Understanding the Term Nechoshes

The word nechoshes appears over 40 times in the Torah, from the development of metal tools (Genesis 4:22) to the vessels of the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:3 ff), to the curses of the tochachah (Leviticus 26:19 and Deuteronomy 28:23). Most translators understand this to mean copper while some prefer brass (Jerusalem Bible). To others, nechoshes denotes copper or bronze (Jastrow) or even all three—copper, bronze, or brass (Alkalai). The variant nechushah (Leviticus 26:19) is sometimes distinguished from the more standard nechoshes (copper) to mean brass (Aryeh Kaplan, Alkalai). As well, in the form nechushtan it is taken to mean bronze (Jastrow). Understanding the nature of copper, bronze, and brass will help explain the close relationship between these varying translations.

Copper is a naturally occurring metal whose ore has been mined and smelted since the beginnings of metallurgy. In fact, until about 3000 BCE, copper was the sole metal used in crafting tools and vessels with only occasional pieces of lead, silver, or gold being found. Beginning in the Early Bronze Age (3000 BCE-2600 BCE), which dates closely to the period of Tuval Kayin (Genesis 4:22), many metallurgical concepts were developed, among them the formation of bronzes. Bronze began as an alloy (a blend) of copper and arsenic, with arsenic eventually being replaced by tin. Brass is a rarer alloy of copper and zinc (zinc being less common than tin). By adding varying amounts of these other metals to the copper as it was smelted, the alloy’s properties could be adjusted to optimize workability, hardness, color, and finish. Arsenic and zinc deposits may have occurred together with some copper ores and when such ores were smelted they would form a natural alloy of either bronze or brass.

Thus nechoshes, in a general context, most likely refers to the pure copper. When describing vessels or tools (such as those used in the Tabernacle and Temple, both of which post-date the development of the copper alloys) it would tend to mean bronze or, less commonly, brass, as these were the alloys of choice for their advantages over pure copper.

Build your own LEGO® Altar

For those interested in creating their very own Lego® model of the Second Temple here is something to get you started. This is a (very) small model of the Outer Altar which you can build using only 25 bricks (a bit more manageable than my larger model which uses over 2000 bricks). The model was designed using Bricksmith. One of the very nice things about this program is that it puts together a parts list for your model and I have included that below the video.







Qty.     Part     Description     Color
1          3003       Brick  2 x  2       White
1          3002       Brick  2 x  3       White
2          3001       Brick  2 x  4       White
2          3024       Plate  1 x  1        White
3          3023       Plate  1 x  2        White
1          3623       Plate  1 x  3        White
1          3710       Plate  1 x  4        White
1          3795       Plate  2 x  6        White
1          3031       Plate  4 x  4        White
1          3031       Plate  4 x  4        Red
2          30363     Slope 18  4x2      White
1          30039     Tile  1 x  1          White
4          63864     Tile  1 x  3          White
1          2431       Tile  1 x  4          White
1          6636       Tile  1 x  6          White
2          3068b     Tile  2 x  2          White

Lego® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site

Collecting the Half-Shekel Donation in the Temple

The Mishnah (see Shekalim 2:1, 4:3, 6:5, and 6:6 with Tiferes Yisrael ad loc.) records that there were 13 collection boxes, called shofaros on account of their long, curved necks which resembled a shofar, which were placed within the Courtyard. They were used to collect funds for the following purposes:

1. Half-shekel donation collected from the public each year.
2. Half-shekel donations owed from the previous year (which would be appropriated for different uses than the current year’s shekalim).

Both of these shofaros for the half-shekel donations were kept inside a chamber. As the donations came in, the treasurers would deposit them into these shofaros and issue a receipt to the donor. At the end of each day the coins would be transferred to a (larger) storage container also located inside this chamber.

3. Mature bird offerings (turtledoves). One who is obligated to bring a pair of birds – one for a chatas and one for an olah offering – such as a zav, a zavah, a woman who has given birth, or a metzora, may discharge their obligation by placing enough money to cover the cost of the birds into this box. The Kohanim check this box daily and make sure to bring the offerings on behalf of the owner by the end of each day.

