I was recently asked why the Torah does not include fish in its numerous offerings on the altar. Amongst the items offered at the Bait Hamikdash are bulls, lambs, goats, doves , flour, salt and incense. Included in this list are representatives from inanimate life, plant life and the animal kingdom. However, if we delve further into the animal kingdom we see that fish are omitted.
This week's parsha, Vayikra, discusses many of these sacrifices at length. Sin offerings, communal peace offerings and flour offerings are mentioned. G-d is asking us to sacrifice all sorts of creatures. But why is fish glaringly missing? What does He have against fish?
Chassidus explains the difference between these three levels of living beings: animals, fowl and fish. To better understand them, let us focus on the ways that the Torah allows us to consume them. Kosher animals and birds must first be slaughtered and the blood must be removed in order to be consumed by a Jew. But, fish may be eaten without ritual slaughter and with its blood intact. Why?
Animals live on the earth. According to the Torah, they were also created from the earth. Conversely, fish live in - and were created from - the water.
According to the Mystics, water represents holiness and G-dliness. Earth represents physicality and a concealment of G-dliness. This is why fish are eminently dependent on their source of life and cannot leave it, reflecting an awareness of their source - a revelation of the Divine.
Birds, we are taught in the Torah, were created from the mud, a mixture of earth and water. That's why they can fly above the earth, but eventually must land upon it. They are connected to the earth, albeit not entirely.
Taken from this perspective, livestock represent the animal within us. Each of us possesses an animalistic nature, our base emotions, that drive us away from G-d. The selfish, earthly orientation cannot see the Divine. Its vision - and objective - is limited to the materialistic and physical surface-level perspective.
Fish, conversely, represent the Divine within us. Created in the image of G-d, we possess a spark of G-d, our neshama. This Divine soul remains constantly connected to its Source and drives us to do good and pursue holiness.
Fowl straddle both universes, representing our natural intellect. Compared to our ignoble emotions, it sits high up on a perch. But, it still remains tethered to earth. It is still an earthly view, the way things are seen from down here. In contrast to the soul - whose sole focus is Heaven - it is earth-oriented. It may soar, but its existence is nevertheless self-centered.
Now, we can understand why fish do not require ritual slaughter. An animal is slaughtered in order to elevate it from its animalistic nature. By severing the flow of blood - specifically between the intellect (head) and emotion (body) - we indicate that our animalistic urges should not pollute our higher being. We also, extract the blood, which is similarly associated with the emotions and animalistic aspect. Even birds, our natural intellectual selves, require elevation. Since our primary perspective is of the earth, we must rise above it - signified in ritual slaughter.
Fish - our Divine soul - does not need to be lifted out of its status to achieve bonding with Heaven. Rather, its perspective can be digested into our being in its current - Divine - state.
Offering a sacrifice meant elevating our animalistic nature to G-d. The animal (emotional) and avian (intellectual) natures need to be uplifted. But, the piscine (divine) aspect of our being is already connected to G-d.
Each of us has an animal, bird and fish inside. Each of us has animal, bird and fish moments. Let's find ways to make all of them purposeful in our relationship with our Creator.