Entering into the Sanctuary

He then places the incense in his hands into the golden spoon and holds it with his left hand. In his right hand, he picks up the shovelful of burning coals from the floor before him. In this manner, carrying the spoonful of incense and the shovel of coals, he enters into the Sanctuary until he comes to the two curtains which separate between the Holy (the Sanctuary, which housed the menorah, table and incense altar) and the Holy of Holies.

In the First Temple, a wall the thickness of one amah (app. 48 or 60 centimeters) separated between these two areas. However, in the Second Temple the two curtains once again formed this distinction, as in the days of the Tabernacle. The two curtains themselves were separated by an empty space measuring one amah wide, like that wall which stood in Solomon's Temple.