Tag Archive for Ayin Hara

Ayin Hara, the World and receiving the Torah

June 16, 2016 Uncategorized No comments
This article was constructed with the help of either writings, lectures or shiurim of Asher Hurzberg,
Chaim Shmuelevitz zt’l, yossi Bilus, Ilan Feder

Timna, the mother of Amalek, was the concubine of Elifaz, the son of Eisav. One may find it odd that she was merely a concubine considering she was the daughter of a king and the sister of a prominent figure, Liytan. The reason for this was because she was under the strong belief of ‘better rather be a mistress to this nation than a queen to a different nation’, ‘this nation’ referring to Avraham and his children. In fact, she made her overtures to be the wife of Avraham, Isaac, and Yaakov but was rejected by all three; our forefathers did not accept her. So she settled for Elifaz. In a statement from Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, which this dvar Torah is based from, he says the bitterness of being rejected by our ancestors became ingrained and transferred to Timna’s future genealogy. The rage Amalek has towards us stems from jealousy of Timna, that of being tossed away and not accepted. Rav Chaim asks “How can that be? It’s out of character of the persona and philosophy of Avraham. This is the great Avraham, whose teachings of G-d and the notion of bringing people back was his virtue. He was an expert of bringing people closer to G-d, to convert everybody and to take them under the wing of glory. The self-sacrifice he gave towards outreach is one of astonishment, and yet he turns and rejects an individual soul who understands the prominence and value of his family, and is willing to give up so much to be a part of it. One can say it’s very commendable on her part. The question remains, ‘Why didn’t they accept Timna?'”
Timna wasn’t accepted because she wasn’t worthy to be under the clouds of glory. Our ancestors saw through prophecy that she and her descendants carry in their genes very bad traits, and our fathers wanted no part of it. As one is familiar Amalek became our most bitter enemy. They have haunted us for thousands of years.What is their source of power?
The answer lies at the revelation at Sinai. In order to understand we have to delve into a very odd Jewish behavior that is based on a deep concept found in our Torah. Let’s explain.

It’s really scary what one can pick up living like a stranger in a strange land. As Rabbi Berel Wein, the Jewish historian says about Jews in Germany: “The Jews became better Germans then the Germans!” But if we examine our way of life, we find that there is a profound difference between Jews and Americans. They use Facebook to show off their whereabouts and latest vacations, however for the most part, we Jews are not so showoff-y. We have a certain fear and, you know what, that’s a Jewish thing. But regardless where the source originates, it’s downright peculiar how we react when G-d is or is about to shower us with blessings. For example, many of us do not disclose they’re dating someone seriously until they are engaged. Everything is under wraps, and all in the family household are sworn to secrecy not to disclose to no one that a family member is dating someone. Furthermore, if they can hide it, and not be seen, one pushes off the news of pregnancy until after three months. Some go further and don’t say anything till birth.

We have all have acted like ‘Mossad agents’ and experienced our friends doing the same. How can you not tell your best friend you were dating seriously? One can feel slighted. However that’s how many of us are and that is our society. That is our custom. Although, we’ve adopted much from the host country we are from, the root of “not to tell” is rooted in the very essence of our holy Torah.

Our society accepts the notion of not disclosing potential brachot until it actually happens. Some people never mention how many children they have. Big business deals are played down and the business is presented as “tough times” even though the one asked just made a “killing”, the deal of his life. If one passes by a street in Boro Park, the houses look very unassuming even though inside’s a palace where millions were spent.

We can attribute the down play of our success to two reasons. One, our holy Sages promote and preach modesty. It’s not just how we look but how we act. Secondly, the reason why people are reluctant to show off is because they are afraid of the evil eye. Interestingly, the Talmud approaches the subject of the evil eye very seriously. Rav says in tractate Baba Metzia, “99% of deaths have occurred from the result of the evil eye”.

These two reason have influenced the behavior of Jews throughout the generations. It’s a philosophy an approach which has become a tradition and is a mark on Jewish style and way of life. “We have to be unassuming” this is what the mainstream Sages have ingrained in us over the years. “This is the way of G-d”.