4. Young bird offerings (common doves). One who has pledged a voluntary bird olah may place the cost of the offering in this box and the Kohanim will bring the offering on his behalf.
5. Wood for the Altar.
6. Levonah (frankincense) which accompanied most offerings.
7. Gold for vessels of the Temple.
8-13: General donations for the purchase of additional olah offerings. Each of these six shofaros was designated for a specific beis av (of which there were six) who would receive the hides of the animals offered from these funds.

Two possibilities for the design of the collection boxes: was the "shofar" 
facing up or down?

Mount Sinai and the Temple

In describing the episode of the Revelation at Mount Sinai in last week's parshah, the Torah identifies a number of different areas of the mountain:

• "The foot of the mountain" (Exodus 19:17) where the people gathered.
• "The top of the mountain" (v.20) where God descended.
• "The cloud" (v.18) where Moses entered.
• "The thickness of the cloud" (v.19) where God came and spoke to Moses.

Rabbeinu Bechayai (to Exodus 19:17) notes that these four areas comprised four distinct levels of sanctity, each one successively higher than the previous one. The people at large were barred from entering beyond the foot of the mountain while Moses was permitted to ascend to the highest level, within the thickness of the cloud. Rabbeinu Bechayai then matches these four areas to sections of the Temple which also demonstrated increasing holiness, as follows:

• "The foot of the mountain" is the gate of the Courtyard (i.e., the area just outside the main Courtyard, on the Temple Mount).
• "The top of the mountain" is the Courtyard.
• "The cloud" is the Sanctuary Building.
• "The thickness of the cloud" is the Holy of Holies.

In truth, the Temple is comprised of more than four areas (Keilim 1:8-9 lists the eight distinct levels of sanctity within the Temple). It is therefore instructive that Rabbeinu Bechayai should specify the four which he gives here. Of interest to me is that he should match the "foot of the mountain" (the place beyond which the Jews could not enter at Mount Sinai) with the Temple Mount, because Israelites could enter even further into the Temple – i.e., into the Courtyard itself – when they were tahor (and the Jews at the time of the Revelation took pains to ensure that they were, in fact, tahor). The only people restricted to the Temple Mount were those contaminated with corpse tumah, and non-Jews. It would have been more accurate to match the "foot of the mountain" with the Israelites' Courtyard, say, which was generally the furthest that most people could go in the Temple.

One possible explanation is to suggest that our status changed in a meaningful way through the Revelation at Mount Sinai. Although we were definitely "Jewish" and had been for many hundreds of years, there is a difference between Jews who have received the Torah and Jews who have not. Until we underwent that historic spiritual transformation, we were, to a certain extent, not elevated enough to be permitted into the more hallowed ground of Sinai's "Courtyard."

Arches of the Temple Mount

In an earlier post I described how the entire Temple complex was built upon different levels of arches which raised it above the bedrock of the Temple Mount. I was going through some of my older files and found this illustration which shows how this might have looked. Here, an entire section of the Temple is cut away so that the levels of arches are visible – and color coded.

Detail from the Chamber of Oils

The Chamber of Oils, located in the southwest corner of the Women's Courtyard, housed the Temple's supply of oil, wine, and flour. Although all of these ingredients were used daily in great quantities, oil was needed the most, hence the name. A very common bulk storage container for liquids in those days was the clay amphora of the type shown here.

The Temple used only the best quality oils and the Talmud (Menachos 85b) states that the highest quality oil came from the olive groves of Tekoa. According to Kollel Iyun HaDaf, Tekoa of old was located on the mountain across from Meron (northwest of the Kineret Sea). Based on this idea, the amphora in this illustration is shown stamped with its location of origin.

