Measuring the Hundred Cubit Courtyard of the Tabernacle

"And you shall make the courtyard of the Tabernacle" (Exodus 27:9-19). The courtyard, its length was a hundred cubits and its breadth fifty, as it is said, "And you shall make the courtyard of the Tabernacle." But you do not know the breadth of the hanging; when it says, "and the height in the breadth five cubits," then just as the height is five cubits, so the breadth is five cubits. How would one set up the courtyard? He would place twenty sockets of bronze on the north and twenty on the south, and a pillar within each one, with a ring fixed in its middle. He would set the rods on the cords and the pillars; the rods, the length of each one was six handbreadths and its breadth three. He would hang the rings within the hooks and wind the hanging around it like the sail of a ship. The hanging extends beyond the pillar two and a half cubits on this side and two and a half cubits on that side, and likewise for the second pillar; hence you learn that between one pillar and another is five cubits. He would join the rods to the cords and the pillars and fasten them within the pegs of bronze. And just as there were pegs for the Tent, so there were pegs for the courtyard, as it is said, "for all the vessels of the Tabernacle in all its service" (Exodus 27:19). But you do not know how much of the hangings was at the entrance of the courtyard; as it is said, "and the hangings of the courtyard" and so forth (Numbers 4:26). Just as from the Tabernacle to the altar is ten cubits, so from the hangings to the entrance of the courtyard is ten cubits. But you do not know the height of the entrance of the courtyard; as it is said, "and a screen for the gate of the courtyard, the work of an embroiderer, and the height in the breadth." Since there is no need for the verse to say "five cubits," what does "five cubits" teach? To teach you its length was twenty cubits and its breadth five. And likewise to the north a hundred cubits, as it is said, "and likewise for the north side in length" (Exodus 27:11). And to the west fifty cubits, as it is said, "and for the east side eastward fifty cubits" (Exodus 27:13). Subtract from them fifteen cubits of hangings, as it is said, "and fifteen cubits of hangings for the one shoulder" (Exodus 38:15), and for the second shoulder on this side and that. From the hangings on the south to the Tent is twenty cubits, and the Tent is ten cubits, and from the Tent to the hangings on the north is twenty cubits; hence you learn that its breadth is fifty cubits. And from the hangings to the Tent is fifty cubits, and the Tent is thirty cubits, and from the Tent to the hangings on the west is twenty cubits; hence you learn that its length is a hundred cubits, as it is said, "the length of the courtyard a hundred by the cubit" (Exodus 27:18). Rabbi Yose says: there is no need for the verse to say "fifty by fifty"; what does "fifty" teach? This is in front of the Tent. Hence you learn that its length is a hundred cubits and its breadth fifty cubits. As the entrance of the Tent, so the entrance of the Sanctuary; as the entrance of the courtyard, so the entrance of the porch. From here Rabbi Yose bar Yehuda used to say: an enclosure of the size of two seah, like the courtyard of the Tabernacle, one may carry within it on the Sabbath.