The source of the hidden philosophy comes from the Talmud “There is only bracha if it’s hidden from the eye.” Our Sages convey that the biggest bracha is children and regarding them we have to be as modest as can be. If one notices, the most common tradition to conceive children through marital relations is in the confines of the private bedroom at night in the dark under the covers where no one can see, not even the negative angels so the source, root of the bracha is hidden. To extend this idea further Rabbi Akiva Tatz morhidden.

In Chasidic teachings we are taught of the concept of tzimtzum – to trickle down. G-d spirituality trickles down in a minute portion. We don’t receive the abundance of love, it’s measured. This is essentially the same concept for G-d presence in the world is scarce.

Is it really the Jewish way? Is this what G-d wants? Is it really the way of G-d? Is hidden HIS philosophy? There is an incredible question told over to me by Rabbi Asher Hurtzberg posed by the Sfat Emet. If “unassuming” and “modesty” is the way to go, then why did we receive the Torah in such a spectacular way? Why was receiving the Torah hyped up to such an extent, where the whole world heard? The thunder and the lightning it was a sight to see, an extravaganza like no other. It’s uncharacteristic of the Master of the Universe to order such a hoopla event. It doesn’t flow with the program.

As a matter of fact, it did prove to be a negative, for shortly afterwards the Jews sinned with the golden calf. The Torah was showcased and we paid a heavy price. Presumably the Ayin Harah kicked in. Moshe broke the first Luchot. Death was brought back into the world. What a disaster!!

Perhaps we needed one of those Ayin Hara remover experts with heating lead on the stove to determine which people or nation gave us the evil eye. There is an entire cookbook of Ayin hara remedies.

However, the second Luchot-Tablets reverted back to G-d’s hidden philosophy. It was back to basics. There was not much fanfare. Seemingly, the fact that we had such trouble with the first ceremony strengthens our question. Why then was the original “receiving of the Torah” spectacular? Why go through all that?

The answer is plain black and white; quoiting the Torah in parshat Yitro (19:9) “So the people will hear as I speak to you, and they will also believe in you forever.”

G-d changed the philosophy of “hidden” one time and one time only “for many witnesses are more believable then few”. Here three million people witnessed the receiving the Torah and “the world heard and trembled”. The enormous breathtaking and dazzling display had an imprint on the world forever. It demonstrated to the world that the Jewish religion is different than other religion. No other can claim that they witnessed the spectacular event, the inception, the correlation of their religion. No other religion can claim that an entire nation saw and heard the recitation of at least some of the commandments from the voice G-d himself; Christianity nor the Muslims can make that claim. G-d did it in such a way that IT’S CLEAR THE TORAH WAS GIVEN AT MOUNT SINAI!! End of discussion.

However, there is one lingering question that is still very apparent. Why drag the world into our party? Can’t it just simply be only Jews Allowed? Why does it have to reach to the four corners of the world? Aren’t the Jews the only ones to have accepted the Torah?

For us to be the Ambassadors of the Master of the Universe we have the task to travel to all parts of the world. At times it seems like we are forced to leave our homes; our hosts were not gracious to us no more. The wondering Jew has to find different shelter in a different part of the world. It’s interesting, for it was designed that way from the revelation at Sinai. The wondering Jews have to make our presence to all four corners of the globe. Why?

The Torah describes how Moshe wrote on a rock the Torah in seventy different languages. What is the reason for this? What is our mission abroad?

The most evil nation in the world is Amalek. The Torah proclaims they should be wiped out. Interestingly we find out some of Amalek’s descendant became Torah scholars. How is that possible from the wicket righteous people emerge?

The world is divided into Kedusha and Tumah, holiness and impurity, good and evil positive and negative. Interestingly in order for an evil nation of the world to exist it needs elements of Kedusha. Evils needs the holy spark, it needs the holy power source and feeds from it. Evil (klipa) uses it as energy for their philosophies and negative power.

The task that we must accomplish is to take these Kedusha power source that was dispersed to the four corners of the world at Matan Torah-revelation at Mount Sinai and expose it as G-dly spirituality. We transform their existence to a positive spiritual. For this reason we recite in the prayer V’CHAROT which follows VAYEVARECH DAVID, all the 7 nation every time we recite we utter Hebrew words of their names and expose the sparks of Kedusha which resonates the atmosphere, place people into positive light’

What fuels Amalek and the enemies of the Jews is they were able to take the sparks from the Sinai revelation and to transform it to evil. What is outright deadly and powerful is the combination of these sparks mixed with the good intentions of Timna, the woman who wanted to connect to our ancestors but was denied. Amalek’s descendants are able to take that goodness, that Kedusha and build the most devastating weapon of evil for Kedusha is the spark that can be directed in either direction.

