ChinuchAtHome

  We often take things for granted, as we go through life each day doing the same old routine. So sometimes we need to change our routine a little and take time off to appreciate Hashem. So what did we do this past Chanukah season? A trip to the aquarium!

Amazing things happen when we transcend ourselves to life outside our four walls. A trip to an aquarium can accomplish just that. Our awe of Hashem and of His Magnificence is rekindled.

Unless you have an aquarium of beautiful tropical fish in your home, (we don't), seeing the beautiful creatures and their habitat is just astounding and brings an inner peace. The aquarium we visited had a special exhibit of jelly fish. The jelly fish is one of the most beautiful creatures in the world, and it comes in various species.

Just take a look at these amazing sea life.

Another wonder is the sea dragon, which looks like a seahorse with wings and accessories. It is found in the Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, where a colorful world exists down under.

Seeing these marvelous creatures sure reminds us of Hashem, the Creator, the Designer, the Engineer, of this beautiful world. They are not part of evolution like Mr. Darwin would like you to believe. They did not just evolve. They were brought forth from the earth upon Hashem's instruction for the waters to swarm with creeping creatures of all kinds.

Bereishis 1:20

And Hashem said, "The waters will swarm with creeping living creatures, and birds will fly over the earth, on the face of the sky of the heavens".

 

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה וְעוֹף יְעוֹפֵף עַל־הָאָרֶץ עַל־פְּנֵי רְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם

It also surely brings our understanding of Parashas Bereishis to a higher or deeper level. Rashi defines שֶׁרֶץ as any living thing that is not much higher than the ground;

• among winged creatures: e.g., flies,
• among crawling creatures: e.g., ants, beetles and worms,
• among [larger] creatures: e.g., rat, mouse, lizard and the like, and so, too,
• [among] the fish.

Even though fish that we know today mostly do not creep, but if left outside their domain, they will try to creep back onto water, flipping and hopping its way through. There are some fish that can crawl on land, such as the "snakehead", which is reported to breathe out of water and travel across land as far as 75 feet (23 meters) or so.

The aquarium had an exhibit about ancient fish which had legs called tetrapod, which the scientists think that enables fish to crawl.

If you google "crawling fish", you will find a video hosted on video.yahoo.com called "Monterey Bay Crawling Fish". It is an amazing sight, as I have never seen crawling fish before.

Now I am even more amazed at how our beloved Rashi knew about crawling fish, and how he came to classify it as שֶׁרֶץ .

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