An annual gathering of sharks off of Israel’s coast raises many questions: Why do they gather? Why only specific species and only a certain sex? Are they being trained by the Mossad? A new observation and research center may answer these questions and more that have cropped up since the sharks began inexplicably to gather every winter off the beach of Hadera.
Every winter a group of 20-30 dusky and sandbar sharks, referred to as a ‘frenzy,’ gather off the coast of Hadera. The sharks are becoming increasingly rare as the Mediterranean suffers from overfishing. Though this has been witnessed for several decades, scientists only began studying the phenomenon and collecting data two years ago. Researchers have documented and tagged 38 sharks since beginning their study in 2016; 30 female dusky sharks with the remainder being identified as male sandbar sharks.
Though unsure of the precise reason for the yearly appearance, researchers believe it is due to the Orot Rabin power plant located there. The effluence of hot water from the plant maintains the sea near the plant at ten degrees warmer than surrounding waters. Nonetheless, shark gatherings have not been observed in similar locations.
Dr. Aviad Scheinin, Top Predator Project manager currently studying the sharks, described the gathering of sharks off the coast of Israel as “a legitimate and rare phenomenon.”
“The paradox that we see here is that this is not a natural environment … and you cannot see it anywhere else in the vicinity,” Dr. Scheinin told Phys.org. “This phenomenon is influenced and created by men, both with the power plant and the sea’s increasingly warm water.”
Although the scientists are still perplexed, it may be they need to exchange their textbooks for holy literature. The Prophet Ezekiel described precisely this type of marine-biological appearance as a precursor to the Messiah.
Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Yisrael; so that the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep upon the ground and all the men that are upon the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. Ezekiel 38:20
The Tikunei Zohar (Tinyanya Tikkun 43), an esoteric book attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the first century CE, explains that this increase of fish signifies a specific stage of the Messianic process, in which the Messiah from the House of Joseph and the Messiah of the house of David, two separate stages, join together.
The Messiah from the house of Joseph is a practical building up of the land that precedes a miraculous period, Messiah from the House of David, which includes the building of the Temple. The period ushered in by the appearance of fish is described as a period of hamtakat hadinim (sweetening of the judgements), symbolized by the fish’s ability to make seawater potable.
The sharks are becoming a tourist attraction. The Israel National Parks Authority is planning to open a shark observation center and information station at the beach to teach the public about the sharks, focusing on the importance of preserving them and their habitats. The information and shark observation station will be open to the public each Saturday from December 1 through April, except on rainy days, according to a report by Walla News.
The dusky shark is about 13 feet long, weighs about 770 lbs, and has slightly rounded fins. The sandbar sharks have smaller fins, weigh about 220 lbs and are about 8 feet long. Both species are at risk of extinction.
Such unusual natural phenomena can also become material for political conspiracy theories. In December 2010, several shark attacks occurred off the South Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. Following the attacks, a guest on a popular Egyptian television show blamed the Mossad, the Israeli secret service, for embedding GPS tracking chips into the fins of the sharks and controlling the sharks, leading them to attack. The Israeli foreign ministry, in response, suggested that the Egyptian TV host had seen the movie “Jaws” one time too many.
Source: Israel in the News
