Parsha:

Re'eh 

Description

Fish are...well, different. They are certainly unlike the land animals we are most familiar with...to be deemed kosher, they need only scales and fins... No shechita. The Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote: "As the armor that protects the body of the fish, scales represent the quality of integrity, which protects us from the very many pitfalls that life presents..." Yes, a fish can be identified as kosher if it has scales and fins. But the Talmud goes even further by suggesting that if a fish is swimming upstream it is by definition a kosher fish. The lesson is clear. To overcome such currents, one must have a spine!