A Line Of Demarcation
‘Until He Came…Between the Two Curtains’
(Yoma 51b)
The first Beis HaMikdash contained an amah-thick partition called amah teraksin, which separated the Kodesh HaKodashim from the Heichal. According to Tosafos, the name is derived from “traku gali,” which means “within it were contained” since within the Kodesh HaKodashim were the tablets were given at Sinai.
In the second Beth HaMikdash, which was taller than the first, two curtains replaced the wall since a wall that was only an amah thick couldn’t be built so tall. The Gemara explains that two curtains (hung an amah apart) were necessary because it wasn’t clear what level of sanctity the amah width of the wall had possessed – that of the Kodesh HaKodashim or that of the Heichal.
The Gemara indicates that hanging a curtain at the spot where the sanctity of the Heichal ended and that of the Kodesh HaKodashim began was mandatory. The Gemara, however, does not state whether this requirement is Biblical or not.
A Rabbinical Requirement
Tosafos HaRosh indicates that it’s rabbinical. If a curtain isn’t hung at the point where the Heichal ends, a kohen performing a service in the Heichal may inadvertently tread on ground that has the status of Kodesh HaKodashim. Or the kohen gadol on Yom Kippur might place the incense on ground that has the status of the Heichal. Thus, the rabbis mandated that two curtains be hung demarcating the areas that were clearly the Heichal and clearly the Kodesh HaKodashim.
A Biblical Requirement
Tosafos (ad loc. s.v. “Va’avod shetei paroches”) however, indicates that the requirement is Biblical. Tosafos maintains that Exodus 26:33 – “And the curtain shall separate for you between the Holy and the Holy of Holies” – implies that a curtain must separate the Heichal from the Kodesh HaKodashim. Thus, by Scriptural decree the curtain must hang exactly at the point where the Heichal ends and the Kodesh HaKodashim begins.
The Rambam (Hilchos Beth Ha’bechira 4:2) differs and explains that the verse only concerns the “first Beis HaMikdash” which contained one curtain. The Kesef Mishneh explains that Rambam means the Mishkan, since the first Beth HaMikdash had a wall, not a curtain.