Meron, Israel (Google Maps)

New website for Choshen Mishpat topics

Rabbi Abba Zvi Naiman, a colleague of mine at Artscroll, has just launched a new website called zichronyaakoveliyahu.org. It features, among other things, a collection of his audio shiurim on Choshen Mishpat topics. Each shiur is accompanied by a pdf of sources and the site is very nicely organized. The topics are both fascinating and relevant to everyday life and are worth a look and a listen. There is also a link to many of his published works, including the new Elucidated Derech Hashem.

Weight of the Paroches

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SUMMARY The Paroches curtain weighed more than an elephant.

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Using the dimensions of the Paroches and the known value for the density of wool it is possible to arrive at a rough upper limit for the weight of the Paroches. The volume of the Paroches is:

V = 20 x 40 x 1/6 amos

V =133 amos³  or 777,600 inches³

The density of wool is 0.0475 lbs/in³ so the weight of the Paroches would be 36,936 lbs.

Using the volumes of the warp and woof cords themselves (see previous post) can provide a lower limit for the weight. The volume of the 360 warp cords is given as:

v = (360)πr²h

r = 0.0278 amos (converting from 1/6 handbreadth)

h = 40 amos

The volume of the warp cords is 35 amos³

There are also 360 woof cords and their volume is given as:

v = (360)πr²h

r = 0.056 amos (converting from 1/3 handbreadth)

h = 20 amos

The volume of the warp cords is 70 amos³ and the total volume of warp and woof cords together is 105 amos³ or 612,360 inches³. According to this calculation the Paroches would weigh 29,087 lbs. [For comparison, a large elephant weighs about 25,000 lbs.]

In addition to the weight of the material itself there were two golden bands which ran across the top of the Paroches to keep it taut so that it covered the full 20 amos of the width of the Sanctuary building. Each band measured 2 handbreadths tall, 2 fingerbreadths thick, and 20 amos long (Shiltei Giborim). The volume of one band is:

V = 0.33 x 0.083 x 20 amos

V = 0.556 amos³  or  3,240 inches³

The density of gold is 0.698 lbs/in³ so the weight of each band would be 2,262 lbs., or 4,524 lbs. in all. This puts the total weight of the Paroches at (a minimum of) 33,611 lbs.

It is further interesting to note that the Paroches was immersed in a mikveh prior to being installed in the Temple. Just imagine how much water it must have absorbed and how much heavier it would have been for the Kohanim handling it to remove it from the mikveh and bring it to the Cheil where it was hung out to dry.

Design of the Paroches

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SUMMARY The design of the Paroches curtain is described in the Mishnah in Shekalim and from here such details as the diameters of its various threads can be determined.

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Interior of the Sanctuary looking west.
Paroches is in the background.

In the Second Temple there were three large  Paroches curtains: one at the opening of the Antechamber and two which hung in the Sanctuary and divided the Holy from the Holy of Holies. These curtains measured 20 amos wide by 40 amos tall (30 x 60 feet). The Mishnah (Shekalim 8:5) states that the Paroches of the Temple was woven upon seventy-two heddle shafts. The heddles of a loom are those devices which raise and lower the warp threads to allow the shuttle holding the woof thread to pass from one side of the fabric to the other. See item "f" in the diagram below.

A loom (Wikimedia Commons)

Tiferes Yisrael (Boaz 2 ad loc.) demonstrates that the 72 heddle shafts mentioned in the Mishnah could not have accounted for the full 20-amah width of the Paroches. Instead, he concludes that the Paroches was woven in sections which required 72 heddle shafts each and these sections were then sewn together to form the full Paroches.

The Mishnah (ibid.) also records the thickness of the Paroches as one handbreadth (3 inches). In order to create a fabric which is one handbreadth thick the warp cords must be 1/3 of a handbreadth thick and the woof cords, which were normally twice the diameter of the warp threads, would be 2/3 of a handbreadth (Tiferes Yisrael loc. cit.). Since each section used 72 heddles, and each heddle held one cord, this means that the sections were 24 handbreadths wide. [72 cords x 1/3 handbreadth per cord = 24 handbreadths.] 24 handbreadths is equal to 4 amos (6 handbreadths per amah), so five sections would be needed to produce a width of 20 amos. This means that the Paroches had a total of 360 warp cords [5 sections x 72 cords per section = 360 cords] along its 20-amah width.

