It was once revealed to the heiligeh Baal Shem Tov that he would dwell in one of three places: Nimerov, Mehzibehz, or to another certain town. In the end, he chose to live in Mehzibehz, and that’s where he spent many years. But why? What was so special about Mehzibehz that the Baal Shem Tov chose to reside there instead of the other locations? The answer is because of the fish! It was known that fish were very common in Mehzibehz, making it easier for the Rebbe to obtain them for the honor (כבוד) of Shabbos!
I would like to share with you an idea regarding fish, the special creatures that we, Klal Yisroel, are indeed compared to.
The kashrus of fish is quite simple: as long as it contains fins and scales, the fish is deemed kosher. This is in contrast to the kashrus of animals, which have many potential prohibitions, including neveila, treifa, gid hanasheh, cheilev, and dam. A kosher fish does not have any of these prohibitions.
Why is this? Why are fish different?
The Medrash says that after Chava ate from the Tree of Knowledge (הדעת עץ(, she fed the food to all the animals of the world—בהמה) animals), חיה) beasts), and עופות) birds). The Medrash, however, makes no mention of fish!
The Pri Tzadik explains that once the animals consumed the forbidden foods, they now had a mixture of good and bad. However, since the fish were not in the Garden, they were not given the forbidden foods. As a result, the fish contained only goodness; they remained completely pure. This, explains the Pri Tzadik, is why we honor and delight in Shabbos with fish in particular. Fish represent pure goodness, without any mixture of good and bad.
Based on this, I’d like to share with you the pnimiyus of why Yidden eat gefilte fish. For centuries, gefilte fish has been a staple at the Shabbos table for Jewish people around the world. But why? What’s so special about this dish? One of the 39 prohibited activities on Shabbos is the melachah of בורר) borer), which means “selecting”—we may not remove פסולת) p’soles) from אוכל) ochel). In other words, we are not allowed to separate the bad stuff (called p’soles) from the good stuff (called ochel).
Typically, fish contains small bones, which pose potential borer issues on Shabbos. Many Poskim point out that gefilte fish became the fish of choice on Shabbos because it avoids borer issues, since it is already deboned. The novelty of gefilte fish is that it avoids borer issues since it doesn’t contain p’soles; it is only ochel. Gefilte fish is a food that has no bad, only good!
On Shabbos, when we eat fish (especially gefilte fish!), we are reminded b’derech pnimiyus that there is a part of us, too, that has no p’soles, only ochel. There is a part of us where there is no ורע טוב ערבוב, no mixture of good and bad, rather only good! Call it what you want—your soul, your pintele Yid, your cheilek Eloka Memaal mamash, your inner Yehudi, your nekuda tova. That part of you is a fish-like essence of pure goodness!
Rebbe Nachman (LM 282) teaches that we should seek goodness in others and in ourselves. Because deep down, there is a part of each and every one of us that contains only good!
Gefilte fish represents who we are, at our core. Because this uniquely ochel-only (non-p’soles) food reminds us of the part of us that is only good. May we be zoche to tap into this core place of our identity, a place where p’soles doesn’t even exist!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 80.
