Tamid Photo Essay in Lego® #16

The Shot

At Arm's Length

The Leviim open the doors leading to the Heychal entrance.

The Story

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Before the Tamid lamb could be slaughtered, the doors of the Heychal had to be opened. The first step in doing so was to unlock a minor doorway within the Ulam using a key taken from the Beis Hamoked (see this post). An unusual feature of this lock was that it was located on the wrong side of the door, and in order to reach it the Levi gatekeeper had to put his hand through an opening next to the door and insert the key into the lock from the inside of the room. His entire arm all the way to his armpit had to enter the opening before he could reach the lock. Once this door was opened, he would enter the small room on the other side of the doorway and then open yet another door that led into the Heychal chamber itself. The lock on this second door was located on the front of the door and could be opened with its key in the normal manner. Now inside the Heychal, the main doors could be opened from within.

Visible in the image above is a white table. This is a marble table within the Ulam where the lechem hapanim would be placed before being brought into the Heychal on Shabbos. Golden chains were suspended from the ceiling of the Ulam that would be climbed by the young Kohanim to inspect the crowns in the windows of the Heychal high above the ground.

The Setup

This shot is modeled and rendered in Bricklink Studio (read more about this process in my introduction). The interior of this entire building was plated in gold from floor to ceiling, and for this purpose I used a lot of bricks in Metallic Gold. Could I have plated the door in gold as well? Probably. But I left it in natural wood for now. 

The keys in this scene (40359) are modeled in Chrome Silver. I dress the Leviim in Light Gray outfits in order to distinguish from the Kohanim who are in white. The fancy legs on the marble table are 1L Bars with Tow Bars inserted into 1x1 round plates with open studs (shown upside down in the setup shot). To hold the tiles onto the walls as the doorframe I used bricks with side studs.

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