Weaving the Parokhet and the Layout of the Sanctuary

"And you shall make a veil" (Exodus 26:31-36). He would weave the veil [parokhet] ten cubits by ten, and make in it four panels, and hang its length on the hooks that are on the pillars, as it is said, "And you shall hang the veil under the clasps, and you shall bring there, within the veil, the Ark of the Testimony" (verse 33). And there were placed the jar of manna and the flask of anointing oil and Aaron's staff with its almonds and blossoms (and the priestly garments and the garments of the High Priest), and there Aaron would enter four times on the Day of Atonement. Outside the veil stood the table and the lampstand, except that the table was in the north and the lampstand opposite it in the south, as it is said, "And you shall set the table" and so on, and it is written, "And the lampstand opposite the table" (verse 35). And just as they were placed in the Tent of Meeting, so were they placed in the eternal House [the Temple], except that the Tent of Meeting was thirty cubits long and ten cubits wide, while the eternal House was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide; from this you learn that the Tent of Meeting was a quarter of the eternal House. Just as he wove the veil, so he wove the ephod and the breastplate, except that in these there was one additional thread of gold, as it is said, "And they beat the plates of gold" (Exodus 39:3). So too he wove the screen of the entrance, except that the veil was the work of a skilled weaver and the screen of the entrance the work of an embroiderer, as it is said, "And you shall make a screen for the entrance of the Tent," the words of Rabbi Nehemiah. For Rabbi Nehemiah used to say: wherever "the work of a skilled weaver" is stated, there are two faces, and "the work of an embroiderer" is only a single face. The branches of the lampstand were aligned with the width of the golden table, and the golden table was placed opposite the entrance and divided the House from its midpoint inward, and it was aligned opposite the veil, as it is said, "And you shall place" and so on (Exodus 30:6). From the boards on the south to the branches of the lampstand was two and a half cubits; from the branches of the lampstand to the table, five cubits; from the table to the boards on the north, two and a half cubits; from this you learn that its width was ten cubits. From the boards on the west to the veil, ten cubits; from the veil to the branches of the lampstand, five cubits; from the golden altar to (the altar), ten cubits; from this you learn that its length was thirty cubits.