Fins and Scales

22 Adar II 5782

“These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales” (Vayikra 11:9)

“All fish that have scales also have fins (and are thus kosher). But there are fish that have fins but do not have scales, and are thus impure.” (Talmud, Niddah 51b)

The Rebbe explains this in Chassidus, “The student of Torah is comparable to a fish in water, as in Rabbi Akiva’s famous parable. His ‘fins’ are the means by which he moves forward through the water—the intellect and study skills with which he advances in wisdom and increases the Torah and makes it great with his own contributions (chiddushim) to Torah learning. His ‘scales’ are his protective armor against predators and adverse elements—his fear of heaven, which shields his learning from error and distortion.

One might think that the primary requirement for success in Torah is the ‘fins,’ while the ‘scales’ serve a secondary function. It is the fins that move the fish forward, while the scales merely preserve what is. After all, learning is an intellectual exercise; piety and fear of G‑d are lofty virtues, but are they any use in navigating the complexities of a difficult Tosafot?

In truth, however, the very opposite is the case. A scholar with ‘fins’ but no ‘scales’ is a non-kosher fish. He might swim and frolic with his talent and genius, but his learning is corrupt; it is not Torah, but his egoistic arrogation of the Divine wisdom. On the other hand, the Talmud tells us that while there are fish with fins and no scales, all fish with scales have fins. If a person approaches Torah with an awe of its Divine author and the commitment to serve Him, he will certainly succeed. Regardless of the degree of his intellectual prowess, he will find the ‘fins’ with which to advance in his learning and contribute to the growth of Torah.”

“It has been said that prayer or any other blessing, said without kavanah, is like a body without a soul.” (Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 38)

So too learning without yirat shamayim (fear of heaven) is like a body without a soul, a lifeless creature, ripe to be overturned by the faintest opposition and always at risk of straying in the wrong direction. As it says in Pirkei Avot 3:9, “Anyone whose fear of sin precedes his wisdom, his wisdom is enduring, but anyone whose wisdom precedes his fear of sin, his wisdom is not enduring.”

“The waters engulfed their adversaries; not one of them remained. Then they believed in His words, they sang His praise. They quickly forgot His deeds, they did not wait for His counsel” (Tehillim 106:11-13)

Experience of Divine inspiration outside of a strong framework of fear of heaven and self-control will always remain fleeting sensations without lasting impact on one’s Divine service. These moments will be quickly forgotten without the necessary extension of the insights that we gain through them into our knowledge and understanding through logic and reasoning. Above all else, there must be fear of heaven and an acknowledgement that we are mere created beings, in no way, shape, or form able to estimate or grasp the Divine. With the protection these “scales” provide we will be able to advance to ever higher levels of spiritual inspiration without loosing touch with our actual mission in the world or our own limitations.