RAV KOOK ON Terumah Part 1: The Iron Wall

The Torah describes in great detail the vehicle for bringing God's Presence into our world: the Mishkan (Tabernacle), the forerunner of the holy Temple in Jerusalem. The Beit HaMikdash, the holy Temple in Jerusalem, was a focal point of Divine service, prayer, and prophecy; a vehicle to bring the Shechinah into the world. The current state of the world, without the Beit HaMikdash, is one of estrangement from God. When the Temple was destroyed, the Talmud teaches, the gates of prayer were locked and a wall of iron separates us from our Heavenly Father (Berachot 32b). Why did the Sages describe this breach of communication with God as a 'wall of iron'? Why not, for example, a 'wall of stone'?