusalem was a warning sign posted on the Soreg[2]. “The Soreg (Balustrade) was a low latticed stone wall about 5 feet high, marking the border of the inner sanctuary. At regular intervals were placed elegant stelas, carved stone slabs bearing inscriptions in Greek and Latin prohibiting Gentiles from entering the sacred internal courts. Josephus refers to the Soreg several times (War V:193-200; Antiquities XV:417 etc) stressing the fact that warned against trespassing on Holy Ground on pain of death. This interdiction is confirmed by two Greek inscriptions which have come to light. One was discovered by Charles Claremont-Ganneau in 1870; the other, a fragment was found in the vicinity of the Lion’s gate in 1935. Their contents are the same: ‘no foreigner is allowed within the balustrade surrounding the sanctuary in the courtyard encompassed. Whoever’s caught will be personally responsible for his ensuing death.’ Measures against foreign intrusion into sacred courts have a long history… Philo, the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, mentions having seen this inscription when he visited the Temple Mount. Paul was accused of violating the sanctity of the holy place by bringing a Greek into the temple (acts 21:17-29).” (The amount of the Lord: excavating in Jerusalem by Benjamin Mazar, page 114)
If you want to see this warning, you’ll have to visit
the Istanbul Archaeological Museum or the Israel Museum.
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