Diameter of the Strings in the Warp Cords

Each warp cord was comprised of 24 smaller strings dyed with different colors, as follows: 6 strings of techeiles, 6 of argaman, 6 of tolaas shani, and 6 of sheiss. Since the diameter of the warp cords is given as 1/3 of a handbreadth, it is possible to estimate the diameter of the 24 smaller strings making up that cord.

In a cross-section of a cord made of smaller strings let the cord have radius R and area A such that

A = πR²

Let the strings have radius r and area a such that

a = πr²

Cross-section of a thicker cord
made of smaller strings

The total area of the cross-section of the cord is approximately equal to the sum of the areas of the smaller strings. This is only an estimate since the cord is not perfectly round in cross-section and this calculation also does not take into account the airspaces between the strings:

A = Na

where N is the number of strings in the cord.

Therefore:

πR² = Nπr²

r = R / √N

d = 2r = 2R / √N

In the case of the warp cords of the Paroches:

R = 1/6 handbreadth

N = 24

Thus the diameter of each string is 0.068 handbreadths (0.14 inches).

Diameter of the Threads

The Mishnah (ibid.) states that there were a total of 820,000 threads used in the warp. To account for this number Tiferes Yisrael understands that the dyed strings which made up the warp cords were themselves made of many smaller threads. According to his arrangement, if the 360 warp cords were made of 24 dyed strings each then there were a total of 8640 dyed strings. [360 x 24 = 8640] Dividing 820,000 threads among 8640 strings gives approximately 95 threads per string. Using the same estimation from above:

d = 2R / √N

R = 0.034 handbreadths

N = 95

Thus the diameter of each thread is 0.0070 handbreadths (0.021 inches). [Common yarn diameters range from approximately 0.004 to 0.031 inches.]

Model Mikdash in Morocco

Mishpacha Magazine recently published an article titled "Moroccan Mirage" (Issue #427, Sep. 19, 2012) describing a model of the Temple built in Morocco. This large-scale model was built by Atlas Film Studios out of fiberglass as a movie set and includes such features as the Courtyard, Altar, and Holy of Holies. The site may also be open to the public. To read more of the Mishpacha article, click here.

Atlas Film Studios in Morocco (Google Maps)

Chanukah: The Shape of the Menorah

When the Maccabees returned to the Temple after having defeated the Syrian Greeks, they needed to replace numerous Temple vessels which had either been stolen, defiled, or broken. Of special importance in the Chanukah story was the fact that the golden Menorah of the Sanctuary was no longer present, having been stolen by Antiochus four years earlier. As a temporary measure, the Jews fashioned a Menorah made out of iron. When they became more affluent they replaced this Menorah with one of silver, and later still they were able to replace the silver Menorah with one of gold (Rosh Hashanah 24b).

The seven-branched Menorah is described in great detail in the Torah (Exodus 25:31-40). Even so, the Torah omits one very basic detail which has led to divergent opinions on the matter: whether the Menorah's branches were straight or curved.

There are a number of archeological finds which may shed light upon this question. A coin minted by Mattathias Antigonus circa 40 BCE depicts a candelabra with curved branches. As this was a Jewish coin it has been argued that this depiction surely was meant to be an accurate representation of the actual Temple vessel, lending support to the theory that the Menorah of the Sanctuary had curved branches.

Another depiction from around the same time was found in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and it shows a portion of a 7-branched candelabra with curved branches The ornamentation is excessive for what is described in the Torah, but it would not be surprising for the artist to have made such an error since the Menorah of the Sanctuary was only rarely visible to the general public. Those who assume this to be a depiction of the Sanctuary Menorah would argue that while the artist may have guessed at the finer details of the cups and flower designs, the overall shape of the branches would be easily remembered and thus would not have differed significantly from the original.

