Q&A: The Slope of the Altar Ramp
The Slope of the Altar Ramp
Question
Hello,
Recently I was looking into various matters concerning the altar ramp, and that led me to a strange question.
The slope of the ramp was 28% (32/9). That is a slope that, in order to climb it barefoot, carrying heavy loads, with no railing or stairs, and for a length of more than 33 cubits, would require exceptional physical fitness. Presumably most of the priests were not in that kind of condition.
For comparison, the steepest street in the world has a 35% slope, and it has steps instead of a sidewalk. In Israel, a ramp is not allowed to be steeper than 10%; above 6% it needs adjacent steps.
There is also a passage in the Talmud somewhere, I don’t remember at the moment (I think in Eruvin), that a slope of more than ten handbreadths in height over four cubits is considered a partition and not a ramp—that is, 41%.
In any case, a ramp with that kind of slope does not make sense for daily use. It would also be genuinely unpleasant to climb one like that, even if it is physically possible.
Answer
I don’t know. It’s not for nothing that the Talmud says the priests were quick and agile (athletic).
Discussion on Answer
Yes, exactly. Thank you.
There are quite a few Mishnah and Talmud passages dealing with the Temple that are hard to imagine realistically. For example, the additional wife the High Priest takes before Yom Kippur—she is only permitted to him if she is a virgin up to age 12.5, while he is presumably old and takes her as a backup. Is it likely he would find someone?
The story in the Talmud in Sukkah about women raising children in a cave for the water of purification.
The passage in Yoma about seeing the Temple courtyard through the gates of the Temple Mount, and more.
Apparently it would have been easy to find a father who would want his daughter to marry the High Priest. And in a world where impurity and purity were such central concepts (apparently not only in Israel, by the way), and in any case the level of pampering was very low—it doesn’t sound far-fetched to me at all that they raised some children in caves. Where is the passage in Yoma?
To marry the High Priest was an enormous honor. And we’re talking about generations that married off young girls, and the betrothal was to… her father. And he also decides whom she marries…
And to save on supporting the girl, that was probably considered reasonable and not degrading…
You forgot to repeat what I said about the caves too.
Ish Gamzu, 16a.
It also appears in the Mishnah in tractate Parah, about raising children in caves.
Moshe,
In Yoma 16a it says that a priest stands on the Mount of Anointing (the Mount of Olives according to Rashi) and aims and sees opposite the entrance of the Sanctuary.
Can you explain what the problem is with that?
Gamzu — through the gate. If he stands on the summit of today’s Mount of Olives, that won’t work.
Moshe K., maybe the Talmudic passage in Eruvin you meant was about a mound that rises gradually.