Now, in the time of the first Beis Hamikdash, when the Side of Holiness was very strong, there was a revelation of the Divine Presence resulting from the presence of the Aron and its covering (the Kapores).
So too, in the “unholy counterpart,” there was great power given to the Side of Unholiness from people’s sins, and there was a strong attraction to matters opposed to the belief in Hashem.
For example, there were women who worshipped an idol called “Tammuz.” (Yechezkal 8:14) They also said about another idol they worshipped, “From the time that we stopped burning incense to the ‘Queen of Heaven’ (an idol) we began lacking in what we need...” (Yirmiah 44:18).
Similarly, there were false prophets. Believeing in false prophets is also a form of false belief, since one comes to believe in false prophetic messages that Hashem never said. (see Yirmiah 27:14)
This is not this case in the time of the Second Beis Hamikdash. Since “five things were missing” the Divine Revelation was less, and therefore, the corresponding forces of unholiness were also less powerful. Rather than the blatantly unholy belief in idolatry of the First Bayis, the Second Beis Hamikdash saw the prevalence of false beliefs regarding material matters, where people believed in gossipers and thereby came to hate their fellow Jew. This hatred was entirely baseless, since, in fact, his friend never even wronged him.
This is also a form of false/unholy belief, since if one were not to believe...