One of the most famous depictions of a 7-branched candelabra from the Temple is found upon the Arch of Titus in Rome. The triumphal arches of that time were meant to serve as historical records of the events they depicted and are therefore assumed to be very accurate. In one of the scenes on this arch a procession carries the Temple vessels out of captured Jerusalem, and featured among the treasures is a candelabra. The prominence given to this candelabra ostensibly is an indication of its importance, which leads many to speculate that this is the Menorah from the Sanctuary. As can be clearly seen in the picture, the branches are curved. (A new study was carried out to determine the color of the paint used on the original arch, and a summary of the results can be read here. See also this page for more details about this project, including some fantastic up-close photos of the arch.)

Others argue that this surely could not have been the Menorah of the Sanctuary since the base is nothing like we would expect the real Menorah to have. First, its two-tiered, octagonal design is a novelty. Second, archeologists have concluded that some of the creatures depicted on its panels are sea serpents, and Jews would not have allowed such heathen images in the Temple.

In stark contrast to the above finds is the image shown here of a drawing attributed to the hand of Rambam (Maimonides). Unlike the previous pieces of evidence which may or may not have been depicting the actual Menorah of the Temple, this drawing does just that. It is intended to be an accurate rendering of what the Menorah looked like, and while it is not drawn to scale, all of its components and dimensions are labelled. From the fact that the curvature of the base is drawn so precisely, most likely with the aid of a compass, it is apparent that the artist could just have easily drawn curved branches had he so desired. We may conclude that, in the view of Rambam, the Menorah of the Temple had straight branches. Below is a 3-D rendering of what the Rambam Menorah would have looked like.

Chanukah: Finding the Oil

One of the most widely-known miracles of the Chanukah story involves the finding of the flask of pure oil. When the Jews returned to the Temple it appeared that all of the sealed containers of pure olive oil had been contaminated by the Syrian-Greeks and there was none left with which to light the Menorah. By Divine Providence a single sealed flask of oil was found and this miraculously fueled the lamps of the Menorah for seven days while more oil was prepared.

From the description of the Temple given in Tractate Middos (the tractate dedicated to recording the measurements of the Temple) we learn that the main storage area for oil was located in the southwest chamber of the Women's Courtyard – the Chamber of the Oil. Certainly all of the containers in this chamber would have been defiled, and it is more likely that the flask was found somewhere else. Here I present two opinions given by the commentators as to where this flask may have been found.

1. In the Sanctuary
The Talmud states that "when the Greeks entered the Sanctuary they defiled all of the oil in the Sanctuary." From here we learn that oil was stored in the Sanctuary as well. There were thirty-eight cells, or small rooms, built around three sides of the Sanctuary and the special olive oil used for the Menorah may have been stored here.

The Sanctuary. Area of the
small rooms is highlighted.

Some maintain that the flask of oil of the Chanukah story was found in the Sanctuary. There was a room in the Sanctuary (possibly one of the cells) or, according to a slightly different version, a niche in the wall, which was closed off by a door and sealed with the seal of the High Priest (see Siddur of Rokeach, Chanukah; Orchos Chaim, Hil. Chanukah 1; Kol Bo 44). This area had somehow escaped the notice of the Syrian-Greeks and when it was later opened by the Jews it was found to contain a single flask of olive oil. According to this view, it was not the flask itself which was sealed with the seal of the High Priest but rather the area in which it was found.

2. Beneath the Altar

Southwest corner of the Altar

At the southwest corner of the Altar's top were two receptacles where the wine and water libations were poured. The libations flowed down through the Altar into a deep subterranean cavity called the Shissin. Once every seventy years the Kohanim would enter the Shissin through an access hole in the Courtyard floor in order to empty it of the congealed wine. One opinion maintains that the sealed flask of oil was found within the Shissin, apparently hidden there by a quick-thinking Kohen before the Temple was taken (Otzar Hamidrashim, Chanukah, p.193). As for why the Jews were exploring the Shissin at this time, the Altar was in the process of being rebuilt and it is therefore likely that they stumbled upon this flask of oil as they were removing the old stones from the lowest level of the Altar.

