ARK

ARK , the receptacle in the synagogue in which the Torah scrolls are kept. Among Ashkenazim, it is generally called the aron or aron kodesh ("Holy Ark"; cf. ii Chron. 35:3); among the Sephardim, it is known as the heikhal or sanctuary ("Ehal" among the Spanish and Portuguese communities of London, Amsterdam, etc.). The Ark is generally situated on the wall of the synagogue which in Israel faces the Temple Mount, and in other countries faces Israel. Thus in Babylonia the Ark was placed on the synagogue's western wall, while in the western world it is located on the wall facing east (see *Mizra). In the Mishnah it is called tevah ("chest" or "box"; Ta'an. 2:1; Meg. 3:1; et al.). Thus the term "yored lifnei ha-tevah" ("go down before the Ark") means to lead the congregation in prayer, as the Ark was generally raised above the floor level on which the reader's lectern was set.

According to Jewish Law the Ark is the holiest part of the synagogue after the Torah scrolls themselves. It is permissible to sell the pews or the reading desk and apply the proceeds to the purchase of an Ark, because they have a lesser holiness, but it is forbidden to sell an Ark even in order to build a synagogue because "one may not descend in matters of holiness" (Meg. 26a and Rashi ibid.). It is forbidden to make any secular use of the Ark (Tosef., Meg. 3: 2); and when it is no longer usable it must be stored away (Tur., oh 154). One may not sleep in the vicinity of the Ark (Sh. Ar., oḤ 619), nor sit with one's back to it (Levush, oḤ 150). It is related that Jacob Segal Moellin (Maharil) used to bow three times to the Ark when he passed it on departing from the synagogue "like a disciple taking leave of his master" (Sh. Ar., oḤ 132, Magen Avraham, 6). The law is: "One must show great honor to the Torah scrolls and it is a mitzvah to set aside a special place for them, to honor that place, and to beautify it." (Sh. Ar., yd 282). It is said that the ignorant die because they refer to the Ark as arana (Aram. "box"), without the adjective "holy" (Shab. 32a).

The Mishnah records that on public fast days declared because of drought, the Ark was brought out into the town square and covered with ashes, and prayers were recited in front of it (Ta'an. 2:1). The ashes were symbolic of the unworthiness of the congregation (Ta'an. 16a; tj, Ta'an. 11:1, 65a) or of the fact that God suffers with His people (Ta'an. 16a).

There are several widespread customs connected with the Ark. It is opened for certain prayers such as *Avinu Malkenu on fast days and during the *Ten Days of Penitence and for many of the piyyutim recited on the High Holy Day services. It is customary to stand while the Ark is open although there is no obligation to do so (Sh. Ar., yd 242:13). The accepted practice is not to leave the Ark empty. When all the Torah scrolls are taken out on Hoshana Rabba and Simḥat Torah, a lighted candle, symbolic of the "light" of the Torah, is often put there; however, halakhic objections have been raised to this custom (Sh. Ar., oḤ 154:7). The Ark usually has a curtain on it which is called parokhet. A lamp (*ner tamid) is kept continually burning before it. It is not uncommon for men or women to open the Ark to offer private prayers for sick relatives or for other troubles. Generally, opening the Ark seems to stress the importance of the prayer.

Form of the Ark

The scrolls were originally kept in a movable receptacle which served both as their repository and as a pulpit. In the synagogue of Dura-Europos (c. 245 c.e.) a niche in the wall facing Jerusalem was fitted to receive the scrolls which are thought to have been placed in a low, wooden cabinet. Similar cabinets in ordinary use are pictured in Pompeian frescoes. Representations of the Ark are found in paintings and grafitti in the Jewish catacombs in Rome, as well as on the third- and fourth-century gold glasses from Jewish catacombs in that city. The scrolls are depicted lying on shelves in the open cabinets. In the Middle Ages, however, the Ark took the form of a taller niche or cabinet in which the scrolls stood upright, mounted, wrapped in cloth and sometimes topped with finials. This type is represented in 14^th- and 15^th-century illuminated Hebrew manuscripts of Spanish and German origin. In 15^th-century Italian Hebrew manuscripts, a new type appears: the freestanding, tall, double-tiered cupboard, the upper tier fitted to take the scrolls and the lower one to contain ceremonial objects. A Gothic Ark from Modena from the year 1505, decorated with carved panels, is in the Musée Cluny, Paris. A more elaborate Renaissance Ark from Urbino with painted decorations (1550) is in the Jewish Museum in New York. The Sephardi synagogue in Amsterdam (1675) has a baroque Ark, occupying the whole width of the nave. Here a new feature is the twin tablets of the Ten Commandments set on top of the structure. This feature, taken over by the Sephardi synagogue in London in 1701, was later adopted generally.

