Locusts feeding on crops
Which of the Ten Plagues will be next to strike Egypt?
In eerie timing, just before Pesach (Passover) a plague of locusts has struck Egypt.
An enormous swarm of locusts is plaguing Egypt, in a development that agricultural authorities admitted they failed to predict.
Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abad Almoman said the swarm, comprising an estimated 30 million insects, descended on Giza, near southern Cairo, where it is causing great damage.
“The armed forces and the Egyptian border units are trying to battle the swarm with various means at their disposal,” Almoman said, according to a report in Maariv, but the report did not detail what action was taken. The minister appealed to local residents to refrain from attempting to deal with the ravenous horde themselves.
I’m reluctant to indulge in too much schadenfreude here because Egypt is not so far from Israel and it won’t take more than an ill wind to blow those locusts here. However, so far it seems that they are destined for … the Red Sea. Perhaps it’ll split?
Almoman said strong winds predicted for the coming days are expected to blow the insects in the direction of Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea.
Although winds usually take the insects past Israel, in 2004 a large swarm descended on Eilat and the surrounding area. It did not spread to the more fertile areas in the center and north of the country.
I think this is a job for – no, not Batman or Superman – Moses and Aaron would suffice.
ha ha I always said G-d has a wonderful sense of humour (& timing)! But as you say we must be careful not to laugh too much lest it spills over the border to us