On Yoma 16b Rashi (DH veha'Mosar): says that The Tana did not need to teach the area for the tables, for their width is explicit in Yechezkeil (40:42). The Rashash asks why later Rashi says that the width was at least 1, when it says in Yechezkeil that it was one and a half.
I have a more basic question - Yechezkeil's Nevu'ah was for Bayis Shelishi! Many Midos are different than Bayis Sheni - but how can Rashi say that it is so obvious that the size of the tables is the same that the Tana need not teach it?
Pesach Feldman, Jerusalem Israel
Dear Rabbi Pesach Feldman Shlita,
(a) It may be possible to answer your question on Rashi Yoma 16b (DH veha'Mosar) on the basis of what RAMBAM HILCHOS BEIS HA-BECHIRAH 1:4 writes, that when the Bayis Sheni was built in the days of Ezra it was built "me'Ein devoarim"-similar to the things- which are stated explicitly in Yechezkel, i.e. Bayis Sheni is very similar, if not necessarily identical, to the Binyan of Yechezkel. Since the amount of space taken up by the tables was not significantly different from what is stated in Yechezkiel, the Tana did not feel it nacessary to specify this. The total area occupied was between 4 Amos(as stated by Rashi DH ROOBA) and 6 amos (according to the verse cited by RASHASH that each table was one-and-a-half). I also found that the RITVA cites the TOSEFTA that the tables occupied 6 Amos.
(b) However, it might be possible to suggest a sharper answer to your question. TOSFOS YOM TOV, in his introduction to Maseches Midos, cites the RAMBAM who suggests that the purpose of learning this Maseches is so that we should know the measurements of the Beis Hamikdash when it will be rebuilt, speedily in our days. Since the purpose of the Tana in Middos is to teach us how to build the third Beis ha'Mikdash, it is unnecessary to tell us the width of the tables because the width of the tables in the Bayis Shelishi is already known from Yechezkel. It is not necessary for us to know the measurements of the Bayis Sheni if we already know the measurements of the tables in Bayis Shelishi- because to the purpose of the Tana of Maseches Middos was to teach the measurements of the Bayis Shelishi!
Kol Tuv
D. Bloom