“Streaked, Speckled, Spotted”, First Jacob’s Lambs in 2,000 Years Born in Native Land

June 8, 2017

3 min read

After a journey as dramatic as anything in the Bible, the first Jacob’s Sheep born in the land of Israel in over two millennia made their auspicious appearance last month in the Jordan Valley. One Torah Codes expert found an amazingly precise and detailed description of the flock’s arrival and the role it will play in bringing the Third Temple.

The precious flock of 119 Jacob’s Sheep, a rare breed experts believe originated in Israel, finally returned in November after a journey of 2,000 years. Experts believe the unique breed, originally raised by Jacob, accompanied the Hebrews into slavery in Egypt and spread from there to North Africa. The Moors traded them to Spain, and then to England. Collectors have since brought them to North America. Considered a ‘heritage’ breed, meaning the sheep retain many of their genetic traits, they thrive in desert climes and have four horns.

Gil and Jenna Lewinsky feed a flock of Jacob’s sheep. (Courtesy of Gil and Jenna Lewinsky)

Despite the nearly non-stop travel that brought them from Western Canada to central Israel, the 30 pregnant ewes were as hardy as their Biblical ancestors, birthing healthy lambs in the Jordan Valley’s Sde Trumot, as their ancestors did in the time of the Biblical patriarchs.

Gil and Jenna Lewinsky, who battled intense bureaucracy to bring the flock to Israel from Canada, see the return of the sheep as an integral part of the return of the Jewish People to the Holy Land. Their name comes from their striking speckled appearance, conforming to the description of the flocks that Jacob took with him when he left the house of his father-in-law, Laban.

And the flocks conceived at the sight of the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. Genesis 30:39

Gil emphasized the importance of sheep to the people of Israel, explaining to Breaking Israel News that after the plague of darkness, Moses refused Pharaoh’s offer to leave Egypt since it did not include the sheep.

“The Jews need the sheep to serve God in the Third Temple,” Gil explained. “Their wool is used in making the clothes for the kohanim (men of the priestly caste), and they are the breed that was offered up as a sacrifice in the First and Second Temples.”

It is for this reason that Gil applied to the Agriculture Ministry to change the status of the sheep. For the first time, the ministry has declared a breed of sheep a protected species.

Gil was contacted last week by a Bible Codes expert from Safed who had discovered a hidden message explaining the sheep’s role in the redemption. Simcha Treister uses a unique method of searching the entire Bible using intervals based on the date.

“I searched intervals of 5777 letters in the Bible, since that is this year in the Hebrew calendar,” Treister told Breaking Israel News. “The word tzoan (“flock” in Hebrew) appeared in this interval, perpendicular to the word ‘Gil’, the owner’s name. Directly above these words is the word ‘Moshiach’ (Messiah).”

When Treister discovered this hidden message aimed specifically at Gil and specifically at this time, he was compelled to contact the Lewinskys.  

“Gil has a commision to make this real for all of Israel,” explained Treister.

Bible Codes relating to the sheep. (Courtesy Simcha Treister)

Despite the importance of their mission, the Lewinskys have been challenged to maintain their not-for-profit flock. In an effort to raise funding, they have launched a public campaign to ‘Name a Lamb’.

The revelation of the flock’s role in the unfolding story of redemption is amazing, but no less dramatic is the story of how they arrived in the Holy Land. The Lewinskys, living in Vancouver, had no background in animal husbandry but when they first saw that the uniquely speckled flock was about to be made homeless in 2013, they adopted the sheep.

Gil and Jenna decided to make aliyah and return the Jacob’s Sheep to their Biblical home. Last November, 119 sheep boarded livestock trucks for the 2,100 mile trip eastward across Canada. It took 11 flights to bring them to Israel, after which they sat in quarantine in a farm in the south of Israel. They are now on a farm in the Jordan Valley in an agricultural settlement called Sde Trumot.

The history of the breed mirrors that of their original owners and though they are indigenous to the Middle East, none of the breed remain in the region. The sheep most commonly seen in Israel are from the Awassi breed, and originated in Syria.

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