The spreading of the spark from the 1st Luchot and the translation by Moshe of the Torah in to seventy languages paved the way for Jews who live in the diaspora to strengthen themselves and use that spirituality in the host country’s language and soil to spread Kedusha, to spread G-d masterpiece to the world at large.

So in essence the first Luchot, the first spectacular receiving the Torah, accomplished its mission. It was worth a bit of Ayin Hara in order to be fulfil a broader important task, that of transferring the Master of the Universe’s Torah globally.

RUTH
One of the main reasons we read the book of Ruth, besides that the story takes place during harvest season which always comes out during the Shavuot holiday time, is that King David, who is a descendant of Ruth, died on Shavuot.
        The book of Ruth starts off where a prominent Jewish family led by the patriarch Elimelech, left Israel and settled in the outskirts of Moab. Elimelech was one of the wealthiest people in Israel and he foresaw troubled economic times ahead. He knew that he will be called upon to help with the financial burden laid upon his fellow Jews, and to be instrumental in bringing the country back on its feet. It would require a tremendous amount of generosity on his part, in which he was not ready to oblige.
        G-d gives certain gifts to people with the expectation that they will utilize them when the opportunity calls. However, if one doesn’t step up to the plate, G-d doesn’t need such an individual. So within a 10-year period, both Elimelech and his two sons – who both married non-Jews – died. Elimelech’s widow, Naomi, was heading back to Israel, her homeland, and saying her goodbyes to her two daughter-in-laws. However, one of them, Ruth, decided to follow her mother-in-law to Israel after a failed attempt to persuade her to go back to her country and family.
        They arrived in Israel during harvest season and Ruth, who converted to Judaism, asked Naomi, “Let me go out and glean in the fields.” It happened to be faith that Ruth was working on a parcel of land that happened to be owned by a man named Boaz, a relative of Elimelech. Boaz inquired who Ruth was; he then informed her, “My daughter, does not glean in other fields but this one.” He was impressed with her modesty and for all that she has done for her mother-in-law.
        Naomi informed Ruth that Boaz is one of the redeemers (goel). When someone dies childless, the next of kin has a duty to marry the widow. Boaz was one of those next-of-kin. (Similarly, Boaz’s ancestor, Yehuda, the son of Yaakov, our Forefather, practiced yibum with Tamar, his widowed daughter-in-law. However, Yehuda did not know she was Tamar. That passage in the Torah was the first in which we were introduced to that topic.)
        Naomi then gave Ruth the most peculiar instructions ever. She said, “Make yourself look nice and wait until Boaz finishes eating. Then go to him in the field as he lies down to go to sleep. He should not notice you; then lie down by his feet where then he will give you instructions what to do.
        Our courtship, today, is slightly different and more expensive. Has anybody ever been to a New York elegant kosher restaurant? I guess one can say different strokes for different folks. These instructions, which Ruth followed to the T, poses tremendous difficulty. There is a famous expression in the Torah “Before a blind man, don’t put building blocks.” It seems like a clear cut case of what we call here in Queens, seduction.
        Boaz had a routine before he retired for the night, which is a glass of wine and learning a set amount of Torah; he was a member of the 71 Judges. Later that night, he woke up from his sleep and noticed a woman by his feet; he then discovered it was Ruth and realized her intentions. “I’m not going to marry you here, my daughter. Although I am interested, but there is a goal before me. If he declines to redeem you then I shall marry you.”
        The next morning Boaz approached the no-name redeemer, who declined to go forth with redeeming Ruth, leaving Boaz the opportunity to do so. People, then, made the halacha mistake of prohibiting both men and women from Moab for marriage. Boaz who was well-versed in Jewish law, knew it was only the “men” who were prohibited. Boaz found 10 people and proceeded to marry Ruth. After their first night together, Boaz died; however, not before leaving his mark, a very important one. Ruth became pregnant with a son. Very strange, Ruth did not name the child nor raise him. The neighbors named him Oved and Naomi raised him.
        Rabbi Aderet gives us a clearer picture of the book of Ruth through the teachings of the Ari z’l. In order to explain his interesting interpretation, we have to fill one more piece of the puzzle.
        G-d summoned angels to destroy the cities of Sedom and Amora. The only family that did not comply with the atrocities of the two cities was Abraham’s nephew, Lot;  the angels got them out on time. Although, Lot attempted to save his future son-in-law, who is nameless, the-son-in-law didn’t take him up on his offer and subsequently died with the rest.
        Believing the whole world was destroyed, Lot’s daughters conjured up a plan to seduce and procreate with their father, where they both will take turns on consecutive nights. They will supply him with alcohol and he will not know what had occurred. Their plan succeeded and each got pregnant. Our sages criticize the oldest for calling her son, Mo-av, from the father. They teach that even though they did it for the continuity of the world, she shouldn’t have publicized a sin.
        The Ari z’l teaches a very important lesson about cohabitation. Children who come out from a man and woman where there is a mistaken identity, where one partner doesn’t know who they slept with, will cause spiritual damage to the offspring. This offense has to be fixed.
        Boaz, the Ari z’l says, is the reincarnation of Lot and Yehuda. Ruth is the reincarnation of Lot’s oldest daughter and Tamar (and in fact, throughout the story of Ruth, Boaz always referred to her as daughter just like Lot referred to his daughter.)
        Ruth was instructed to lay down by Boaz’s feet to see how is he going to react. Will he get seduced or will he marry her properly? Lot had a future son-in-law that never came to be because he didn’t want to leave Sedom, no name. Boaz had an uncle who refused to marry Ruth, no name. As punishment for naming your child (Lot’s daughter) after a sin, Ruth will not name or raise her child. Boaz ate and drank and learned Torah before cohabiting with Ruth. The Ari z’l says one should try to purify, somewhat, the experience. If one wants to have kids with positive energy, they should learn Torah, preferably with your spouse, before having intimate relations.
        There is a big Mitzvah to co-habit Friday night. The reason is because Adam didn’t listen to G-d, who said, “Be together Friday night;” Adam couldn’t wait. So, the first two children did not come out proper.

