The retired farmer, raised on a dairy farm in northern Indiana, quickly made friends with the animals, cleaned their small shed, renovated the stalls and even installed fans ahead of the coming summer heat.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

When a small conference was held this spring in Israel’s biblical heartland on the laws related to the red heifer, both Hamas and Hezbollah posted the ad for the event on their Telegram pages.

Just months earlier, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza had chosen the 100th day of the Israel-Hamas war to cite the relocation of five red heifers to Israel from the Lone Star State as the reason for the Oct. 7 massacre.

“It seems like the whole world is talking about the red heifers except in Israel,” said Moriyah Shapira, a spokeswoman for Ancient Shiloh, the Samaria region where the biblical Tabernacle once stood.

And which, for the last six months, has also served as the home of the select reddish-brown ginger calves which are theologically prerequisite to the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, raising interest and eyebrows in the Christian and the Muslim worlds, respectively.

“They understood the importance of red heifers more than us,” said Shapira.

Upgrading their lodgings

When Indiana farmer Larry Borntrager, 76, first chanced upon the prized cows during a wartime trip to Israel last fall, his first thought was the state of their lodgings.

The makeshift shed at the historical site was a far cry from the accommodations the animals had enjoyed when flown across the Atlantic first class as pet luggage two years ago.

“If they’re going to be used for such a holy [purpose], then they should at least be presentable,” he told JNS in an interview last week, recounting his first impressions of the heifers.

There and then Borntrager got to work. The retired farmer, who was raised on a dairy farm in northern Indiana, quickly made friends with the animals, cleaned their small shed, renovated the stalls and even installed fans ahead of the coming summer heat.

In the months since, he has become an inseparable part of their lives when he is in Israel, caring for them and checking in on them a couple times a week.

Larry Borntrager installs fans in the calves’ shed to protect against the fierce summer heat. Credit: Courtesy.

Three of the heifers to be bred

A new visitor’s center is under construction at the site, where the curious will be able to watch a film about the history of the red heifers, according to Shapira. The center is slated to be completed this fall.

In the meantime, three of the five animals, who are routinely checked by a group of rabbis for any blemishes that would strip them of their ritual eligibility (such as two hairs of a different color), have been disqualified and will be bred in the coming weeks via artificial insemination to produce more promising offspring, she said.

The enigmatic red heifer, or Parah Adumah, is first mentioned in the Book of Numbers. Credit: Courtesy.

An unusual journey

Feasting on hay and feed in their upgraded lodgings, the five affable calves, aptly named Tikva (Hope), Geula (Redemption), Segula (Virtue), Techiya (Rebirth) and Nechama (Comfort), were glad to see the sprightly Indiana farmer as he entered their barn Thursday.

Borntrager knows them all by name, and keeps a small notepad in his shirt-pocket with sketches of each’s distinct characteristics.

Borntrager, who is of Amish ancestry, is a Noahide, even declaring before a rabbinical court in Jerusalem that he observes the Seven Laws of Noah.

It was this that allotted him special dispensation to care for the calves, if not as of yet a long-term visa to Israel.

His calling to Israel began back in the 1970s when he and his wife served as Mennonite missionaries in Central America. After the 1973 Yom Kippur War broke out, Borntrager says he was drawn to the Jewish state by what he terms an “inner calling.” He recalled feeling elated when he heard good news about Israel and down when the news was bad.

He was spending time in Israel’s Arava region with his wife and three sons in the 1980s when he first heard about the red heifers, and got connected with a dig in the Qumran caves looking for ashes of the ceremonies that took place over 2,000 years ago during the time of the Jewish Temples.

His plans to continue with the excavation were interrupted by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023. Instead, he volunteered in an Israeli agricultural community near the Gaza border.

It was during his visit to an Israel at war that he learned the red heifers he had first heard about a quarter-century earlier were actually in Israel; a friend took him to see them in Shiloh.

From the Lone Star State to the Jewish state

The calves, too, have had an unusual journey. Born in Texas to a special breed of cows known as Red Angus, they were only a month or so old when their owner connected with a group of people from Jerusalem who had put an ad out in a U.S. farmer’s magazine in search of the elusive red heifer, which hadn’t been seen in two millennia.

