ARITHMETIC – The art of reckoning. This must have been familiar to the ancient Hebrews. The sacred books mention large amounts, showing that the people were acquainted with the art of computation. Expressions are found even for fractions...
ARK OF THE COVENANT – Dimensions and Construction. —Biblical Data: The first mention of the Ark in the Bible is in Ex. xxv. 10 et seq., where Moses on Mount Sinai is told to have an Ark of shittim-wood made for the Commandments which are about to be...
ARK OF THE LAW – Supposed Earliest Representation of an Ark of the Law, in the Museo Borgiano at Rome.(From Garrucci, "Arte Christiana.")—In the Synagogue( ): A closet or chest in which are kept the Torah scrolls used in the public worship of...
ARK OF MOSES – For three months Moses was kept hidden by his mother, and when she could no longer conceal him, she made a box and launched it on the Nile river (Ex. ii. 2-3). The box was made of rushes, and was lined with slime and pitch to...
ARK OF NOAH – Biblical Data: The vessel occupied by Noah and his family during the Deluge (Gen. vi. 14, vii., viii.).The English name should not be confounded with the Ark of the Covenant. The Hebrew name, , is the same as that of the chest...
ARKANSAS – One of the South-central states of the United States; admitted June 15, 1836; seceded May 6, 1861; and was readmitted June 22, 1868.Arkansas has about three thousand Jews. Though their settlement in different parts of the state...
ARKITE(S) – Ancient people of northwestern Palestine. In Gen. x. 17, I Chron. i. 15, the Arkite ( ) is mentioned as a son of Canaan and opensthe series of the chief Phenician cities. The city of Arka, from which the name is derived, is the...
ARKOVY, JOSEPH – Professor of clinical dentistry at the University of Budapest; born in Budapest, February 8, 1851. He graduated in 1876 from the university of his native city, and then went to London, where for several years he practised in the...
ARLES – City of France, in the department of Bouches du Rhône; ancient capital of Provence. The date of the settlement of the Jews in Arles is lost in antiquity. According to a legend, the emperor Vespasian placed Jews on three vessels,...
ARLI(ARLES), JOSEPH JUDAH – of Sienna. See Joseph of Arles.
ARMAVIR – The old capital of Armenia, on the southeastern slope of Mount Ahaghöz, said to have been founded by King Armais in 1980 B.C. Moses of Chorene (fifth century) has the tradition that when King Vaharshak settled in Armavir (149...
ARMENIA – In the Bible. Formerly a kingdom of western Asia, now (1902) apportioned among Russia, Turkey, and Persia. According to the Peshiṭta and Targum Onkelos, the "Minni" of the Bible (Jer. li. 27) is Armenia—or rather a part of that...
ARMENIAN VERSION OF OLD TESTAMENT – See Bible Translation.
ARMILUS – In later Jewish eschatology and legend, a king who will arise at the end of time against the Messiah, and will be conquered by him after having brought much distress upon Israel. The origin of this Jewish Antichrist (as he can...
ARMLEDER PERSECUTIONS – A series of persecutions by a band of marauders who in 1338-39 massacred a large number of Jews in Alsace. In 1336 a nobleman of Franconia, pretending that an angel had commissioned him to do so, gathered a band of desperadoes...
ARMORY – A word occurring only three times in the A. V. In Jer. 1. 25 it is used figuratively ("The Lord hath opened his armory and brought forth the weapons of his indignation"). In Song of Songs iv. 4 reference is made to a tower of...
ARMS – See Army; War.
ARMY – Biblical Data: This term, here used to designate the defensive force of Israel at all stages of the nation's history, embraces widely dissimilar aggregations of men. The Hebrew vocabulary scarcely indicates these distinctions...
ARNHEIM, FISCHEL – Bavarian deputy and lawyer; born at Baireuth, Bavaria, Feb. 23, 1812; died there Jan. 31, 1864. He was destined by his parents for a commercial career. They gave him a thorough Jewish education, and he was at a very early age...
ARNHEIM, HEYMANN – German rabbi; born at Wongrowitz, Prussia, Feb. 6, 1796; died there Sept. 22, 1865. While still a child he was left fatherless, and from the age of twelve was compelled to earn his own living. Notwithstanding these unfavorable...
ARNHEM – Early History. A city of Holland, situated on the Rhine about fifty miles southeast of Amsterdam. No Jews are mentioned in the records of the city prior to 1404. In that year two Jews are mentioned as having passed through...
ARNOLD – Cardinal-bishop of Cologne; died April 3, 1151. One of the few prelates who, during the Crusades, protected the Jews from the violence of the mob. When, during the Second Crusade, the inflammatory sermons of the French monk...
ARNOLD OF CÎTEAUX – Cistercian monk, who, with the sanction of Pope Innocent III. (1198-1216), incited a crusade against the Albigenses and Jews of southern France, and occasioned the attack of Simon de Montfort on Viscount Raymund Roger. The...
ARNON – Biblical Data: A river and wady of eastern Palestine, the modern Wady Mojib (or Wady el-Mojib). The name means perhaps "noisy," a term which well describes the latter part of the course of the river. Its length is about 45...
ARNSTADT – Capital of the German principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, on the River Gera. In 1264 (Aug. 5 and 7) there were outbreaks here against the Jews, in which five were slain (the learned R. Shabbethai ben Samuel; Joseph and...