Fish, an Important Component in Jewish Survival

August 2, 2013 Mitzvot and Traditions, Shabbat No comments
99% of the cause of death in the world can be prevented. What’s the secret? Miracle? Dream? Prank? Fish Talks, Town Buzzes
The New York Times
By COREY KILGANNON
Published: March 15, 2003
And so it came to pass that a talking carp, shouting in Hebrew, shattered the calm of the New Square Fish Market and created what many here are calling a miracle.
Of course, others are calling it a Purim trick, a loopy tale worthy of Isaac Bashevis Singer or just a whopping fish story concocted by a couple of meshugenehs.
Whatever one calls it, the tale of the talking fish has spread in recent weeks throughout this tight-knit Rockland County community, populated by about 7,000 members of the Skver sect of Hasidim, and throughout the Hasidic world, inspiring heated debate, Talmudic discussions and derisive jokes.
The story goes that a 20-pound carp about to be slaughtered and made into gefilte fish for Sabbath dinner began speaking in Hebrew, shouting apocalyptic warnings and claiming to be the troubled soul of a revered community elder who recently died.
Many people here believe that it was God revealing himself that day to two fish cutters in the fish market, Zalmen Rosen, a 57-year-old Hasid with 11 children, and his co-worker Luis Nivelo, a 30-year-old Ecuadorean immigrant.
Some people say the story is as credible as the Bible’s account of the burning bush. Others compare it to a U.F.O. sighting. But the story rapidly spread around the world from this town about 30 miles northwest of Manhattan, first through word of mouth, then through the Jewish press.
The two men say they have each gotten hundreds of phone calls from Jews all over the world.
”Ah, enough already about the fish,” Mr. Rosen said today at the shop, as he skinned a large carp. ”I wish I never said anything about it. I’m getting so many calls every day, I’ve stopped answering. Israel, London, Miami, Brooklyn. They all want to hear about the talking fish.”
Here then is the story, according to the two men, the only witnesses. Mr. Rosen, whose family owns the store, and Mr. Nivelo, who has worked at the shop for seven years, say that on Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. they were carving up carp.
Mr. Nivelo, who is not Jewish, lifted a live carp out of a box of iced-down fish and was about to club it in the head.
But the fish began speaking in Hebrew, according to the two men. Mr. Nivelo does not understand Hebrew, but the shock of a fish speaking any language, he said, forced him against the wall and down to the slimy wooden packing crates that cover the floor.
He looked around to see if the voice had come from the slop sink, the other room or the shop’s cat. Then he ran into the front of the store screaming, ”The fish is talking!” and pulled Mr. Rosen away from the phone.
”I screamed, ‘It’s the devil! The devil is here!’ ” he recalled. ”But Zalmen said to me, ‘You crazy, you a meshugeneh.’ ”
But Mr. Rosen said that when he approached the fish he heard it uttering warnings and commands in Hebrew.
”It said ‘Tzaruch shemirah’ and ‘Hasof bah,’ ” he said, ”which essentially means that everyone needs to account for themselves because the end is near.”
The fish commanded Mr. Rosen to pray and to study the Torah and identified itself as the soul of a local Hasidic man who died last year, childless. The man often bought carp at the shop for the Sabbath meals of poorer village residents.
Mr. Rosen panicked and tried to kill the fish with a machete-size knife. But the fish bucked so wildly that Mr. Rosen wound up cutting his own thumb and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The fish flopped off the counter and back into the carp box and was butchered by Mr. Nivelo and sold.
