A talking carp predicts the apocalypse.
"A Jewish fish story to top all
This critter spoke -- in Hebrew, yet -- and claimed to be Hasidic
COREY KILGANNON
New York Times
NEW SQUARE, N.Y. - 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 whopping fish story concocted by a couple of meshugenehs (fools). Whatever one calls it, the tale of the talking fish has spread in recent weeks throughout this tight-knit community, populated by about 7,000 members of the Skver sect of Hasidim, and throughout the Hasidic world, inspiring heated debate and derisive jokes."
"Here then is the story, according to the two men, the only witnesses. Rosen, whose family owns the store, and Nivelo, who has worked at the shop for seven years, say that at 4 p.m. Jan. 28 they were carving up carp. 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 with a rubber hammer.
But the fish began speaking in Hebrew, according to the two men.
Nivelo does not understand Hebrew, but the shock of a fish speaking any language startled him. He ran into the front of the store screaming, "The fish is talking!" and pulled 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 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 everyone needs to account for themselves, because the end is near."
The fish commanded 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."
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/5398309.htm
"A Jewish fish story to top all
This critter spoke -- in Hebrew, yet -- and claimed to be Hasidic
COREY KILGANNON
New York Times
NEW SQUARE, N.Y. - 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 whopping fish story concocted by a couple of meshugenehs (fools). Whatever one calls it, the tale of the talking fish has spread in recent weeks throughout this tight-knit community, populated by about 7,000 members of the Skver sect of Hasidim, and throughout the Hasidic world, inspiring heated debate and derisive jokes."
"Here then is the story, according to the two men, the only witnesses. Rosen, whose family owns the store, and Nivelo, who has worked at the shop for seven years, say that at 4 p.m. Jan. 28 they were carving up carp. 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 with a rubber hammer.
But the fish began speaking in Hebrew, according to the two men.
Nivelo does not understand Hebrew, but the shock of a fish speaking any language startled him. He ran into the front of the store screaming, "The fish is talking!" and pulled 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 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 everyone needs to account for themselves, because the end is near."
The fish commanded 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."
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/5398309.htm