A baroque structure, adorned with columns, pilasters, broken cornices, pediments, and vases became standard in German synagogues in the early 18^th century. The style quickly spread to Eastern Europe, where it inspired Jewish wood and stone carvers to create their masterpieces of folk art. Lions, birds, dolphins, stags, and eagles intertwined with open-work scrolls covered the double-tiered Ark, with the door set into the lower story and the Decalogue into the upper level. The built-in Ark, such as the one of 1763 in the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, appeared in the late 18^th century, as a product of the then dominant classicism. The cabinet is built into the wall and projects slightly. However, the most common type of Ark in the U.S. until the 1840s was a neoclassical structure with a curved, convex front and sliding doors. From the 1850s and 1860s the Arks of the Moorish style synagogues in Europe and America were designed in the Oriental style. They featured bulbous domes and horseshoe arches, and were covered with geometrical polychrome decorations. In 1925 an attempt was made to revive the old portable type of the Ark of the Tabernacle in Temple Emanu-el in San Francisco, California. Here the Ark, a house-like structure in cloisonné enamel with a double-pitched roof, resembles a Gothic jewel case or reliquary. It is placed sideways so that the ḥazzan taking out the scroll does not turn his back to the worshipers.

After World War ii, the creation of Arks became an art form and many artists experimented with new and daring forms, and with the use of new materials, such as concrete and glass.

[Rachel Wischnitzer]

In Illuminated Manuscripts

In many 14^th-century German maḥzorim, the first benediction in the morning prayer of the Day of Atonement is traditionally represented by the open Ark of the synagogue, since this prayer mentions the opening of the Gates of Mercy. Most of these Arks are gabled, with open doors revealing the decorated Torah scrolls within. In Spanish 14^th-century Haggadot there is a similar open door Ark in illustrations of synagogue interiors (Sarajevo Haggadah, f. 34) Italian illustrations usually show the Ark with closed doors (Rothschild ms 24, Israel Museum; Mishneh Torah Heb., 4, 1193, fol. 33v, Jerusalem National Library) though occasionally there is an open Ark (bm Add. 26968, fol. 139v., Margoliouth, Cat. no. 616).

[Bezalel Narkiss]

bibliography:

E.L. Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece (1934); R. Wischnitzer, Architecture of European Synagogues (1964), index; idem, in: jbl, 60 (1941), 43–55; A. Kampf, Contemporary Synagogue Art, Developments in the United States, 1945–65 (1966), index; R. Krautheimer, Mittelalterliche Synagogen (1927); G. Loukomski, Jewish Art in European Synagogues (1947); U. Nahon, Scritti… S. Mayer (It., 1956), 259–77; Roth, Art, index.

Ark.
1. The vessel in which Noah supposedly saved his family and a breeding pair of each animal and bird species from the destruction of the great flood (Genesis 6. 1–9. 18).

2. The ‘ark of the covenant’ (aron ha-berith) was a container, made by God's command during the Wilderness wandering of Israel, to contain the tablets of the covenant.

3. The niche in the synagogue in which the Torah Scrolls (Scrolls of the Law) are kept. It is located on the wall which faces towards the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and is considered the holiest part of the building. A ner tamid (‘eternal light’) is kept burning in front of the Ark. In Ashkenazi circles, the Ark is called the aron or aron kodesh (‘holy Ark’), and among the Sephardim, it is known as the heikhal (‘sanctuary’).

ark / ärk/ • n. 1. (the ark) (in the Bible) the ship built by Noah to save his family and two of every kind of animal from the Flood; Noah's ark. ∎ fig. a vessel or sanctuary that serves as protection against extinction. ∎ archaic a chest or box: the ark was of Italian walnut. ∎  a large, flat-bottomed boat. 2. short for Ark of the Covenant. ∎  (also Holy Ark) a chest or cupboard housing the Torah scrolls in a synagogue.

ark a chest or coffer, especially (more fully the Ark of the Covenant) the wooden chest which contained the tablets of the laws of the ancient Israelites. Carried by the Israelites on their wanderings in the wilderness, it was cherished by them in the Promised Land; its temporary loss to the Philistines (1 Samuel 4) caused Eli's daughter-in-law to name her son Ichabod. The Ark was later placed by Solomon in the Temple at Jerusalem, but was lost when Nebuchadnezzar's forces destroyed the Temple in 586 bc. The phrases lay hands on the ark, touch the ark, mean treat irreverently what is held to be sacred.

In the Bible, the ark is the floating covered vessel built by Noah to save his family and two of every kind of animal from the Flood (see also Noah's ark). The informal phrase have come out of the ark means be very antiquated.

ark According to Genesis 6, the floating house Noah was ordered to build and live in with his family and one pair of each living creature during the flood. As the flood waters receded, it came to rest on a mountain top, believed to be Mount Ararat.