Dangerous Secrets: Yoma 54a

The Rabbis debate whether the Holy Ark, which contains the second set of tablets received by Moses at Sinai, were hidden at the site of the Temple in Jerusalem or taken with the Jews into exile. The following story supports the idea that the Ark stayed in Jerusalem.

A priest was passing the time idly, and saw a part of the floor in the Temple was different than the surrounding floor. The priest went to tell his friend, but died suddenly before he was able to finish the story. They realized that the priest had stumbled on the Ark's hiding place. How had the priest been passing the time? Rabbi Chelbo taught, 'The priest was playing with his hatchet.'

It was taught in the Rabbi Ishmael's study hall: Two priests whose wounds had made them unfit for the main Temple service were working with the woodpile, and one of their axes slipped away and fell in the same spot [as in the other priest's story]. Fire came out and devoured the ax.

Prayer, Rain, and Egoism: Yoma 53a

Rabbi Channina Ben Dosa was traveling on the road, and it started raining. He said, 'Master of the Universe, should the entire world be happy [since the rain benefits crops] and Channia unhappy [since he had to travel in the rain, and had no land that would benefit from the rain.]

The rain stopped.

Channina arrived home, and said, 'Master of the Universe, should the entire world be unhappy and Channina happy?

The rain started.

Hiding the Ark: Yoma 52b

Moses put the second set of tablets from Mt. Sinai in the Holy Ark, which was at the center of the Tabernacle and its successor the Temple in Jerusalem. It was hidden away, and has yet to be found. The Talmud discusses its concealment in this passage.

When the Ark was hidden away, hidden with it were the bottle of Manna (which Moses put aside as a reminder of G-d's gift of sustenance during the Jew's wanderings in the desert), a flask of the anointing oil (which was used in the dedication of the Tabernacle), Aaron's staff with its almonds and blossoms (the staff miraculously grew almond blossoms as a sign of divine favor for Aaron's priestly line), and the chest of gold which the Philistines dedicated to the L-rd of Israel (the Philistines took the Ark captive during a war. They found that whatever village kept the ark was afflicted with hemorrhoids, and then decided to return it along with gifts to the Jews.)

Who hid the Ark? King Josiah hid it. Why? He saw it was written (Deuteronomy 28:36 JPS Translation) 'The L-rd will drive you and the king you have sent over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone," and was aroused to hide the ark.

I find the second passage fascinating. King Josiah was a great leader in Judaism. Before his time, people had even stopped observing the Passover sacrifice. He restored it and many other important rituals. I'm amazed at how he was able to restore the people's connection to tradition in the shadow of such awful portents.