(BIN) – A major step was made towards reinstating the Temple service: after an intensive study into the practical details, an actual heifer, albeit not a red one, was burned in precisely the manner that will enable the Jewish people to be purified. Chapter 19 of the Book of Numbers gives an in-depth description of the mitzvah (Torah commandment) of the burning of the red heifer and subsequent mixing with water for the purpose of sprinkling on the Jews as a means of ritual purification from contact with a dead body.
Despite the Biblical description, the mitzvah of the red heifer is considered the most enigmatic of all the Biblical commandments. The red heifer is essential to the restoration of the Temple service. The return of the mitzvah of the red heifer is described by the Prophet Ezekiel as a stage in the final redemption. The red heifer is not a sacrifice per se so it is burned in an area outside of the Temple, on the Mount of Olives. According to Jewish tradition, there have been nine red heifers since the mitzvah was given at Mount Sinai and the tenth red heifer will be used in the era of the Messiah. The last red heifer was prepared by the high priest Ishmael Ben Piavi around 60 CE and its ashes sufficed for the next three hundred years. READ MORE
Twenty years ago I heard this same story. There are lots of this type news. Makes me think of the story, “The Boy who cried wolf”.
<> Meanwhile, Israel’s ally, India’s Hindu Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has made the slaughter of “sacred cows” illegal, though both Israel and India consider it okay to persecute indigenous Muslims in Palestine and Kashmir… 🙁
Such ancient pagan-like religious practices reminds me of homeopathy or magic. :O As matter cannot be created or destroyed by fire (except in nuclear reactions), everything on our planet’s surface (the air we breath, the water we drink and the food we grow in the ground) is RECYCLED. Because of this fact, the remains of the ashes from the previous 9 sacrificed heifers have not simply vanished, but over thousands of years, together with the spilled blood of prophets, saints and martyrs (even Jesus too – since the body replaces itself with a largely new set of cells every seven years to 10 years, and some parts even more rapidly), have already sanctified the Holy Land so it is not necessary for such ritualistic purification! <