Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/170

132 "

Aril on

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Arnstein

Arnold and

his followers were foremost. These ultramontane swordsmen, as they were designated in contrast to the Spaniards, were deeply affronted "by the comparative prosperity and freedom that the Jews enjoyed in the Castilian capital Toledo; and Arnold instigated a sudden onslaught upon them (June. 1212). At that particular juncture the Jewish population of Toledo, in addition to being the most representative and flourishing in Spain, had been

swelled by the accession of fugitives from Salvatierra, the first city captured by the Mohammedan invaders (Sept., 1211). The fate of the Jews of Toledo would have been sealed had not Alfonso the Noble, king of Castile, and the Christian knights of the city, promptly protected them thus terminating auspiciously what was in Castile an importation of foreign fanaticism, the first persecution of Jews. Bibliography Ibn Verga, Shehet Yehudali, ed. Wiener,



p. 112





Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, 3d'ed., vi. 333, 339



vii. 9, 13.

H. G. E.

g.

ARNON. — Biblical

Data: A river and wady modern Wady Mojib (or

of eastern Palestine, the

though low

132

winter season it is in runs at first northwesterly, but afterward its course becomes westerly. Its striking feature is the steepness and narrowness of the ravine through which it passes shortly before Between it empties into the lake, opposite Engedi. the lofty limestone hills, which cause this precipitous descent, and the lake, the river expands into a shallow estuary nearly 100 feet wide. The Arnon has always been an important boundary-line. Before the Hebrew period it separated, for a time at least, the Moabites from the Amorites (Num. xxi. 13, 26; Deut. iii. 8; Judges xi. 18). After the Hebrew settlement it divided, theoretically in

summer,

places 8 or 10 feet deep.

in the It

Moab from the tribes of Reuben and Gad (Deut. iii. 12, 16). But in fact Moab lay as much to the north as it did to the south of the Arnon. To the north, for example, were Aroer, Dibon, Medeba, and other Moabite towns. Even under Omri and Ahab, who held part of the Moabite territory, Israel did not hold sway farther south than Ataroth, about ten miles north of the Arnon. Mesha in his inscription (Moabite Stone, line 10) says that the Gadites (not the Reubenites) formerly occupied Ataroth, whence he in turn expelled the people of Israel. He mentions (line 26) his having constructed a road along the Arnon. The ancient importance of the river and of the towns in its neighborhood is attested by the numerous ruins of bridges, forts, and buildings found upon or near it. Its fords are alluded to by Isaiah (xvi. 2). Its " heights, " crowned with the castles of chiefs, were also celebrated in verse (Num. xxi. 28). J. je. J. F. McC. at least,

In Rabbinical Literature:

The Haggadah

the following story of a miracle witnessed at the Arnon, which seems to be alluded to in the Bible (Num. xxi. 14, 15). The mountains bordering on the Arnon consist of two lofty ranges, with a valley, seven miles wide, between them. When on the way to the promised land, the Israelites, after having crossed the first range, prepared to cross the second, the Amorites hid in the caves, intending to attack the unsuspecting travelers. But the Ark of the Covenant, which preceded the Israelites, caused the heights to sink and the valley to rise, with the result that the concealed Amorites were crushed in the caves. The miracle would have been unnoticed by the Israelites, had not God 'caused the well which tells

accompanied them

to throw up portions of the Then it was that all Israel sang the Song Well (Num. xxi. 17 et seq.). In commemora-

corpses.

of the

tion of this miracle the Rabbis decided that a special

benediction be uttered upon seeing the Arnon (Ber. 54a et seq. Num. R. xix. 25; Tan., Hukkat., xx.).

J-

sk.

ARNST ADT Gorge of the Elver Anion Near (From Stade, "

Wady el -Mo jib).

Its

Mouth.

Gescliichte dea Volkes Israel.")

The name means perhaps " noisy,

a term which well describes the latter part of the course of the river. Its length is about 45 miles, from its rise in the desert to its entrance into the Dead Sea. It spreads out to a breadth of 100 feet here and there, but for the most part is narrow and

L. G.

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 Kasser, sons of R. Jehiel bar Hakim R. David Cohen, of Mayence and the boy Eliezer, son of R. Simson, of France). In Feb., 1349, the Black Death raged in the town. In 1441 the Jews were expelled from the town. In 1466 another expulsion took place, "because they