ARON, ARNAUD:
Chief rabbi of Strasburg, Alsace; born March 11, 1807, in Sulz unterm Walde, Alsace, and died April 3, 1890. Destined for a rabbinical career, he began his Talmudic studies at an early age at Hagenau and continued them at Frankfort-on-the-Main. In 1830 he became rabbi of the small community of Hegenheim in Upper Alsace; and the more important Jewish community of Strasburg called him to be its spiritual head in 1833. As he was under thirty, the age prescribed by law, he required a special dispensation to qualify for the office. In Strasburg Aron acquired the reputation of an eloquent and inspiring preacher and a zealous communal worker. He assisted in founding the School of Arts and Trades and took active interest in other useful institutions. In 1855 he convened an assembly of the rabbis of the department of the Lower Rhine for the consideration of religious questions.
Aron is the author of a devotional work which enjoys great popularity among French Israelites. This is "Prières d'un Cœur Israélite," a collection of prayers, partly original and partly drawn from Biblical and other Jewish sources. In this work he had the assistance of Ennery. Arnaud Aron was the author of the catechism used for confirmation as prescribed by the Consistory of Lower Alsace. In 1866 the French government acknowledged his services by appointing him a Knight of the Legion of Honor. In 1870, while Strasburg was besieged, it was he, together with the archbishop, who raised the white flag on the cathedral. Subsequently he was decorated by the German emperor.
