Fish Warns of Coming End of World

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.
The story goes that a 20-pound carp about to be 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 it was God revealing himself that day to two fish cutters in the New Square Fish Market, Zalmen Rosen, a 57-year-old Hasid with 11 children, and his co-worker Luis Nivelo, a 30-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant.
The two men say they each have gotten hundreds of phone calls from Jews all over the world.
"Ah, enough already about the fish," Rosen said Thursday 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. 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.
Rosen panicked and tried to kill the fish with a machete-size knife. But the fish bucked so wildly that 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 Nivell and sold.
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.
Nivelo, a practicing Christian, 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. "I heard that fish talk."

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/5398309.htm

[Kurt Angle]

Sounds fishy to me

[MPTheory]

I dont know man.. thats  a little fishy.. The story just doesnt seem kosher to me.

[Cerberus]

Originally posted by Kurt Angle
Sounds fishy to me

That just HAD to be said!!!!!!

Thank you.

[Titan]

I don\'t believe it. Sounds like carp to me

Lol, that is the funniest story i have ever heard! Imagine a fish comeing to life and saying the world is gonna end! I would be like ya, ok what ever u say and than filet it, cook it and eat it.

Let the carps fall where they may.

Happened to me, except it was a goat...

I swear, those goats could run our government better

I kind of trout that.  Think you\'re lying.  But, whatever you ray.

-Eik

All these apocolypse things are gilling me, it\'s usually some bottom feeder who loves to hook suckers, feed them some chum and cause them to flounder with fear, sole-ly to make themselves feel like a big fish.  However I really filet change coming, and instead of telling these tales, maybe people will carp-a-diem and do something worth while with their lives.

[Kurt Angle]

Too many "red herrings" in that story I\'m afraid.

this really perch\'ed me up. I cod not stop laughing. This bass ass story ...

[Cerberus]

Originally posted by Spudz
Happened to me, except it was a goat...

Oh aye? Hang around with goats do you? Down dark alleys do you?