[boycott]

So how do we know that is the case?

—

Some Jews — the Essenes — spun off after the first temple was destroyed. One of the reasons was because they disagreed with making sacrifices at the temple where there was no Ark.

[Bob Ireland]

Your information about the Essenes is not correct. That sect started up after the Maccabean overthrow of the Seleucid rule in Jerusalem. There is no evidence of the existence of the Ark after the Babylonian conquest about 570 BCE. The Seleucids were overthrown about 170 BCE.

The Maccabees did not reestablish the old order of priesthood, which gave rise to the Teacher of Righteousness and the Essenes. While generally believed to be centered on Qumran, the sect had followers all around Judea. Authorship of the Dead Sea Scrolls is not universally accepted to have been the Essenes alone - although it seems to me any other alternative is similar to shovelling smoke...

There was an Essene Gate built by Herod in the SE corner wall of Jerusalem.