The Midrash tells of a Roman Jew, a tailor by profession, who on the eve of Yom Kippur competed with the servant of the governor for the last fish on the market. finally the tailor outbid the other, acquiring the fish for 12 Dinar. At their meal, the governor asked his servant why he didn’t buy any fish. The servant told him what happened, adding that he was sure that the governor would not have wanted him to spend 12 Dinar on a fish. Thereupon the governor ordered the Jew to appear before him. Asked how a poor tailor could afford to buy a fish for such a large sum, the Jew replied: “We have one day in the year on which all the sins we have committed throughout the year are forgiven. Shouldn’t we do honor to that day?”
The answer satisfied the governor. The Midrash concludes that the L-rd rewarded the tailor. Upon opening the fish, he found a precious pearl (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 11).
(Incidentally, about 100 years ago, the famous Anglo-Jewish writer Israel Zangwill depicted in his comedy “The King of the Schnorrers” a dispute about a salmon at a fish stand in Petticoat Lane, Whitechapel. The contenders, who had set their eyes on the same fish were the hero of the story – the King of the Schnorrers- and the rich Gabbai of London’s Great Synagogue.)
From the above quoted Midrash we see as the Tossafists have already noted — that Jews used to eat fish on the eve of Yom Kippur.
In the Pesikta Rabbati, a different version of the story is found. It says there that it happened on the eve of Shabbat; according to some on the eve of Yom Kippur.
Fish had been a Jewish delicacy for many, many generations. Studies have been written about the custom of eating fish on Shabbat. The most recent of these is Moshe Hallamish’s important essay which appeared in Alei Shefer, a volume of Jewish studies=, published by Bar Ilan University in honor of Rabbi Dr. Alexander Safran, Chief Rabbi of Geneva, who duringWorld War II — when he served as Chief Rabbi of Rumania – played a major role in saving Rumanina Jewry from the claws of the Germans.
Hallamish, who is the editor of the volume, describes in his essay the custom of eating fish on Shabbat as reflected in the Talmud and in rabbinical, Kabalistic and Hasidic literature as well as in Jewish liturgy.
The author quotes a multitiude of sources , including some manuscripts and attempts to trace the development of certain ideas associated with the custom. He cites repsonsa which discuss Halachic problems relating to the eating of fish on Shabbat, writes of pious persons who themselves bought the fish for Shabbat and tells of communities which boycotted gentile fish vendors, who conscious of the Jews’ need for fish, hiked their prices.
He explain the various reasons, Kabbalists and Hassidic leaders have ascribed – in addition to Oneg Shabbt- to the eating of fish on Shabbat.
Well known is the view that fish have been chosen for the Shabbat meals because they have no eye-lids. Their eyes are always open. By partaking of them, one alludes to the L-rd whose eyes are conatantly upon those who fear Him, to protect them and care for them.
Rabbi Menachem Mindel of Kotzk said: All other animals one can eat only after performing certain commandments, such as slaughtering and salting. Not so fish. There is no Mitzvah associated with them. For this reason we eat them on Shabbat to make them part of a Mitzvah.
These are only two of the variety of reasons found in Kabbalistic and Hasidic literature, cited and explained by the author.
In a note at the beginning of his essay, Hallamish lists the works of all those who had written on the subject before him. He could have included the late Rabbi Chaim Karlinsky, who published a beautiful important study about the custom of eating fish on Shabbat in the annual Shana BeShana (5744).
In this study, Rabbi Karlinsky quotes — among other sources – the Bach on Tur Orach Chayim 256, who states, “Nowadays it is a custom in large communities for the Shamash to announce half an hour before Mincha (on the eve of Shabbat) that it is time for cooking fish…”
With regard to the statement of the Bach may we remark that the Shamash’s announcement to cook fish is already referred to in an earlier source. It is mentioned in the “Ordinances Regarding Shabbat and Yom Tov” instituted towards the end of the 16th century by Rabbi Meshulum Phoebus of Cracow . (The full text of the Ordinances was published by Isaiah Sonne in Horev, Tishrei 5696.) Rabbi Meshullam Phoebus was the teacher of R Joel Sirkes (Bach).
The Jewish Press, Sept. 21, 1990 p. 37