They were offering a whopping $15,000 per cow (the going rate was $300-$1,000), according to Shapira.

After getting a deluge of replies, the group first conducted tests across the Atlantic via Zoom to see if the cows qualified before traveling to the Lone Star State to perform the intricate checks in person.

One farm was of particular interest; the Christian owner told them by phone that he had indeed chosen the breed thinking that they could potentially serve in the Temple.

In the end, five female calves who because of COVID had not been branded—which would have disqualified them by religious law—were selected. Then, to circumvent restrictions on the import of livestock, they were granted special dispensation to fly to Israel as pets in first-class luggage.

Despite the stir their presence in Israel has created abroad, the idea that they would actually be ritually sacrificed is presently far-fetched, even if a small group of rabbis is now studying the relevant religious laws.

The enigmatic red heifer, or Parah Adumah, is first mentioned in the Book of Numbers, when God instructs Moses and Aaron to take “a perfectly red, unblemished cow, upon which no yoke was laid.” The animal is subsequently slaughtered, and its ashes used in a purification ritual.

Such animals were rare even in antiquity. Jewish sources state that only nine were slaughtered in the period from Moses to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. According to the 12th-century Jewish sage Maimonides, the Messiah will offer the tenth red heifer.

“This ceremony hasn’t been performed for two thousand years,” Shapira said, downplaying concerns of a religious war. “The idea is to be ready with what we can.”

For now, the biblical quote, with a sample of the cedar wood and hyssop used in the ancient ceremony, are the only things on display outside their pen, and the calves seem destined both for longevity—and popularity as a tourist attraction after the war with Hamas ends.

For Borntrager, it makes no difference.

“This little thing I am doing is my contribution,” he said. “It’s most enjoyable for me to take care of them. I feel it’s rewarding.”

The post An Indiana farmer’s journey to caring for red heifers brought to Israel from Texas appeared first on World Israel News.

The terrorist group cited importation of red heifers to justify its invasion of Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

The Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7th, and the subsequent massacres of Israelis, were prompted in part by the importation of “red cows” into Israeli, a senior Hamas spokesman said last week.

Abu Obeida, the nom de guerre of Hamas’ chief spokesman, said during a televised statement last week marking the 100th day since the October 7th invasion that Hamas launched the attacks in response to Israeli “aggression” against “our path and Al Aqsa” – a reference to the mosque on the Temple Mount – as well as Israel’s “bringing of red cows.”

“We look back 100 days to remember the educated, the complicit, and the incapacitated among the world powers governed by the law of the jungle,” Abu Obeida said, “reminding them of an aggression that reached its peak against our path (Al-Quds) and Al-Aqsa, with the start of its actual temporal and spatial division, and the bringing of red cows as an application of a detestable religious myth designed for aggression against the feelings of an entire nation in the heart of its Arab identity, and the path of its prophet (the Night Journey) and Ascension to heaven.”

While Hamas and other Islamist terrorist groups have regularly cited alleged “aggression” against the Al Aqsa Mosque to justify their attacks on Israelis as well as Jewish targets abroad, Abu Obeida appeared to also target efforts by religious Jewish groups to reestablish the Temple in Jerusalem.

In Jewish law, the ashes of a burnt red heifer are mixed with water to purify those working in the Temple and pilgrims visiting the holy site.

To be used in the ritual, a red heifer must be entirely red, with no blemishes or even two non-red adjacent hairs, making such creatures quite rare.

The Temple Institute, based in the Old City of Jerusalem, found five such heifers in Texas in 2022, and imported them to Israel, with the goal of grooming them for potential use in the purification ritual, a first-step towards the group’s goal of rebuilding the Temple on the Temple Mount.

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Their source is a report on government funding a project to raise a red heifer, whose ashes, according to Torah law, can purify Jews so they can bring sacrifices again.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Arabs are up in arms over a supposed Israeli government plan to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque by rebuilding the Third Temple in its place in Jerusalem, following a Saturday report on Channel 12 that several ministries are funding efforts to raise a red heifer, which is considered a prerequisite for the coming of the Messiah.

