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They come from halfway across the world and are kept under tight security and raised according to strict rules.
They are five pure red heifers without blemish, which have never worked, given birth, suckled, or been yoked.
These red heifers, and the antiquated rituals for which they were brought to Israel, were at the center of a complex effort by a section of ultranationalist Jews to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, Islam's third holiest site. Situated on a hill. The Old City of Jerusalem is over 1,000 years old, and the “Third Temple” was built in its place.
This minority ultranationalist push flies in the face of Jewish scholarship, which rules that the “Third Temple” can only be built after the arrival of the awaited Messiah to usher in the “Kingdom of God” – not the Messiah's return. For the earth.
Members of these “Temple Movement” groups are also pushing to perform Jewish rites in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which is a violation of the Chief Rabbinate's long-standing ban on the presence of Jews at Al-Aqsa due to the sanctity of the site.
heifer prediction
According to the Old Testament, in the two Jewish temples where the Al-Aqsa complex stands today, all the instruments, clothing, and people who served in them were religiously pure.
The first temple stood from 1000 to 586 BC and the second from 515 BC to 70 AD and the third temple is what ultranationalist organizations have been working for for decades.
Palestinians have for decades feared Israeli efforts to capture Al-Aqsa, the direction where Muslims pray before the Kaaba in Mecca.
These fears have become particularly acute since 1967 when Israel illegally occupied the West Bank and Gaza as well as East Jerusalem in the wake of the 1967 war.
The growing Jewish presence at Al-Aqsa and frequent attacks by Israeli security forces on Palestinian worshipers in recent years have heightened those fears.
According to the logic of ultranationalist Jewish organizations such as the Temple Institute, the “Third Temple” cannot be built unless Al-Aqsa is destroyed and the complex is purified of clothing, utensils, and hundreds of men of a particular lineage. It is done by those who have been trained. For the priesthood all who are ready to serve in this temple.
Purification occurs through the mixing of the ashes – of a sacrificed red heifer, red sow, cedar wood and hyssop – with fresh spring water that is collected by ritually purified children who are born under certain conditions. Were born and grew up. It is believed that this ash mixture remains effective for 100 years and can be mixed with spring water as needed.
The search for these pure red heifers is nothing new and has been the main objective of the Temple Institute since its founding in 1987, to raise funds for breeding one through IVF and to search for one around the world.
Until 2022, when five red yearlings were donated by an evangelical farmer from Texas, United States, and Israel as “pets” to avoid the ban on importing live animals as livestock at the time. was moved.
Efforts have also been made to secure and prepare a plot of land on the Mount of Olives that overlooks the Al-Aqsa complex and enable the priest overseeing the slaughter of the heifer to sprinkle its blood towards Al-Aqsa. Will do as stated in the Bible. ,
Sacrifice imminent?
According to Israeli NGO Ir Amim, there are indications that the Temple Movement is preparing to sacrifice a red heifer with the support of the Israeli government.
Ir Amim said in a report in August that the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had initially bypassed protocol when seeking permission to import red heifers, an example of increasing government involvement as the US restricts the import of live animals. Was not an approved country for. Time.
Director General of the Jerusalem Ministry of Affairs and Heritage Nethanel Isaac gave a speech in honor of the arrival of the heifers at Ben Gurion Airport in September 2022 and acknowledged that the ministry is funding the development of the Mount of Olives area where the ceremony is planned Is.
The Agriculture Ministry, the Temple Institute and the evangelical Christian group Boneh Israel did not respond to Al Jazeera's requests for comment before publication.
In a January video posted on Boneh Israel's website, Michael Samuel Smith, a Christian preacher working to expose the temple prophecy, said that the red heifers they are raising at Shiloh are those of sacrificial age. Are in.
“This is the first time in almost 2,000 years that a successful red heifer has been born,” Smith said in the video. “It is still our opinion that the first successful red heifer sacrifice will occur in the spring of 2024, around the Passover to Pentecost time frame.
“We believe that God is going to reveal Himself through the efforts of this future event. “It’s really a sign of the times, especially for Jews in Israel.”
Passover will occur in late April while Pentecost will occur in mid-May.
Aviv Tatarsky, a senior researcher at Ir Amim, told Al Jazeera that in Jewish religious texts, many of the details regarding the sacrifice and burning of the red heifer are vague.
“What is this ceremonial burning? What exactly is the red heifer? It's not at all clear or known because the last time this was done was when there was a Jewish temple 2,000 years ago,'' Tatarsky explained.
“(I)t’s not 100 percent clear. Until recently, there were some extremists and fringe people who were working on it, but very few people took it seriously,” he said.
'Disgusting spiritual delusion'?
Defending Al-Aqsa is a vital mission for Palestinian Muslims, worshipers and armed fighters.
In a speech marking the one hundredth day of Israel's struggle on Gaza, which started after the “al-Aqsa flood” assault by Palestinian armed fighters from Gaza, Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obaida mentioned the Purple Heifer is a priority. , and the potential sacrifice is a “disgusting spiritual delusion designed to impress aggression towards the feelings of a whole nation”.
Tatarsky believes that the true “hazard” of the temple motion is that it has “labored towards the liberty of worship of Muslims” and “tried to create some form of Jewish management” over Al-Aqsa, always supported by the Israeli authorities. doing.
In response to Ir Amim, the temple motion says it plans to construct the temple “inside just a few years”. However, Tatarsky mentioned he doesn’t consider the Purple Heifer ceremony or the development of the temple will occur “any time quickly.”
He mentioned that, regardless of state help for the presence of Jews at Al-Aqsa, he doesn’t consider there’s sturdy sufficient help from the federal government for a gaggle to attempt to destroy Al-Aqsa, given the quite a few agreements and Is topic to the principles.
So far as heifer sacrifices are involved, “they want the popularity of a really broad public and resolution makers and all types of necessary rabbis. In the event that they achieve this (in April), it won’t be acknowledged, and all their efforts will go in useless.
“I don’t underestimate the specter of these teams. … (However) constructing the temple meant a really totally different Israel than it does immediately.”