Reference for Bava Batra 196:15
מאי קמ"ל
THE HEIGHT … HALF ITS LENGTH AND HALF ITS WIDTH. PROOF OF THIS? — RABBAN SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: LIKE THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE. Who taught, 'PROOF OF THIS…'? — Some say. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel taught it; and this is the purport of what has been said: Whence the PROOF OF THIS? — R. SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: All [dimensions must be in proportion] LIKE [those of] THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE. And some say, the first Tanna has taught this, and R. Simeon b. Gamaliel is astonished [at it] and says to him [to the first Tanna] thus: Whence the proof? [Is it] from the Temple structure? Does everybody make [houses] LIKE THE TEMPLE STRUCTURE?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Other houses do not require heights in similar proportion. ');"><sup>13</sup></span> It was taught: Others say [that] its height [must be] equal to [the length of] its beams.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Laid across the width of the house. ');"><sup>14</sup></span> Let it [then] be said [simply]. 'The height [must be] equal to its width'!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. previous note. ');"><sup>15</sup></span> — If you wish, it can be said [that] a house is wider at the top;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since it was usual to make stone walls thinner on top than below, so as to give them a broader basis. The beams which span the house at the top would consequently be longer than the width of the house below. ');"><sup>16</sup></span> and, if preferred, it can be said [the expression 'equal to the length of its beams' is necessary] because there are apertures [in the wall in which the beams are fixed].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The ends of the beams, resting in the apertures, are included in the length of the beams. A beam, therefore, represents a greater length than the space between the inner side of the walls. ');"><sup>17</sup></span> R. Hanina [once] went out to the country, [and] a contradiction between [the following] verses was pointed out to him. It is written, <i>And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits</i>,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I Kings VI, 2. ');"><sup>18</sup></span> but it is [also] written, <i>And before the Sanctuary which was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This shows that the height was not thirty cubits, as stated in v. 2, but twenty. ');"><sup>19</sup></span></i> thereof!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. v. 20. ');"><sup>20</sup></span> He replied unto them: [The last mentioned verse] reckons from the edge of the Cherubim<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Whose height was ten cubits. ');"><sup>21</sup></span> upwards. What does [this kind of measurement]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Why is the height measured from the Cherubim and not, as might be expected, from the ground? ');"><sup>22</sup></span> teach us?