The Tzemach Tzedek and the Price of Shabbos Fish

The rabbi said that he needed to mullet over for a bit.

The rabbi pointed to a Mishna quoted in Bava Basra (166a). There was a time when birds used for korbanos became exceedingly expensive. Each pair of birds sold for a gold dinar, which at that time represented about a month’s salary for the average person. Women who had recently given birth could hardly afford to purchase birds for the korbanos they were required to bring.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel cried fowl and hatched a plan. “I will not sleep tonight until the price drops dramatically.”

He went to the beis midrash and declared that any woman who hitherto would have brought five pairs of birds is now free as a bird to bring just one; she may bring the others if she so chooses.

The bird purveyors’ feathers were significantly ruffled. The price of the birds swooned dramatically – to a hundredth of the original price. According to Rashi in Kerisus, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel instituted an emergency, limited-time measure to bring down the cost of the birds. He felt that b’nos Yisrael were being taken advantage of financially and were not getting proper tweetment. Perhaps some would chicken out of buying their korbanos. After the temporary measure, however, they were able to wing it. We can conclude that the rabbis sometimes saw fit to intervene and lower the bill; they didn’t duck the issue.

However, was that measure only for the birds, or can it be parroted for fish as well? The Tzemach Tzedek (the Rishon) pointed out that Jews had the halibut of buying fish for Shabbos. Fish purveyors cod raise the prices without suffering a drop-off in sales. He agreed that the sharp increase in fish prices was not a fluke. A temporary ban on all fish purchases was in order, including fish for Shabbos. This would help the Jews who were floundering and cause the prices to sink.

Others who wanted their Shabbos fish protested. They referred to the Gemara in Beitzah (16a) that says that the money one spends on Shabbos and yom tov is not deducted from one’s yearly allotment. So, they reasoned, what difference does it make if the fish is expensive? Since they are buying it for Shabbos, their money will be returned to them in one way or another through Divine intervention, and they will remain afloat. There’s no need to crab about it.

Still, Tzemach Tzedek ruled that a boycott was in order. Just as Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel curtailed the offering of korbanos, we may temporarily curtail the mitzvah of oneg Shabbos. This would be true even if eating fish on Shabbos is a mitzvah d’Oraysa, as some argue (see such an opinion in the Shulchan Aruch HaRav). However, for halachah l’maaseh, we hold that eating fish is just one manifestation of the mitzvah of oneg Shabbos. One can also fulfill the biblical mitzvah of oneg Shabbos with other dishes. So a boycott is undoubtedly in order to bring the price of fish down.

Regarding the argument that the money spent on Shabbos will be returned, Tzemach Tzedek said that it is fine and good for people with the money to lay out. However, a poor person who does not have the money to spend now will not be able to buy the fish, even though there is a guarantee that the funds will be returned to him later. The fish sellers were being shellfish and harming these poor people. For their sake, he had to institute the boycott.