3,873. Extending the Courtyard

Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 6:13

Extending the borders of the courtyard used the remainder of the flour offering. Just like eating the thanksgiving offering inside Jerusalem consecrated it, the remainder of the flour offering – which could only be eaten in the courtyard – consecrated it. It would be eaten at the boundary of the area they wanted to consecrate.

Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 6:14

Any place that wasn’t consecrated in the aforementioned manners was not wholly sanctified. Ezra offered two thanksgiving offerings, but it was largely as a memorial to the procedure. His actions didn’t effect consecration because there was no king and no urim v’tumim there. So, how was the Second Temple consecrated? It relied on the initial consecration in the time of King Solomon, which consecrated the courtyard and Jerusalem for all time.