Couple raises breed of sheep believed to have been kept by patriarch Jacob but now extinct in Israel • Diplomacy cuts through red tape prohibiting import of sheep from Canada • Jenna and Gil Lewinsky: It should be the national animal of the Jewish people
צילום: Wikimedia Commons // A sheep of the variety believed to have been raised by the patriarch Jacob
A breed of sheep believed to have been raised by the patriarch Jacob may soon be brought to Israel, its Biblical homeland, after an Israeli couple gathered a herd in Canada and brokered a bureaucratic detente to import the animals.
The effort to bring 130 sheep to the Golan Heights from Canada has been inching along for nearly a year, Israelis Jenna and Gil Lewinsky said on Tuesday, with the reintroduction of the breed stymied by red tape between the two countries.
The couple, based near Vancouver, said the project was initially opposed by Israel’s Agriculture Ministry because Canada was not on a list of approved sheep importers.
But the Israeli Embassy in Canada facilitated a dialogue between the couple and the ministry and sent along “strong recommendations,” embassy spokesman Eitan Weiss said.
“And the ambassador visited Israel. He met some people with the Ministry of Agriculture and issued a letter,” Weiss said in an interview. “The idea was very, very nice, and of course we said, ‘Let’s push it.’”
According to the Bible, Jacob had received a flock of a speckled and spotted sheep as wages.
The couple said the breed has since become extinct in Israel.
Late last year, Israel’s Agriculture Ministry changed its stance, and on Monday said it had contacted its Canadian counterpart as part of the import process, Jenna Lewinsky said.
She said Israeli Ambassador to Canada Rafael Barak walked in on the birth of a lamb when he visited her family’s farm in Abbotsford, British Columbia, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) east of Vancouver.
The couple started raising the sheep after receiving a few as a gift from a heritage farm.
“It should be the national animal of the Jewish people,” Jenna Lewinsky said. “It would be a very important and historic moment when the sheep return after basically 2,000 years.”
The couple said the sheep are expected to reach Israel this year, subject to passing medical tests, and will be used for educational and heritage purposes.
Israel’s Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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