3,852. The Aron (Ark)

Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 4:1

The Aron rested on a stone on the western side of the Holy of Holies with the jar of manna and Aaron’s staff in front of it. When Solomon built the Temple, he knew that it would eventually be destroyed, so he built a chamber where the Aron could be hidden in underground, labyrinthine vaults. King Josiah had the Aron hidden in the chamber that Solomon built, as per II Chronicles 35:3: “He said to the Levites, who enlightened all Israel, who are holy to God: ‘Put the Holy Aron in the chamber that Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, built. You will not carry it on your shoulders. Now, serve Hashem, your God.’” When the Aron was hidden away, Aaron’s staff, the jar of manna and the anointing oil were hidden with it. These things did not return for the Second Temple. Along similar lines, the urim v’tumim of the Second Temple did not reply with divine inspiration, so questions were not posed to them, as per Ezra 2:63, Nehemiah 7:65: “until a kohein with the urim v’tumim arises” (so we see they didn’t have them then). Urim v’tumim were only made in the Second Temple in order to complete the eight garments of the Kohein Gadol, so that he not serve “out of uniform.”

Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 4:2

In the First Temple, the Holy and the Holy of Holies were separated by a wall one-cubit thick (about 18"). When the Second Temple was built, they weren’t sure whether that cubit width of the wall should be part of the Holy or of the Holy of Holies, so they made the Holy of Holies a full 20 cubits long and the Holy a full 40 cubits long, leaving an additional cubit between them. They didn’t build a wall in the Second Temple; rather, they hung two curtains. One of these was on the side of the Holy and the other was on the side of the Holy of Holies, and there was a cubit between them, corresponding to the wall of the First Temple. In the First Temple, however, there was only one curtain, as per Exodus 26:33: “The curtain will separate for you….”