Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro

by Rachel Slade

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, thirty-three is the number of promise, the numerical equivalent of amen. The name of God, Elohim, appears thirty-three times in Genesis. God demanded that Noah build an ark dozens of times; his final request, number 33, came with the covenant that he would never again flood the world. In the New Testament, Jesus lived thirty-three years and in that time accomplished thirty-three miracles. The number 33 in Kabbalah signifies “the end of suffering.” In Islam, thirty-three is al-Azim, the supreme glory, and considered the “perfect age”—how old believers will always be in heaven. The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes thirty-three heavens ruled by Indra and thirty-three ruled by Mara. And consider science: the human spine has thirty-three vertebrae, and human DNA is made up of thirty-three turns.