Gefilte Fishing

On Passover, the youngest child asks the 4 questions. But this year, I found myself stumped by a 5th question: How do you catch a gefilte fish?

As the Fly Fishing Rabbi, I would like to tell you that I have a special blessing to catch this distant Jewish relative of the trout. But sadly in my trips to fish the great gefilte lakes of upstate New York, the wise and elusive gefilte fish has often found a way to elude me.

And so in honor of Passover, let me share a few bits of wisdom about “Gefilte Fishing” adapted from a piece by Lawrence Sherry:

“Many times I have been upset by people who seem to think that gefilte fish is some kind of mixture you make in the kitchen rather than one of God’s creatures. This has led me to explain exactly what a gefilte fish is.

Each year as soon as the frost on the Great Gefilte Lakes (located in upstate New York, somewhere in the Catskill Mountains) is thin enough to break the surface, fly fishers set out to "catch" gefilte fish. Now unlike your normal fish, gefilte fish can not be caught with a rod and a reel or your standard dry flies.

The art of catching gefilte fish was handed down for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. For all I know Moses used to go gefilte fishing in the Red Sea.

So how is it done? You go up to the lake with some matzah. At the edge of the lake, you stand and whistle and say "here boy", "here boy". If you are a Yiddish speaker, you can also say: “here boychick.” The fish just can't resist the smell of the matzah. They come in mass to the edge of the lake where they jump into the jars and are bottled on the spot.

Picture: The Matzah Fly for catching Gefilte Fish... Courtsey of Len, a reader of The Fly Fishing Rabbi

I am still a little bothered by which end of the gefilte fish is the head and which the tail (not to mention that I am not sure where their eyes are). This is a small price to pay the luxury of eating this delicacy.”

To read Lawrence Sherry’s entire article “Gefilte Fishing,” CLICK HERE.

Below please find a recipe for Gefilte Trout, courtesy of Gordon, one of the readers of The Fly Fishing Rabbi. If anyone has ever made Gefilte Trout, let me know how it was!

My best wishes to everyone for a healthy and happy Passover.

The Fly Fishing Rabbi,
Eric Eisenkramer

Gefilte Trout!
Courtesy of: Gordon

7 -7 ½ lbs fresh caught trout
(Filleted, with skin, bones, and heads saved)
4 qts. Water
3 t. salt
3 med. Onions
4 med. Carrots
3-4 lg. eggs
(Sugar to taste – (Ugh!) only if your Grandparents were from Poland )
~ /2 C. cold water
~1/3 C Matzah Meal
Salt and Pepper
1. Put bones, skin, and heads in pot with water. More if needed to cover. Bring to boil and skim as necessary.
2. Add 1 onion, 3 carrots and bring back to boil, turn down and simmer ~20 – 30 min while preparing fish.
3. Grind fish, onion, and carrot together
4. Mix fish with salt and pepper, and one egg at a time. Add Matzah meal just to bind (add cod water if you went too far).
5. Form into ovals (football shape if fine)
6. Put into lightly simmering fish stock and cook until done ~20 to 30 min.
7. Take out and let cool. Strain stock and pour over fish. Put in fridge, the stock should gel.
8. Serve cold with horseradish.

Note: Traditionally my Bubbie made it with equal parts Carp, Whitefish, and Pike.
This actually works and more importantly, tastes great.

A Jewish Atheist?

For some, God is surely a part of the universe. For others, belief in God wavers over the course of a lifetime. Many people believe that the question of God’s existence cannot be answered. And for some, God does not exist.

The question of God’s existence is one of faith, not one of proof. We cannot demonstrate with absolute certainty that God is out there. God has not appeared to me or to anyone I know. There are people out there who claim to have spoken to God, but in our modern day and age, we regard them with skepticism.

We will never be able to prove scientifically that God exists. Science tells us how many miles it is from the earth to the sun, or how long it takes for a ball to fall from a window to the ground. But no mathematical equation will ever demonstrate with certainty whether God is real. And no matter how advanced our science and technology becomes, we will never prove that God does not exist. Our world will always contain mysteries that even the most powerful science will not be able to explain, leaving a place for the Divine.

Even though we cannot prove that God exists, Judaism affirms the belief that God is real. So what happens if you do not believe in God? Can you be a member of a religion even if you are an atheist?

I know plenty of people who are Jews and atheists. They belong to a Temple, they celebrate the holidays and they do all of the Jewish things. They also do not believe in God.

What would Judaism be like without belief in God? Much of the religion would still be relevant. All of the ethnic elements of Judaism would remain the same. We would still eat the same Jewish food, and use the same Yiddish expressions. The synagogue would still have an important place in our lives. Temple becomes a community center, a place to meet friends, share our lives together and help one another through hard times.

It is even possible to study Judaism and the Bible without believing in God. Our holy books contain great ethical wisdom such as the oft-quoted line, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We can talk about morals and ethics without God.

It is possible to be Jewish and an atheist. Yet the person who closes him or herself off to God neglects much of what is good, beautiful and elevating in Judaism. Prayer devoid of God seems quite difficult. For some, prayer is a time to sit with your thoughts. That is a wonderful thing. But to pray is also to get in touch with our own humility and to realize that there is a power greater than us in this world. And this type of humility makes us better people. I fear those who lack a sense of their own limitations.

Belief in God also makes us more ethical. Of course it is possible to be a good person and not believe in God. But God gives authority to our moral values. The fact that God demands ethical behavior makes us more likely to do the right thing. Our conscience may one day tell us to do something good, the next day to follow our most base desires. Yet God demands constant ethical behavior.

Must you believe in God to be religious? Perhaps the answer is that we must keep trying to believe in God. Our task is to continue to search for that power or force or being in our lives and in the universe. To be a Jew means to always be searching for the divine and to never to give up on God.