Aron ha-kodesh [Hebrew for the ‘Holy Ark’] [the Polish Judaic Dictionary also permits the spelling “Aron Kodesh”] – an altar cabinet (both a free-standing piece of furniture, as well as a niche in the wall) for storing the Torah scrolls, placed in the main prayer hall in the synagogue. Aron Kodesh is placed on the axis facing the wall of Jerusalem (the Eastern wall in Europe). In Poland, single and multi-tier cabinets were made, usually richly decorated with floral ornaments, symbolic animals, with space for scrolls on the lower tier, lockable with double doors covered with a parochet and a kapporeth. A sanctuary lamp (ner tamid) is suspended in front of the cabinet or next to it.

The content of this entry has been prepared on the basis of the source materials provided by the Polish Scientific Publishers (PWN)