The Temple: Text and Archeology

(1) The temple mount was five hundred amah [cubit] by five hundred amah, with most of it [its chambers] in the south, second to it [number of chambers] was in the east, third it [number of chambers] was in the north, and the least were in the west. The area which had the most measure [number of chambers] had the most use.

And Shimon decreed that every year they should celebrate this day with rejoicing.

He strengthened the fortifications of the temple mount alongside the fortress, and he and his men dwelt there.

--Revised Standard Version (translated from the Greek)

(3) Inside of it [the wall of the Temple Mount] was the Soreg [a low fence around the Temple, which served as a boundary, beyond which entry to those impure was prohibited] ten tefachim high. There were thirteen breaches in it, made originally by the Greek kings, and when the Jews fixed these breaches, they enacted thirteen prostrations equivalent to them. Inside the Soreg was the Cheil [a low fence around the Temple, which served as a boundary, beyond which entry to those impure was prohibited], [which was] ten amot.

(8) ... The Cheil [a low fence around the Temple, which served as a boundary, beyond which entry to those impure was prohibited] has higher sanctity, because gentiles and people contaminated with corpse impurity may not enter there.

(7) And to the sons of the concubines, etc.: In the days of Alexander the Macedonian (the Great), the Children of Yishmael came to appeal against Israel about the birthright - [...] [Alexander] sought to go up to Jerusalem. Cuthites went and said to him, "Be careful, as they do not allow you to go into their House of the Holy of Holies (the inner sanctum of the Temple)." [...] And once they reached the House of the Holy of Holies, [the sages] said to [Alexander], "Until here we have the right to enter; from here on, we do not have the right to enter."

(8) Inside the wall [of Jerusalem] is more holy than these, because there the less holy [offerings] and the second tithe are eaten. The Temple Mount has greater sanctity, because men and women with discharges, menstruating women, and women who have given birth may not enter there. The Cheil [a low fence around the Temple, which served as a boundary, beyond which entry to those impure was prohibited] has higher sanctity, because gentiles and people contaminated with corpse impurity may not enter there. The women's courtyard has higher sanctity, because a tevul yom may not enter there, but they are not liable for a sin offering for doing so. The Israelites' courtyard has higher sanctity, because one who lacks atonement may not enter there, and is liable for a sin offering for doing so. The priests' courtyard has higher sanctity, because the Israelites may not enter there except at the time of their [ritual] requirements: the laying on of hands, the slaughter, and the wave-offering.

(15) The Temple Mount is more holy than them because zavin, zavot, a yoledet (women who has given birth) cannot enter there. A dead body itself is permitted to enter there, and it goes without saying that a tamei met can enter there.

(16) The cheyl is more holy than that because a non-Jew and a tamei met and someone who had contact with a nidah cannot enter there.

(14) Any place that is not done as above and according to this order is not completely holy. This is what Ezra did - he offered two todot offerings, but they were a rememberance. The place was not made holy because there was no king and no urim v'tumim. And how is it holy? With the initial holiness. For when Shlomo made the courtyard and Jerusalem holy, he made them holy for ever and ever.

(15) Therefore, sacrifices may be brought even though the temple has not been brought. The Holiest sacrifices may be eaten throughout the courtyard, even though it is destroyed and there are no walls surrounding it. And sacrifices of lesser holiness and maaser sheni may be eaten in all of Jerusalem, even though there are no walls because the initial holiness is eternal holiness.

(5) The Holy Temple - One who enters a holy place suffers karet because we are all tamei met and the original holiness is holiness for the future.

...The words of the Rambam are correct that one who enters the place of the mikdash is liable for karet because we are all tamei met.

(2) After the Ark was taken away, there was a stone there, from the days of the earlier prophets, called Shtiyah, three fingers above the ground, on which he would place [the coal-pan].

Why is it called even shtiya? Because from there the world was created.

... It is clear that under the Dome [of the Rock] is the Foundation Stone (“Even Shetiyah”) without a doubt—which they call Al-Sakhrah.

Rabbi Yishmael said: The Ishmaelites will do fifteen things at the end of days.... They will rebuild the breaks in the wall of the beit hamikdash and build a building in the heichal.