yatsiaʿ means spreading out and is closely related to yatsuaʿ, which means a bed. The whole wooden construction therefore extended from the bayit and was built around it like a ribcage of three layers, each of which was five cubits high. View of the three stories of the yatsi’a, the trapdoors (lulim) and the ladders connecting the different floors in the model of Solomon’s Temple. (photo: Philip Evans) The so-called Solomon’s Quarries underneath the Damascus Gate of the Old City. Tradition has