[Avodah] bugs in fish

[Prof. Levine]

At 06:21 AM 3/8/2010, Eli Turkel wrote:
>BTW I haven'y seen anyone deal with the issue of how could gedolim 
>from previous
>generations eat treif fish is we have the rule that G-d watches over 
>the donkey
>of R. Pinchas ben Yair and so certainly over the tzaddikim.


Rabbi Yisroel Belsky feels has pointed out the same thing. He refuses 
to believe that the gedolim from previous generations ate treif fish.

I sent the following out on 1/26/10.

Given this [the claims by some that there are now bugs in our fish], 
I contacted the OU to get some information about this issue.  I have 
learned the following:

Rav Yisroel Belsky has issued a psak for the OU, stating that there 
is no need to check for worms and no prohibition of the worms found 
in wild salmon and other fish, in accordance with Shulchan Aruch  Y"D 
84:16. According to this psak, he states that the Shulchan Aruch does 
not limit the permissibility of Tolayim found in the flesh of fish to 
any species of tolaas. The halacha states that the tolaas found in 
the flesh of the fish is mutar, and there is no reason to believe 
present day Tolayim are any different from those found in the past.

There is an audio presentation made by Rav Belsky last year 
at  http://www.ouradio.org/index.php/ouradio/comment/9742/ In it he 
notes that the SA did not require one to be an expert in the Tolayim 
found in the fish flesh to know how they got into the flesh, either 
from the viscera [The internal organs of the body, specifically those 
within the chest (as the 
<http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3668>heart or 
<http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4209>lungs) 
or 
<http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2081>abdomen 
(as the 
<http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4179>liver, 
<http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4743>pancreas 
or intestines).] or from some other source. If the tolaas clearly 
came from the viscera after death,  the tolaas would indeed be forbidden.

He also said that the concern that the Tolayim found in the flesh of 
fish may have migrated from the viscera after the death of the fish 
and would be forbidden is not based on any scientific research. Based 
on his own inquiries of experts in the field, Rav Belsky feels that, 
in fact,  the opposite is true, and that the Tolayim in question are 
to be found in the flesh of the fish while it was 
alive.  Furthermore, Rav Belsky said  that the size of the tolaas 
when it is swallowed by the fish is not relevant.

Yitzchok Levine



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