Now the question arises, how is all this connected to Noach? There is a sefer called Minhag Yisrael Torah, wonderful books on all our customs, where a story is brought about the righteous Reb Yossele of Radziwill. He was apparently a very great Jew, one of the prominent figures in the court of the Rebbe Yisrael of Ruzhin z”l. The book tells that Reb Yossele came to spend Shabbat with the Rebbe of Ruzhin, and when the fish was served to the Rebbe – as is customary at the tables of the Rebbes, where the Rebbe eats a bit and the leftovers go to the Chassidim like the remnants of a korban – the Rebbe first took the eye and ate it. This was a wonder to him, and he began to think about its meaning; reasoning that in the generation of the flood it is said:
וַתִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶ ץ לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶ ץ חָמָס... כִּי הִשְׁחִית כָּל בָּשָׂר אֶת דַּרְ כּוֹ עַל הָאָרֶ ץ... ֹאמֶ ר אֱ-לֹהִים לְנֹחַ קֵץ כָּל בָּשָׂר בָּא לְפָנַי כִּי מָלְאָה הָאָרֶ ץ חָמָס מִפְּנֵיהֶם וְהִנְנִי מַשְׁחִיתָם אֶת הָאָרֶ ץ.
Rashi explains: The earth was corrupted with immorality and idolatry, and filled with violence – namely, robbery sealed the earth’s fate.
If so, Hakadosh Baruch Hu destroyed the world for idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed, and their decree was sealed because of robbery. And after the world was destroyed, the Torah says: כֹּל אֲשׁ ֶר נִשְׁמַת רוּחַ חַיִּים בְּאַפָּיו מִכֹּל אֲשׁ ֶר בֶּחָרָ בָה מֵתוּ – All that has a breath of the spirit of life, everything on dry land, died. Rashi explains: All that was on dry land died, but not the fish in the sea.
Why did the fish in the sea not die? If you say it was because they did not sin – this is difficult to accept; what about those born a day before? Could they have sinned?! Certainly not. So why kill them? Rashi asks this at the end of Parshat Bereishit when Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: אֶ מְ חֶ ה אֶ ת הָ אָ דָ ם – “I will wipe out mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – humans, animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky – for I regret that I have made them." There, he says even the animals corrupted their way and thus died in the flood.
Another explanation provided is that everything was created for man, and since he perished, what need is there for them? The Gemara (Sanhedrin 108a) provides the parable to a man who made a wedding chupah for his son and prepared all kinds of feasts. In time, his son died, so he dismantled the chupah, saying: “Did I make all this except for my son? Now that he is dead, what need do I have for the chupah?!” So too, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: “Did I create animals and beasts except for man? Now that man sins, what need do I have for animals and beasts?”
If so, if there is no man, there is no need for anything – no trees, no animals, no beasts, etc. Everything is destroyed. And if so, there is no need for fish either! So, why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu leave the fish?
So, returning to the story of Reb Yossele of Radziwill, he sat and thought: the only creation in the world that Hakadosh Baruch Hu did not harm in the flood were the fish. Why? The answer is very simple. It is because the three severe sins that the people of the flood generation transgressed do not apply to animals, as they were not commanded regarding robbery, immorality, bloodshed, or idolatry. But the humans took them and used them for sins. Chazal say (Sanhedrin 108a): they mated animals with different species, and all with humans and humans with all. The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah, 28:8) adds that the dog would consort with the wolf, and the chicken would consort with the peacock, and even the earth also strayed – people would sow wheat, and it would produce tares (darnel); this plant (ryegrass) that grows today, its origins are with the Dor Hamabul.
Since humans used animals to commit sins, it was necessary to kill them too by the law of “וְ אֶ ת הַ בְּ הֵ מָ ה תַּ הֲ רֹגוּ”. This means that everyone sinned! But Tosafot (Bava Kama 55a) says that fish cannot be crossbred! Moreover, Chazal say that all the sins of the Dor Hamabul began with the eye, as the eye sees and the heart desires! Therefore, since the fish did not sin in immorality, it implies that their eyes were pure!
Reb Yossele says that the fish are the only creatures that did not sin. Therefore, Hakadosh Baruch Hu declared that since they are the choicest of creation, they will be placed on the table on the choicest day of the week – Shabbat! This is why fish are served on the Shabbat table, and why the Rebbe began his meal specifically with the eye of the fish! Reb Yossele concludes his story with: As I was pondering this, the Rebbe of Ruzhin turned to me and said, "Young man, everything you thought is true!"
