Yerushalmi Bava Batra 6:2 ירושלמי בבא בתרא ו׳:ב׳

MISHNAH: If somebody sells a plot to another to build a house³⁷A standard room, in the absence of specifications., or he contracts to build him a wedding building for his son³⁸For his son to live in after his marriage when he still is dependent on his father., a widow’s seat for his daughter, builds four by six cubits, the words of Rebbi Aqiba. Rebbi Ismael says, this is a cowshed³⁹No human should be forced to live in such a small space.. If one wants to build a cowshed, he builds four by six cubits, a small room six by eight, a large one eight by ten, a dining hall⁴⁰Latin triclinium, a dining room for three couches. ten by ten, and its height equal to half its length and width⁴¹Height = (length + width)/2.; the reason is the Temple and its walls. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel said, a building like the Temple⁴²It is presumptuous to try to imitate the architecture of the Temple for profane use.?

HALAKHAH: “If somebody sells a plot to another,” etc. It was stated⁴³Tosephta 6:24; Babli 98b.: “For a large house⁴⁴Arabic قَنُطَرَة “large building, bridge”; root قنطر “to abandon Bedouin way of life”. he must provide him with twelve by twelve [cubits].”

Rav Hamnuna the scribe asked Rebbi Ḥanina: One verse says, “its height thirty cubits,⁴⁵1K. 6:2.” and another verse says, “its height twenty cubits.⁴⁶1K. 6:20.” He had never heard this and they could not answer him anything. He asked Rebbi Jeremiah, who told him, from the ground up thirty cubits, from the inner room up twenty cubits. Rebbi Abbahu said, destroy the inner room⁴⁷The explanation given by R. Jeremiah is impossible; the inner room (the Holiest of Holies) was level with the Temple hall.! The inner room was standing from the ground to the beams, as it is written, “covered with cedar from the ground to the beams.⁴⁸There is no such verse. A close verse is 1K. 7:7, “covered with cedar from ground to ground,” but it refers to Solomon’s court, not the Temple. Possibly the reference is to 1K. 6:16: “He built twenty cubits from the side of the Temple cedar siding from the ground to the walls,” meaning that walls were constructed differently above and below twenty cubits’ height.” But from the ground up thirty cubits, from the Cherub up twenty cubits. Rebbi Tanḥuma said, it is an aggadic tradition that the space in the inner room not be counted. Rebbi Levi said, the space occupied by the Ark is not counted⁴⁹What he wants to say is that the bodies of the Cherubim were not counted since v. 24 states that each wing of the Cherubim was 5 cubits, and v. 27 that the total span from one extreme wingtip to the other was 20 cubits, leaving no room for the bodies of the Cherubim.. Rebbi Levi said, and it was stated in the name of Rebbi Jehudah ben Rebbi Illai, the Ark stands in the middle and divides the room, ten cubits in every direction of the compass.