Chanukah: Rebuilding the Altar

Rebuilding the Altar of the Temple

One of the more shocking discoveries made by the Maccabees after expelling the Syrian-Greeks from the Temple was that the Outer Altar had been used for idol worship. Although the stones of the Altar were attached to the ground and legally impervious to the defilement of idol worship, the Jews felt that it was unconscionable to resume the holy sacrificial service on such stones. One of the lesser-known facts of the Chanukah story is that amidst the cleaning up of the Temple, searching for pure oil, and assembling a new Menorah, the Jews also dismantled the entire Altar and rebuilt it using new stones. See this earlier class for a more detailed description of the Outer Altar.

The stones of the original Altar were stored within the Hall of the Fire, a large structure built into the northern wall of the Courtyard. The main purpose of the Hall was to serve as sleeping quarters for the watch of Kohanim currently on duty and it also provided them a place to warm themselves during the day, a necessary amenity since they had to walk around barefoot on cold marble floors as they performed the sacrificial service. The large warming fire located here gave it its name.

Chamber of Receipts. Three of the original
Altar stones are displayed above the fireplace.

In each of the four corners of Hall of the Fire were smaller chambers. The northeast contained the Chamber of Receipts where the Kohanim would issue receipts to individuals purchasing wine, oil, and flour from the Temple treasury. It was in this chamber that the stones of the Altar were stored. Now, it was impossible to fit a volume of stones the size of the Altar into this very small chamber. It is therefore likely that this chamber had a massive basement within the tunnels beneath the floor of the Courtyard where the large majority of the stones were stored, while some of the stones were left on display in the chamber upstairs to serve as a reminder of the miraculous events of the Chanukah story.

Chanukah: The Cheil and the Soreg

Introduction

At the heart of the Chanukah story is the Holy Temple. It was here that the persecution of the Jews began under the rule of Antiochus who ordered that the Temple be desecrated and converted into a place of pagan worship. Mattisyahu, son of Yochanan the High Priest, fled to the countryside where he became the father of the Jewish resistance. His sons and followers, the Maccabees, fought bravely against all odds and were aided by Divine Providence to eventually return to Jerusalem and bring the Temple back to Jewish hands. It is their miraculous victories and efforts to restore the sacrificial service to its earlier glory which we commemorate on the holiday of Chanukah.

In these upcoming posts I would like to explore the connection between the physical structure of the Second Temple and some of the core elements of the Chanukah story.

The Cheil and the Soreg

The Cheil and Soreg outside of the Women's Courtyard

Standing at a distance of 10 cubits outside the walls of the Courtyard on all four sides was a low wall, half a cubit high. This wall, as well as the area between it and the Courtyard walls, was referred to as the Cheil. A wooden latticework fence, 10 handbreadths high, was built atop this wall and was called the Soreg.

The purpose of both the wall and the fence was to mark the point beyond which no one contaminated with corpse-tumah, nor any non-Jew, could pass. Archaeologists have discovered one of the marker stones from the Cheil and the inscription (written in Greek) reads, "Any foreigner who passes beyond the wall and fence surrounding the Temple has only himself to blame for the fact that his death will follow."

Marker stone from the Cheil

When the Syrian-Greek kings occupied the Temple during the years leading up to the events of the Chanukah story they made thirteen breaches in the Soreg fence to demonstrate their disdain at having been barred from entering. After the Maccabees regained control of the Temple they repaired these breaches and the Sages instituted that anyone who passes by one of the repaired breaches must bow down to give thanks to God for destroying the foreign regime and abolishing their evil decrees.

