In a scene familiar in many homes, the Rebbetzin’s kitchen would get hectic on Erev Shabbos, with pots boiling over and mounds of food everywhere, but all of the preparation was done with love. One Erev Shabbos, the Rebbetzin was transferring cooked fish to a pot when the whole pan slipped and fell, and the fish was ruined. She immediately shrugged it off and said, “It’s min haShamayim, and since it’s a mitzvah to prepare fish for Shabbos, I’ll start again!” The special foods that we have the minhag to serve on Shabbat and Yom Tov have spiritual significance. For example, the gematria of fish is 7, hinting that one who eats fish on the seventh day is saved from dinei Gehinnom (daled gimmel — also equal to 7).