What is "Chatzer ha'Penimi"?
Rashi: It is Ezras Yisrael.
What do we learn from "Neged ha'Sha'ar"?
Rashi: The gate of Ezras Yisrael was opposite that of Chatzer ha'Chitzonah (Ezras Nashim).
What do we learn from "la'Tzafon vela'Kadim"?
Radak: The gates of Ezras Yisrael and of Chatzer ha'Chitzonah in the north, were aligned, and also in the east. (The same applies to the southern gates ? Metzudas David.) 1
Granted, we can say that both extended equally to the north. How did they correspond in the east? Rather, their measures were the same from north to south, and from east to west (Radak 19 - both were 100). (PF)
What measured 100 Amos?
Rashi: From Sha'ar ha'Tachton to ha'Elyon ? the width of the interior of Ezras Nashim.
The Vilna Gaon: The cells extended until the interior of the Chatzer, from east to west, and after the cells was the Ulam. There were five Amos between cells; the Elamos were in that space (30). The wall of each cell was one Amah. The 100 Amos are from the Ayil at the end of Sha'ar Chatzer ha'Chitzonah until the Ayil at the beginning of Sha'ar Chatzer ha'Penimis, but from gate to gate was 188 1 .
Malbim (19): He was pressed to say this, to explain how the gate was 50 long. He holds that the cells, Elamos and Ulam extended 44 Amos into the interior of the Chatzer from east to west, and similarly from Chatzer ha'Penimi from west to east. He could not count 100 Amos from gate to gate, for if so, only 12 Amos remained in the middle. There are many difficulties with this. Further, the cells are a way to come to the gate ? do they extend into the Chatzer?! The Ulam is for entrance into the gate ?is it far from the gate?!
Why did he measure again from gate to gate? He already did (19)! And there, it said "ha'Kadim veha'Tzafon" ? why is the order reversed here?
Malbim: Before, he went to the north, measured 100 from the wall of the inner Chatzer to the wall of the outer Chatzer. (He knew that the walls are parallel.) However, if the gates are not opposite each other, the distance between them will be more than 100 1 . Now he returned to the east and measured 100 from gate to gate, and knew that they are in line with each other.
The distance between them would be the hypotenuse of a right triangle, and one side is 100, so the hypotenuse would be more. (PF)
