(Teiva ha-Eidut) A portable chest that served as the repository for the original Ten Commandments and the 13th Torah scroll written by Moses (the other twelve went to each of the tribes) during the Exodus. More importantly, the Ark served as a locus of God’s presence among the Children of Israel. At God’s commission the Biblical wonder-craftsman Bezalel built the ark while the Israelites sojourned in the desert.