The story has been told and retold, and many Jews believe that the talking fish was a rare shimmer of God’s spirit. Some call it a warning about the dangers of the impending war in Iraq.
”Two men do not dream the same dream,” said Abraham Spitz, a New Square resident who stopped by the store this week. ”It is very rare that God reminds people he exists in this modern world. But when he does, you cannot ignore it.”
Others consider it as fictional as Tony Soprano’s talking-fish dream in an episode of the ”The Sopranos.”
”Listen to what I’m telling you: Only children take this seriously,” said Rabbi C. Meyer of the New Square Beth Din of Kashrus, which administers kosher-food rules. ”This is like a U.F.O. story. I don’t care if it is the talk of the town.”
Whether hoax or historic event, it jibes with the belief of some Hasidic sects that righteous people can be reincarnated as fish.
Unnatural occurrences play a part in the mystical beliefs of members of the Skver sect. On the other hand, some skeptics note that the Jewish festival of Purim, which starts Monday night, is marked by merriment and pranks, which might be a less elevated explanation for the story.
Some community members are calling the two men an enlightened pair chosen to receive the message. Others have said that Mr. Nivelo may have been selected because he is not Jewish.
”If this was a story concocted by a bunch of Jewish guys, it might be suspect, but this Luis, or whatever his name is, he has no idea what this means,” said Matisyahu Wolfberg, a local lawyer.
”If people say God talks to them, we recommend a psychiatrist, but this is different,” said Mr. Wolfberg, sitting in his office with his black hat resting atop his computer terminal.
”This is one of those historical times when God reveals himself for a reason. It has sent spiritual shock waves throughout the Jewish community worldwide and will be talked about throughout the ages.”
Zev Brenner, who last week broadcast a show about the fish on ”Talk Line,” his talk radio show on Jewish issues, on WMCA-AM (570) and WSNR-AM (620), said that the story has fascinated the religious community worldwide.
”I’ve gotten calls from all over asking ‘Did you hear about the fish?’ ” he said. ”You can imagine, a talking fish has got people buzzing. This is going to be talked about for a long time to come, unless it’s somehow verified as a hoax, which is hard to imagine, since the proof has been eaten up.”
Mr. Brenner said that the story is so well known that it has inspired a whole new genre of wedding jokes for Jewish comedians.
”The station had an advertiser, a gefilte fish manufacturer, who considered changing his slogan to ‘Our fish speaks for itself,’ but decided people would be offended,” he said.
As for Mr. Nivelo, a practicing Christian, he still believes the babbling carp was the devil. His wife told him he was crazy, and his 6-year-old daughter even laughs at him.
”I don’t believe any of this Jewish stuff,” he said. ”But I heard that fish talk.”
He said that Spanish-speaking rabbis have been calling his home every day and night asking him to recount the story.
”It’s just a big headache for me,” he added. ”I pull my phone out of the wall at night. I don’t sleep and I’ve lost weight.”
Mr. Rosen said that he spoke to his wife, who was visiting Israel, and that she had already heard the story from someone else.
”My phone doesn’t stop ringing,” Mr. Rosen said. ”Always interruptions, people coming in and taking their picture with me.”
He paused and turned to Mr. Nivelo, who was cutting salmon for a customer.
”No, too big,” he said. ”She wants appetizer.”

