The Fish in Rabbi Ephraim's Dream: A Debate That Continues Today

The zodiac sign for the month of Adar is fish. Fish are considered a symbol of blessing because they multiply in large numbers. As is known, to eat a fish, it must have signs of purity: scales and fins.

An intriguing debate emerged during the time of the early sages concerning a fish called 'barbuta.' This fish had visible scales when young, but when caught, it appeared without scales. Some sages permitted it to be eaten, assuming its scales fell off. Rabbi Yehuda the Pious remarked, 'He who eats barbuta will not partake in the meal of the Leviathan,' as recorded by his disciple Rabbi Yitzchak of Vienna in the book "Or Zarua." Yet, some sages allowed its consumption. One such sage was Rabbi Ephraim of Bonn, but one night he dreamt of seeing the fish and hearing a voice saying, 'Woe unto you... for you are feeding Israel carrion and treif.' Alarmed, Rabbi Ephraim instructed his students never to eat the fish again.

However, the famed Prague Rabbi, the "Noda B'Yehuda," was not disturbed by the dream and wrote, "The Tosafists confirmed... that when the barbuta is caught, it sheds its scales as it rises from the water. It puzzled him if so, why was it revealed to Rabbi Ephraim in a dream to forbid it... I say dreams neither add nor detract, and you can never establish a law from a dream; dreams speak falsehoods. Even if Rabbi Ephraim, who was a righteous and pious man, feared his dream where he was told in it that he allowed what was forbidden, and he worried there might be truth to it and attributed it to his allowance of the 'barbuta,' nevertheless, if he had proven the fish had scales, as the Tosafists did, he would have attributed this dream to another matter he permitted. Bringing proof from a dream is frivolous and lacks substance. I ask why the dream didn't come to other Tosafists, to Rabeinu Tam and the great scholars who permitted the 'barbuta,' to reveal what their dreams might be."

The "Noda B'Yehuda" questions: If the dream is true, why wasn't it sent to our Tosafist rabbis who permitted the fish? Therefore, the "Noda B'Yehuda" concludes that it is permissible to eat the "barbuta."

Rabbi Levinger from the Bet Din in Zurich writes that the 'barbuta' is the maximus Rhombus fish and that the debate about it has persisted for many years. In Dutch communities up to World War II, Amsterdam forbade its consumption, while the Hague allowed it. In Berlin, the fish was consumed until the war. In practice, this fascinating debate remains unresolved to this day. Although the fish is not commonly found in our kitchens, it apparently still occurs in Western Europe, and the prudent may abstain from it due to uncertainty...