{"id":16206,"date":"2015-12-04T00:48:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T08:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=16206"},"modified":"2015-12-03T22:16:09","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T06:16:09","slug":"shepherding-biblical-sheep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/12\/04\/shepherding-biblical-sheep\/","title":{"rendered":"Shepherding biblical sheep"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b>Jacob sheep Molly and Leah. (photo by Mustard Seed Imaging)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Chabad Rabbi Falik Schtroks of the Centre for Judaism of the Lower Fraser Valley delivered a lecture on the meaning of the Jacob sheep in conjunction with parashat Veyetzei during a visit to the flock in Langley on Sunday, Nov. 15. He was accompanied by his students and invited guests.<\/p>\n

The rabbi explained how the sheep look just as they are described in the Tanach: they have spotted ankle bands (akudim<\/em>), spotted and speckled patterns (nikud<\/em>), patches (tiluyim<\/em>) and bands (broodim<\/em>), all of which are mentioned in the Bible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very likely that the animal we are looking at is the Jacob sheep, as there are no other sheep in the world that have all these characteristics. If I would have ever imagined Jacob\u2019s flock, I wouldn\u2019t have imagined them any different than the flock in your field,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Rabbi Falik Schtroks holds Moshe, while Isaac and Solomon look on. The Jacob sheep\u2019s \u201cshepherds,\u201d Gil and Jenna Lewinsky, are trying to get their flock back home to Israel. (photo by Mustard Seed Imaging)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his lecture, Schtroks taught that the patterns of the sheep have relevance for day-to-day living by comparing the patterns to the progression of human civilization, as well as to personal growth. The ankle bands represent the incubation phase or childhood. The speckles represent individualism, but the blotches represent our growth in this world, which allows us to recognize and include others. The goal is for the blotches to \u201cbleed\u201d into each other to form a band, for individuals to live in harmony with the outside world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not very often that one can be down to earth, mingling with sheep, and find there vivid clarity of mystical teachings. What is usually an obscure narrative comes bursting into life,\u201d said Schtroks.<\/p>\n

The rabbi was very excited to observe the sheep\u2019s behavior. The sheep operate as a collective, he noted. If one sheep were to go missing, it would cause mass distress in the flock. \u201cTake a look at how these sheep behave only as part of a herd and none\u00a0act truly independently \u2026 it is comparable to the Jewish people who are compared to one flock.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cSeeing the Jacob sheep as they have survived until this day, as an heirloom breed with the biblically described characteristics, seems to parallel the miracle of the Jewish people and their survival \u2013 despite all odds \u2013 for the duration of the past 4,000 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schtroks said he hoped that the sheep\u2019s transition to life in Israel would be easy. The flock\u2019s \u201cshepherds,\u201d Gil and Jenna Lewinsky have been lobbying the Israeli government to allow their Jacob sheep to return to the Golan Heights. The couple would like to establish a heritage park where this endangered breed of four-horned and speckled, spotted and ankle-banded sheep can be preserved, and put to their biblical and original use.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Amram Vaknin, the rabbinical mystic from Ashdod, Israel, endorsed the Lewinskys\u2019 Jacob sheep in October, telling Friends of the Jacob Sheep, later reported to Breaking Israel News, that the sheep do not belong in Canada but rather \u201cin the land of Israel.\u201d He told the news outlet and the couple that it is permissible for the sheep to return as long as the shepherds are G-d fearing.<\/p>\n

Following the rabbinical endorsements, the Lewinskys are optimistic about the prospect of negotiating for the return of the Jacob sheep and feel that their flock will bring a tremendous blessing to the nation of Israel. \u201cIt\u2019s the spiritual wealth of Jacob and the national animal of the Jewish people according to the Tanach,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

For more about the Jacob sheep, visit friendsofthejacobsheep.weebly.com<\/a>. To see the sheep in action, check out youtube.com\/watch?v=asI7tSB6p_w<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jacob sheep Molly and Leah. (photo by Mustard Seed Imaging) Chabad Rabbi Falik Schtroks of the Centre for Judaism of the Lower Fraser Valley delivered a lecture on the meaning of the Jacob sheep in conjunction with parashat Veyetzei during a visit to the flock in Langley on Sunday, Nov. 15. He was accompanied by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4972,4330,4499,4973,4974],"class_list":["post-16206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-falik-schtroks","tag-israel","tag-jacob-sheep","tag-lewinsky","tag-veyetzei"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}