We were brought up in a country where the approach is to be cynical. A person who wasn’t brought up in this country gets excited when receiving junk mail claiming they had won a boat, a yacht. They are instant winners and they merely have to send shipping cost; we, however, know better. We know what to do with these offers and immediately file it in recycle. One cannot believe anybody; there is always a catch. Hey I didn’t believe one iota, at age five about the talking horse, Mr.  Ed. So do you think I’m going to believe about a talking fish at age….well, you get the picture. “But The New York Times” you might say, “the mecca of newspapers (…some may argue anti-Semitic) published it”.
 Regardless weather the fish was talking, singing or doing the hora, the fish has a very important part in Jewish life weather in practicality or symbolically.
  An important note, one should never take our symbolic customs lightly. Every act that is performed here on earth is duplicated in the heavens whereas then the Angels say the magic word AMEN….and it happens. That’s the way heavenly mechanics work.
 Let us begin by asking a basic question. Many communities if not all have a custom to eat fish as a first course at their Shabbat Friday night table. Some with the thorns some without, some fried and some baked or grilled, and some are dipped in garlic water. Mhmmm…
 Why do we eat fish Friday night?
Does it have secret Kabbalistic magic powers of enhancing the appetite so we can look forward to the next course?
Secondly, fish is very different in its requirement to be certified kosher.
 In order to eat “regular” Kosher animals, there is a requirement for the animal to undergo Shechita (ritual slaughter). If an animal were to be killed/ die without Shechita it is forbidden to be eaten.
Yet, by kosher fish we find no such requirement. To eat fish, one can simply kill it and it is Kosher to eat.
Why is there this distinction? What makes fish different than other types of animals (other than the fact that the Torah said they are)?
Why are we allowed to eat fish altogether?
G-d gave us a reward as gratitude for Noach who took care of the animals; man had them for supper. However, the fish weren’t part of the package. Noach did not take care of them. Why then was he allowed to eat them and when did it become permitted?
Devarim (14:9) This you may eat everything that is in the water; anything that has fins and scales you may eat:
Why no preparation needed?
Marsha, one of the major commentaries in the Talmud, in chulin 27b relates this to the idea that earth is more “earthy,” materialistic and unspiritual, than water (compare Rambam, Hil. Yesodei Hatorah 3:10). So animals, which were created from such coarse matter, need shechitah (the ritual slaughter to make it kosher) – the main purpose of which is to drain their lifeblood – to refine their physicality and make it suitable for human consumption, since we are also made from dust. Birds – same thing, but less so, so they need the refinement brought about through shechitah, albeit of only one siman. Fish, whose bodies were created from a more refined material than ours, need no refinement in order to make them edible.
The generation before the flood caused great damage by their immorality and their negative interpersonal relationship, to such an extent that the animals and nature were influenced. Therefore, a large civilization, with the exception of the passengers of Noach’s ark, was destroyed.
 Fish were protected from the spiritual energies of immorality generated by the generation of the flood because they were concealed by the waters. They were led to a certain section of the ocean called Okinus where the waters were bearable and not boiling hot. Therefore, the fish didn’t need the spiritual cleansing of the ark that the surviving animals and birds required, as the verse says, “And all flesh that moves upon the earth expired [in the flood]–among the birds, the animals, the beasts, and all the creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all mankind. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of everything that was on dry land died [The verse mentions only the death of land creatures, implying that Hashem spared the fish, because they did not participate in man’s sins (Talmud: Zevachim 113b)].” (Genesis 7:21, 22) And thus, there is no need to perform shechita on fish.
 As a gift for taking care of the animals on the ark, Noach and the generations that followed were able to eat certain animals that were described to be kosher.
 However the fish were not on the ark and were not taken care of by Noach and his family.
Why then was man allowed to eat fish?
   Interestingly, many commentaries say that Jews were not allowed to eat fish until MATAN TORAH – the receiving of the Torah. G-d rewarded the Jews to eat fish, a gifted species, not blemished by sin, on that glorious day of MATAN TORAH. The receiving of the Torah happened to occur on Shabbat. So besides celebrating the Shabbat we are also showing appreciation to G-d by eating his gift to us, a symbol of receiving the Torah.
