The Gate of Nikanor

Around the time Herod was rebuilding the Second Temple a man named Nikanor lived in the Land of Israel. When he heard about the magnificent restoration of the Holy Temple he wanted with all his heart to join in the great work and make his own contribution to G-d's House.

He decided that he would have two huge copper gates construct-ed to lead from the courtyard to the Holy Temple itself. At that time the city of Alexandria in Egypt was the center for copper work, and so Nikanor travelled to Egypt to commission and oversee the job. He was a man of means, and so after assessing the best craftsmen, he rented a studio and hired expert coppersmiths to design and execute the project.

The gates were of gigantic dimensions and the work was slow and painstaking. Finally the doors were completed, and Nikanor couldn't wait to see his beautiful gates become a part of the Holy Temple. He hired skilled porters to transport the gates to the port where a ship lay anchored and ready to sail back to the Holy Land.

At long last the gates were loaded aboard the ship and on their way to the Land of Israel. For the first few days everything went according to schedule, but suddenly the weather shifted and a terrible storm blew up. Enormous, angry waves crashed against the sides of the ship until it was filled with water and about to sink.

The sailors rushed to lighten the ship's load. The panicked captain ran to Nikanor, pleading, "You must agree to throw at least one of your gates overboard. They are the heaviest part of our cargo, and if we are to have a chance to survive, they must go."

Nikanor wouldn't hear of it. He clung to the doors with all of his strength. Soon, however, even he could see that his pro-tests were futile. As Nikanor watched in horror a few hefty seamen gathered on deck and cast one of the enormous doors overboard. The vessel was about to right itself, but the pitching of the waves continued unabated and the ship began to take water once again.

There was no choice. The sailors were about to throw the second gate overboard when Nikanor cried out in anguish, "If you throw this overboard, you will have to throw me, too! I will not be parted from it!" But the sailors seized the one remaining door and with all their might they cast it into the sea. At the very moment the door hit the waves, the sea quieted.

Nikanor scanned the glassy sea as far as his eyes could see. There, floating out on the smooth waters, was the gate, sparkling like gold in the sunlight. By some miracle it had not sunk into the deep, but was floating its way to the Holy Land. Nikanor couldn't contain his great happiness. The gate landed at the quay the same time the ship docked. A few days later the other door also made its way to the shores of Akko to join its mate.

The two doors were transported with great celebration, to Jerusalem where they were installed in a place of honor, in the eastern wall opposite the Holy of Holies. The gateway which they occupied was given the name "The Gate of Nikanor."

Many years later when all of the gates of the Holy Temple were covered in gold, or exchanged for doors of solid gold, the Gates of Nikanor were left unchanged in memory of the great miracle accompanying their installation.