Al Hanissim ("For the Miracles") is a prayer of thanksgiving recited during the holiday which gives a brief synopsis of all of the historical events of the Chanukah story. One of the lines reads, "They breached the walls of my Tower," a reference to the enemies of the Jews breaching the Soreg fence which surrounded the Temple (i.e., "Tower"). While the heathen marauders were bent upon breaking down the dividing lines between all nations of the world, our Sages underscored the importance of preserving our Jewish identity by specifically choosing to include the breaching of the Soreg in our liturgy.

The Chassidic masters are quoted as saying that this incident served as the precedent for eating latkehs on Chanukah. To commemorate the repairs made to the breached Soreg the Jewish people contrived a dish – the potato pancake – which resembled a patch (as in a patch on a garment). This Chanukah staple was originally called a latteh, which is the Yiddish word for patch, and over time this became latkeh.

The Mystery of Bar Kokhba by Leibel Reznick

I was recently introduced to one of R' Leibel Reznick's books titled The Mystery of Bar Kokhba (Jason Aronson, 1996). In it the author attempts to shed some light on the enigmatic figure of Shimon Bar Kochba, the military leader who led the Jewish revolt against Rome some decades after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

One of the more intriguing theories which R' Reznick presents is that Bar Kochba not only recaptured Jerusalem from Roman hands but proceeded to build the Third Temple upon the Temple Mount. Included among his many proofs for this theory is the fact that the raised platform which exists today on the Temple Mount is precisely the correct size to have served as the Courtyard floor of the Third Temple. He writes that this platform measures 540 feet from east to west by 550 feet from north to south and is thus too large to have been the 187x135-amah Courtyard of the Second Temple and too small to have been the 500x500-amah Temple Mount of the Second Temple. Rather, the raised platform may have been the Courtyard of the Third Temple built by Bar Kochba which, according to the prophecy of Ezekiel, measured 346 amos from north to south and 340 amos from east to west.

R' Reznick does list some counter arguments to the claim that a Third Temple was built in Jerusalem. To those I would like to add the following observations:

1. The platform is not rectangular.
The photo below shows the Temple Mount along with the approximate dimensions of the raised platform, measured using Google's Distance Measurement Tool.

The raised platform upon the Temple Mount (Google Maps)

Now, although the measurements are approximate, the platform is obviously not rectangular but trapezoidal and the dimensions stated by R' Reznick only hold true on two of the four sides (the north and west). For this platform to have been the rectangular Courtyard of the Third Temple we must assume that, over time, the structure either eroded or was dismantled, producing the current shape of the platform today.

2. The Courtyard of the Third Temple does not measure 346 by 340 amos.
A careful reading of Tosafos Yom Tov, whom R' Reznick cites as the source for his dimensions of the Third Temple, reveals that the interior of the Courtyard measures only 312 amos from north to south and 317 amos from east to west. See Diagram A below.

Even if we assume that the raised platform encompasses the thickness of the Courtyard walls - which were 6 amos thick - this would result in an area of only 324 by 329 amos. See Diagram B below.

Another point which emerges here is that the Third Temple Courtyard is longer from east to west than from north to south, while the platform dimensions are the opposite, being longer from north to south than from east to west. The approach (apparently) taken by the author to correct this inconsistency was to include the dimensions of the large entrance halls built outside the Courtyard gates in the north, south, and east. Each hall was 11 amos long, so by including the two halls in the north and south (22 amos) and the one hall in the east (11 amos), the "Courtyard" now measures 346 by 340 amos. See Diagram C.

Dimensions of the Third Temple Courtyard: Three Possibilities

3. This theory is inconsistent with R' Reznick's view regarding the Altar.
One of R' Reznick's other theories is that the Dome of the Rock is not, as popularly believed, the place of the Holy of Holies but rather the location of the Outer Altar. The location of the Outer Altar was the same in the First, Second, and (speedily in our days) the Third Temple, thus if we are to maintain that the current raised platform represents the Courtyard of the Third Temple then the location of the Altar would be at its center. As seen in the overlay below, the center of the Third Temple does not coincide with the Dome of the Rock.

Plan of the Third Temple overlayed upon the Temple Mount