Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/112

74 ;

Ararat Arba' Kanfot

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

In the older Babylonian story of the flood the ark on a peak of " the mountain of Nizir," situated east of the land of Assyria. Berosus, the Chaldean priest, in his history fixes the site in " the mountain of the Kordyseans " or Kurds, northeast of Mosul, in the direction of Urumiah (Josephus, "Ant." i. 3, § 6); and Nicolaus of Damascus states that the ark rested on a great mountain in Armenia, somewhere near the boundary between that land and Kurdistan. The principle determining these various identifications seems to have been that the ark rested on the highest point on the earth, which was, therefore, the first to emerge from the waters of the flood. Thus the peoples living (or " ship ") is represented as resting

between the Tigris and the Euphrates naturally decided that it was on the lofty mountains to the northeast in the land of the Kurds.

This belief of the Babylonians, quoted by Josephus, is still held by the Nestorians and Moslems. The Biblical reference is

indefinite;



but of all the mountains in the ancient

land of Ararat, the lofty peak which towers 14,000 feet above the encircling plain, reaching a total height of 17,000 feet above sea-level, is without a rival. Its steepness emphasizes its great elevation, and may well have impressed upon the minds of travelers of antiquity the fact that it was higher than the Kurdish mountains two hundred miles away. It may also explain why the writer in Genesis apparently abandoned the older conflicting Babylonian traditions and fixed upon this imposing, solitary peak far to the northwest.

The mountain itself is known as Ararat only among Occidental geographers. The Armenians the Turks Aghri Dagh, and the Persians Koh i Nuh, or " the mountain of Noah. " Thus far it has been impossible to trace back to an early date an independent native tradition. Apparently the local legends which have clothed it with mystery, and which would place upon it the remains of the original ark, are based upon the passage in Genesis, and have been largely induced in comparatively recent times by the influence of Western Christianity. Superstitious fear and natural difficulties prevent the natives from attempting the ascent of the mountain but its top has repeatedly been reached by Europeans, and its geological peculiarities have been noted. Its cone is the crater of an extinct volcano, and because of its great height it is snow-capped throughout the year.

74

abroad with the equality of rights and opportunities for enterprise and worldly success accorded to them in America. The consequence was that, in 1825, less than a decade after his return to New York, he conceived and published a plan for the establishment of "a city of refuge for the Jews," on a site which he selected upon Grand Island, in the Niagara river, near Niagara Falls, not far from Buffalo, N. Y. To this proposed city he gave the name "Ararat," thereby linking it with his own name and personality, and at the same time suggesting the nature of his scheme. At that time Noah was perhaps the most distinguished Jewish resident of America and his successful and varied activities as lawyer and editor, politician and playwright, diplomat and sheriff of New York, lent to his project considerable importance. Accordingly, he induced a wealthy Christian friend to purchase several thousand acres of land on Grand Island for this purpose. The tract was chosen with particular reference to its promising commercial prospects (being close to the Great Lakes and opposite the newly constructed Erie Canal); and Noah deemed it "preeminently calculated to become, in time, the greatest trading and commercial depot in

the new and better world. " Buffalo, at that time, had not grown to its present commercial importance, and Noah, in sober earnest, anticipated Carlyle's sa-

prediction by describing the Falls of Niagara

tirical

as " affording the greatest water-power in the world for manufacturing purposes. " After heralding this project for some time in his own newspaper and in the press, religious

and

secular, generally,

Noah

call it Massis,

Foundation-Stone of the Proposed City of Ararat.



Bibliography: For the geography of Urartu, see Sayce, Cuneiform Inscriptions of Van, in Journal Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xiv.; Schrader, C. I. O. T., Index, s.v.; idem, K. O.F., Index, J.

s.v.

C. F. K.

JR.

ARARAT.—A city planned

City of Refuge



A

proposed

by Mordecai Manuel Noah

in 1825.

reactionary policy adopted by many European governments after the battle of Waterloo led to the reimposition in many places of Jewish disabilities and Jews laboring under them turned eagerly to emigration for relief. Mordecai M. Noah, in his journeys to and from his post of United States consul at Tunis, had occasion to familiarize himself with the conditions of Jews in various parts of Europe and Africa and he could not refrain from contrasting the civil and political restrictions placed on the Jews

The



2, 1825, as the date for laying the foundation-stone of the new city. According to plan, impressive ceremonies, ushered in by the firing of cannon, were held, and participated in by state and federal officials, Christian clergymen, Ma-

selected Sept.

sonic officers,

and even American Indians,

whom

Noah

who

identified as the " lost tribes " of Israel, and were also to find refuge at this new "Ararat."

Circumstances made

it

inconvenient to hold the

Grand Island; so they were held inan Episcopal church at Buffalo. Noah was

exercises on

stead in naturally the central figure and, after having appointed himself "judge and governor" of Israel, he issued a " proclamation " in that official capacity. In this " state paper, " he announced the restoration of a Jewish state on Grand Island, preliminarily to a restoration of a Palestinian state commanded that a census of the Jews be taken throughout the world levied a poll-tax of three shekels in silver per annum, to be paid into his treasury by Jews everywhere graciously permitted such Jews as wished to