Locusts!

So we thought we had seen it all here in Israel...until we were surrounded by a swarm of locusts from Egypt. That's right--locusts. From Egypt. Does this sound weird to anyone else?

Driving back to Tel Aviv from our trip in the Negev we ran into one of the many swarms of locusts that have been arriving to southern Israel from the Egyptian Sinai (read more here).

These are large insects, harmless to humans, but they can do serious damage on crops.
Israel is hoping to prevent this, but they are in the millions now.

We found it quite ironic that as Jews prepare to celebrate the passover, they will recount how God brought them out of Egypt using the 10 plagues,  one of them being locusts. Also, the Hebrew word for locust is הארבה ("harbay"), which sounds exactly like the word for 'many'. Indeed...

Some Yeminite Jews even eat these little guys as a delicacy. Apparently there are four different species that are considered kosher in the Torah. Bon Appetite!

Shalom Y'all, Stew