After the Ark was taken away, there was a stone originally discovered by Shmuel and David in the Holy of Holies. It was called “the Foundation Stone,” it protruded three finger-breadths above the ground, and this is where the High Priest would place his shovel full of burning coals.
Why did the teacher say, “after the Ark was taken away?” Earlier, we said that it was hidden!? - This is a different opinion, based on a phrase from Isaiah, “Behold the days are coming when all that your forefathers have accumulated will be carried away to Babylonia.” The other two opinions are that the Ark was hidden right in its place, deep in the ground, or that it was hidden in the wood chamber, as the story about a Kohen who wanted to reveal it but died tells us.
When the Ark was in existence, its two poles protruded from behind the Curtain as two breasts of a woman, and that is what King Solomon meant when he said, “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, lodged between my breasts.” A similar symbol was represented by the Cherubim, who were in a shape of a man and a woman joined in an embrace. At the time of the Temple destruction, the enemy soldiers entered the Temple, saw this, and said, “These Jews, who possess the power of blessing and curse, should occupy themselves with such pictures!” This is what Jeremiah meant when he said, “All who once respected her, now debased her, for they saw her nakedness.”
Art: The embrace by Pio Ricci
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