את זה תאכלו מכל אשר במים כל אשר לו סנפיר וקשקשת תאכלו ... (יד-ט)
I saw a beautiful vort in the name of Hagaon Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l. The Gemara (Kiddushin 29a) says that a father is obligated to teach his son Torah, as well as a profession, and some say he must also teach him how to swim. The question arises: why is it imperative to teach one’s son aquatic skills more than teaching him to defend himself against attackers and bandits who may roam the streets? Isn’t this lesson just as important as knowing how to swim?
Rav Elyashiv explained that the term “swimming” connotes more than just floating. Even a log can stay afloat. Yet, it will still get swept away by the current and tossed to and fro. Swimming, on the other hand, entails going against the tide. The Gemara is teaching us a deeper meaning in a father’s obligations to his child. A father must instill in his child the keilim, the tools, needed not to just merely exist in life going, with the flow. Children must also be imbued with confidence and the perseverance needed, not to succumb to peer pressure, but rather to swim against the current towards his correct and proper destination in life, even if it means “swimming” against the popular and pervasive societal norms.
Klal Yisroel is likened to fish. "וידגו לרב בקרב הארץ" - Kosher fish must have both fins and scales. Scales are its outer protection, like the Torah is a protection to us and it is always protecting us. Fins are the limbs needed to enable a fish to swim in any direction it chooses, even it must do so against the current. Whereas a fish that has no fins and scales and just exists, floating along with no clear direction, moves to wherever the current sends it. That fish is deemed non-kosher.
May we all internalize this lesson, ensuring that our “fins and scales” are secure and intact, so that both we and our children can, b’siyata d’shmaya, safely navigate today’s tidal waves at sea that are constantly threatening to engulf us.
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