A Drawing Brought to Life: The Ṣūfī Background of an Algerian Jewish Legend

According to a legend which circulated among Algerian Jews even in the 19th century, at the time of the 1391 persecutions by the order of the “king of Spain”, a group of Jews were imprisoned and sentenced to death. However, their rabbi saved them miraculously by drawing a boat on the wall of the prison, which by the power of the community’s prayer was converted into a real boat. The prisoners boarded it and sailed through the sea to the shore of the African coast. The article presents a possible Ṣūfī background of this legend.