The day on which Hananiah died was the first day of the month of Nisan. He had tied his kerchief round his loins and was about to proceed to the synagogue. Suddenly he felt his legs failing. This fellow’s legs, said he, are entreating him not to bother them; so I shall pray at home.
And when he came to the words, ‘The heavens are the heavens of the Lord; but the earth hath He given to the sons of man,’ his soul departed from him in purity. They came and closed his eyes and covered them with his kerchief. Then with much difficulty they took his prayer book out of his hands, purified his body, and brought him to his eternal home.
Many accompanied him to the cemetery, and many spoke his praises. One praised him for his simplicity, another for his whole-heartedness, a third for his nim-bleness in fulfilling commandments, a fourth for his love of the Land of Israel, a fifth for his faith, and a sixth for all of these qualities together. For all the good and upright qualities which were given to Israel to glorify God’s blessed world were to be found together in Hananiah, peace be upon him.
The sages and rabbis of Jerusalem have long desired that all that befell Hananiah should be put on record in a book. But by reason of harshness of servitude and the urgency of livelihood, as well as because of strife and contention, the matter was deferred from day to day and from year to year; until I came and wrote all the adventures of Hananiah in a book which I have called ‘In the Heart of the Seas.’ This name I have given this book in memory of Hananiah, peace be upon him, who went down into the heart of the sea and came forth peacefully. I have not left out anything I have heard and I have added nothing more than my soul advised.
Some will read my book as a man reads legends, while others will read it and derive benefit for themselves. With regard to the former I quote the words of the Book of Proverbs: ‘But a good word maketh the heart glad’; a good word maketh the soul to rejoice and delivereth from care. But of the latter I say in the words of the Psalmist: ‘But those who wait for the Lord, they shall inherit the land.’
Translated by I.M. Lask
Revised and Annotated by Jeffrey Saks
Annotations to “In the Heart of the Seas”
Title / Cf. Jonah 2:4.
Register / To join the group who will be travelling to the Land of Israel.
Quorum / Minyan; group of 10 men for communal prayer service.
Kerchief / The kerchief — a central symbol throughout this tale — is revisited by Agnon most famously in his story, “The Kerchief”, in A Book That Was Lost.
Lulav and citron / The palm-branch and citron (etrog) used as part of the Sukkot celebration (cf. Lev. 23:40).
Robber chief / This element is taken from the legends of the Ba’al Shem Tov.
A certain cave / Cf. Agnon’s “Fable of the Goat”, in A Book That Was Lost.
Two thousand ells / The Sabbath boundary outside of which one is forbidden to travel.
Shaddai / Playing off the homonym: Shaddai (Hebrew for “The Almighty”) being one of God’s Holy names and the Polish siadaj, meaning: Sit!
Took off my shoes / One is forbidden to wear leather shoes on Yom Kippur.
Buczacz / Agnon’s hometown in Eastern Galicia, today Western Ukraine, and the setting for this story’s opening.
Rabbi Akiva / cf. Pesachim 112a.
Him who hath light in Zion / Isaiah 31:9.
Adar / Hebrew month corresponding to February-March.
Kohen / Descendent of the priestly caste.
Slaughterer-and-inspector / Responsible for the production of kosher meat.
Ketuvot / Talmudic tractate dealing with laws of marriage contracts.
Alfasi / R. Isaac Alfasi of Fes, known as Rif (1013–1103), medieval Talmudic commentator.
The King hath brought… / Song of Songs 1:4. Rabbi Gershon is the central character of Agnon’s earlier story HaNidach (“The Banished”), which is set around 1815. Based on this fact we can speculate that “In the Heart of the Seas” is set around 20–30 years later.
Rabbi Shmuel Yosef / Agnon’s own name; the author has retrojected himself as a character into his own story.
Stryi / A town about 135 km. west of Buczacz.
Esther / Agnon’s own wife, Esther née Marx (1889–1973), similarly retrojected into the story.
Rabbi Avigdor / One of the protagonists of the earlier mentioned story HaNidach.
Oh that the salvation… / Ps. 53:7.
Draw me… / Song of Songs 1:4.
Strypa / A left tributary of the Dniester River, runs through Buczacz.
Rabbi Meir the Miracle Worker / A charity fund to support residents of the Holy land, named for the 2nd century C.E. rabbi of the Mishnah.
All the rivers… / Ecclesiastes 1:7.
Rabbi in Yaslovitz / Da’at Kedoshim — Based on actual case of R. Avraham David Wahrman (1770–1840), who left the Yaslovitz rabbinate to take up a position in Bucazacz in 1813. The tale is related in Agnon’s story “Da’at Kedoshim” in his volume Ir uMelo’ah.
Sambation / According to ancient Jewish legend the Sambation River marked the place beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes were exiled.
Baal Shem Tov / R. Yisral ben Eliezer (d. 1760), called the “Master of the Good Name”, mystic and founder of Hassidut.
Buried in earth outside the Land / cf. Shabbat 153a.
Zaddik / Lit. “righteous one”, title used to designate a Hassidic Rabbi.
Heman and Asaph and Jeduthun / I Chron 25:1; Bava Batra 14b names them as among the authors of Psalms.
Head of Esau / Esua was the brother of the biblical Jacob. According to legend (Targum Yonatan to Gen. 50:13) his decapitated head was buried in the Cave of Machpelah, i.e., the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
Iyar / Hebrew month corresponding to April-May.
Chained / An agunah is a woman unable to obtain a halakhic divorce, in this case as her husband has gone missing with no evidence of his death or whereabouts, leaving her “chained” to him and unable to remarry.
Rabbi Meir of Primishlan / Hassidic rabbi (1783–1850).
What is thy name? / Gen. 32:28.
But once the wine went in / Sanhedrin 38a.
Stambul / i.e., Istanbul.
Mămăligă / A porridge made out of yellow maize flour, traditional in Romania and Moldova. It is similar to the Italian polenta.
Shulhan Arukh / 16th century Code of Jewish law by R. Yosef Karo.
Hear O Israel / Shema Yisrael (Deut. 6:4), central declaration of faith and a twice-daily Jewish prayer.
For with thee… / Psalm 130:4.
Hakham / Sage; title amongst Sephardic Jews for a scholar or rabbi.
Eight verses / Jonah 2:3-10.
The Land must be exceedingly good / Numbers 14:7–8.
I have forsaken my house / Jeremiah 12:7.
Afterwards the Children of Israel / Hosea 3:5.
Oh that the salvation / Psalm 53.
Evil husks / Kabbalistic idea of the kellipot (shells or husks) represent evil and impure forces within our non-redeemed world.
Minyan / Prayer quorum of 10. Careful readers will note that even without Hananiah they were ten men, a mystery planted by Agnon into the story.
Boys and girls who flung themselves into the sea / Gittin 57b.
Jonathan ben Uziel / Mishnaic rabbi and author of translation of the Prophets into Aramaic.