 Out of all the gifts to give why did G-d give Fish?
One of the toughest tests to overcome in humans is to be grateful and appreciate what’s on our plate and not desire what our friend has. Our sages introduced us to a concept called the evil eye.
  The Evil Eye is the name given to harmful negative energy which is created by people looking at you with envy or ill-feeling. One of the first encounters of this phenomenon was with the evil Bilam. He wanted to harm the Israelites with this negative energy.  How do we know that he had an evil eye? Because it is written, And Bil’am lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling tribe by tribe (Numbers 24:2). The Midrash Rabbah in Bamidbar 20:10 comments that his eyes were his weapon.
 Although G-d purposely brought the Israelites to a secluded place-the dessert, it did not stop Bilam, who went out of his way, to harm the Jews with his evil eye. It seems like everybody can be susceptible to this harm. There is just no place to hide.
  The Torah’s warning through the Bilam incident has made our people more careful. Traditionally we tend to be quite about our good fortunes.  One might also notice when they are counting a Minyan they won’t count one-two-three but do something more convoluted.
One component of this practice also seems to be concern over ayin hara – the Evil Eye. For the same reason, you will traditionally not see Jewish women having baby showers, decorating the nursery, or even buying anything for the baby before the birth.
How do we protect ourselves?
Since fish live under the water and are thus concealed from view, they are protected from the gaze of the seventy nations of the world. As mentioned above, kosher animals require shechita in order to remove the negative spiritual energies of immorality they have absorbed.  The most powerful protection against evil forces is the force of goodness, whether doing kindness to people, giving charity, or studying G-d’s Torah with the intention of spreading what we learned to others. This brings about unity, which is the opposite from the dor hamabul, the generation of the flood. Therefore, the righteous, who by definition are individuals who are very far removed from immoral behavior, are compared to fish, which are also very far removed from the spiritual energies of immorality.
   This is why Yosef (Joseph) was blessed that his offspring should be like fish, as the verse says, “May they [Yosef’s offspring] proliferate abundantly like fish within the land” (Genesis 48:16). Yosef is the only Biblical figure to be referred to as “HaTzaddik” (the saintly), because he resisted temptation and refused to have any immoral association with his master’s wife. Just as the negative spiritual energies emitted from the eye have no negative effect upon fish in the water, similarly the offspring of Yosef are protected from the evil eye and the spiritual energies of immorality associated with the eye. Yosef saw what’s on his plate only!
Symbolically fish have the power of spiritual purity. It has not been contaminated by immorality, by disarray, by theft, all characteristics of the generation of the flood. It does what G-d wants and that is “keeping a low profile;” modesty. It has followed and trusted G-d whole hardheartedly.
Once, one of the greats of Jerusalem was walking the streets where he hears the screams of a young boy. He quickly attends to him and realizes he has to rush him to the hospital. He then carries him running briskly to the Ezra Rishona-First Response nearby. As he’s rushing in the streets an old lady yells out “don’t worry Rav Shalom, he’ll be okay”.  At a closer glance, though, she realizes the injured boy is her grandson. “Oh No!” she wails and lets out such a scream crying hysterically.
Seems like the old lady lost her composure realizing it’s her grandson. What happened to the “don’t worry?” She was calm and cool full of trust in G-d a couple of minutes ago. She changed. One cannot be frum- religious on someone else’s expense but panic when it hits them personally..
The Hebrew word for fish is dag. There is a connection to da’aga-worry.
 DAG-fish comes to rectify; it comes to fix the negative trait of da’aga-worry.  Dag comes to symbolizes complete trust in G-d, the opposite of da’aga-worry.
That is the symbolic essence of fish. Fish is the purity that was not corrupted by negativity because it swam under the radar gun, out of the sight of the eye.
 So whether it’s whiting, flounder, or the talking carp one has on their menu for the Friday night Shabbat meal, one should enjoy the delicious fish with either horseradish, garlic water or mayo,  and if one hears strange voices at the Shabbat table its either the fish, or the chicken, or perhaps a disgruntled neighbor.