A Jewish group dedicated to the construction of a Third Temple has revealed plans for a ceremony to sacrifice a red heifer in late April. According to Jewish tradition, the ashes of a perfectly red heifer cow are necessary for the ritual purification required to build the Third Temple in Jerusalem. If successful, this endeavor could signify a significant transformation in the world as we know it.
Radical Jewish factions assert that this temple must be erected on the elevated plateau in Jerusalem’s Old City known as the Temple Mount, currently occupied by the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine. Some believe this event will herald the arrival of the messiah.
Recently, a small gathering of Israelis convened at a conference on the outskirts of Shilo, an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian city of Nablus, to discuss the religious significance of the red heifer and its imperative in Jewish tradition.
Led by the Jerusalem-based Temple Institute, which organized the conference, members of the Third Temple community have spent years searching for a red heifer that aligns with the descriptions outlined in the Torah.
Perfect cows must not have a single blemish, not a stray white or black hair. They can never be placed under a yoke or put to work.
“These cows were brought all the way from Texas and were reared in special conditions to maintain their purity,” said Yahuda Singer, a 71-year-old from the Mitzpe Yericho settlement and the translator of a pamphlet on red heifers.
It has been 2,000 years since the ideal cow was observed. The perfect red heifer has not been seen since the Romans destroyed the Second Jewish Temple in AD 70, which is thought to have stood at the summit of the Temple Mount.
Thus, a few Jewish activists chose to produce their own, along with American evangelical Christians who think the building of the Third Temple will herald Jesus’ second return and Armageddon.
Five of these promising young cows, gifted with shiny ochre hides, made a big splash when they arrived in Israel from a Texas ranch in 2022. These days you can find them at an archeological park, fenced off by a high steel pen from biblical ruins and beautiful rosemary plants.
The Palestinian organization Hamas, which is at odds with Israel in Gaza, has expressed worry over the livestock.
A senior Palestinian source with direct access to Hamas leadership informed MEE in November that the organization had been keeping a careful eye on attempts to establish a long-term Jewish presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The killing of the red heifers, which they brought in from the US, is the only task remaining. The source stated, “If they did that, it’s the signal to rebuild the Third Temple.”
In January, Abu Obaida, spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, made a speech marking 100 days since the group’s 7 October attack on Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
In it, he made a direct link between Hamas’ decision to attack Israel and Third Temple activists importing the cattle, which he said was an “aggression against the feelings of an entire nation”.
