Where there's a wool Where there's a wool

Barreling down the highway with 120 sheep

Who needs a shepherd’s staff when you’ve got an 18-wheeler?

By Melanie Lidman 3 August 2016, 2:26 pm

Edit

Melanie Lidman is an AP reporter and former Times of Israel reporter

A sheep named Yarden takes a gander out the window as the truck crosses the Canadian rockies on August 1, 2016. (courtesy Gil Lewinsky)

If you were worried about the logistics of planning a summer road trip, the stress of packing up the family minivan pales in comparison to Gil and Jenna Lewinsky, who are currently trucking across Canada from Vancouver to Toronto with a flock of 120 sheep in tow.

The sheep were at the center of high-level negotiations between Israel and Canada to allow the Lewinskys to bring the flock to Israel, even though Israel does not allow for the importation of livestock from Canada.

The sheep are a special breed called “Jacob’s sheep,” believed to be the genetic descendants of the breed of sheep that Jacob took from Laban in the book of Genesis.

These modern-day shepherds are utilizing a massive 18-wheeler rather than a wooden staff to herd their sheep the 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) from outside of Vancouver, on the West Coast of Canada, to a farm about an hour outside the Toronto Pearson Airport. The overland trip should take about a week and a half.

The truck transporting the sheep departed from the farm in Abbotsford, Canada, outside of Vancouver, on Friday, July 29, 2016. (courtesy Gil Lewinsky)

The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development made a special, one-time exception to allow the sheep to make “baa-liyah.” The sheep must be quarantined for a month near the airport, and they will undergo an additional quarantine in Israel.

The modern-day Noah's ark, pictured here crossing the Canadian Rockies on August 1, 2016, will take about a week and a half to cover the more than 4,000 km between Vancouver and Toronto. (courtesy Gil Lewinsky) — The modern-day Noah’s ark, pictured here crossing the Canadian Rockies on August 1, 2016, will take about a week and a half to cover the more than 4,000 km between Vancouver and Toronto. (courtesy Gil Lewinsky)

Gil and Jenna Lewinsky hope to bring the sheep to a farm near Katzrin, in northern Israel, and create a visitor’s center celebrating the heritage of this biblical sheep.