[Mother Abigail]

Word is made flesh as God reveals himself... as a fish

Edward Helmore New York

Sunday March 16, 2003

The Observer

An obscure Jewish sect in New York has been gripped in awe by what it believes to be a mystical visitation by a 20lb carp that was heard shouting in Hebrew, in what many Jews worldwide are hailing as a modern miracle.

Many of the 7,000-member Skver sect of Hasidim in New Square, 30 miles north of Manhattan, believe God has revealed himself in fish form.

According to two fish-cutters at the New Square Fish Market, the carp was about to be slaughtered and made into gefilte fish for Sabbath dinner when it suddenly began shouting apocalyptic warnings in Hebrew.

Many believe the carp was channelling the troubled soul of a revered community elder who recently died; others say it was God. The only witnesses to the mystical show were Zalmen Rosen, a 57-year-old Hasid with 11 children, and his co-worker, Luis Nivelo. They say that on 28 January at 4pm they were about to club the carp on the head when it began yelling.

Nivelo, a Gentile who does not understand Hebrew, was so shocked at the sight of a fish talking in any language that he fell over. He ran into the front of the store screaming: 'It's the Devil! The Devil is here!' Then the shop owner heard it shouting warnings and commands too.

'It said "Tzaruch shemirah" and "Hasof bah",' he told the New York Times, 'which essentially means that everyone needs to account for themselves because the end is near.'

[tuna_battle_slight_return]

"Then the shop owner heard it shouting warnings and commands too."

Was one of the warnings the fish shouted, "Chirac is your enemy"? If you place the fish on a turntable, and spin it backwards, do you receive weird messages like, "you're going to ruin your record player, moron".

[Illbay]

Many believe the carp was channelling the troubled soul of a revered community elder who recently died; others say it was God.

OTOH, it could have been a very well-read carp.

[happygrl]

Balaam's ass.

[kcar]

"Tzaruch shemirah" and "Hasof bah".

ANyone else notice that the letters in these words can be easily rearranged to spell:

Chirac, hater of Bush, Shazam!

[raygun]

This post’s interesting (the thread’s quite interesting too).