Palestinian officials and commentators in Arab media from Al Jazeera to Jordanian news sites and Gazan TV wholly accepted the report, which centered on the supposed danger of the right-wing-religious coalition turning Israel into a halachic (run by Torah law) state.

Al Jazeera cited Dr. Saleh Lutfi, “a researcher in Jewish, Zionist, and political affairs,” as saying that in light of the current Palestinian and regional circumstances, the Netanyahu government the time is ripe to “realize the myth of building the alleged ‘Third Temple.’”

Lutfi also claims that the idea of rebuilding the Temple “has become rooted even among large segments of the Israeli secular and liberal movement, as well as among the circles of the so-called Jewish Zionist left.”

Palestinian Shehab News reported that the deputy director of the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem, Najeh Bakirat, “confirmed that the occupation government adopted the project to build the Temple in the place of Al-Aqsa, to make Jerusalem a Jewish capital…through several steps and nonstop violations against the mosque.”

On Hamas station Al-Aqsa, Dr. Shihab went even further, stating that “the Israeli government has a plan to cause a religious war in the region” and that bringing red heifers to Jerusalem shows that “the fascist Israeli government encourages the settlers to continue harming Al-Aqsa mosque.”

Five red heifers were brought to Israel in September 2022 after being raised by a Christian Evangelist in Texas. One of them was brought last month to Shiloh, where the Tabernacle stood for over 300 years prior to the first Temple’s construction. Along with two others, the heifer will be at the heart of a planned Heritage Center to attract tourism to the site.

According to Jewish tradition, a purely red heifer is the only animal whose ashes can be used to purify Jews so they can serve in the Temple and bring sacrifices. There is a host of requirements that the animal must meet, and none has been found in 2,000 years.

The Channel 12 report said that “millions of shekels are transferred to organizations that promote the issue.” It listed several ministries that have helped in “the frantic search” for a red heifer, including the Agriculture Ministry that granted the exemption for last year’s import of the live animals. The Religious Services, Education, and Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage ministries “are also in the picture,” according to the report.

The red heifer project is under the auspices of the Temple Institute, which has constructed many of the implements that would be needed for the Third Temple according to the Bible’s instructions, including its solid-gold Menorah and the priestly garments. The national-religious organization believes that everything that can be done ahead of time, should be done. It has never promoted the idea that existing structures on the Temple Mount should be destroyed.

The post Scared of a baby cow? Palestinians say Israel is planning to build the Third Temple, destroy Al Aqsa Mosque appeared first on World Israel News.

“This exceptional event signifies an exciting period for the entire Jewish People.”

By World Israel News Staff

A rare and unblemished red heifer was recently transported to Israel and showcased at the Ancient Shiloh heritage site, where it will be joined by two other heifers of similar purity.

The heifers, whose color and condition are considered spiritually significant in accordance with Jewish law, will reside at the Shiloh biblical heritage site and be at the heart of a newly planned Heritage Center dedicated to furthering research on the Red Heifer, Israel National News reported.

The centerpiece of this unusual spectacle, a heifer of one year and ten months, has never been put to work in accordance with religious mandates. The untouched beast made its journey to Israel under special provisions arranged by the team at site of Ancient Shiloh. The heifer is set to be kept within a guarded pen to ensure her safety, while visitors may observe from a distance.

As a testament to the stringent attention to ritual cleanliness, the red heifer has been raised with scrupulous care, under conditions that guarantee her purity. The arrival of the red heifer and the establishment of the center are expected to draw international attention, with the Binyamin Regional Council hoping to attract up to a million visitors annually, thereby boosting local tourism and economy.

The Binyamin Regional Council leader, Israel Ganz, hailed the development as not only significant for the Jewish community, “but also for researchers and scientists worldwide.”

“We are privileged to be part of this historical moment,” he said, according to the report.

Echoing Ganz’s sentiment, Ancient Shiloh CEO Coby Mamo expressed, “This exceptional event signifies an exciting period for the entire Jewish People. The upcoming center, where the heifers will be housed, will offer an immersive experience transporting visitors back to the ancient Jewish world. We are liaising with researchers and promoters globally who eagerly await the opportunity to visit in large groups. By bringing back the past to the site of the Tabernacle in Shiloh, we are laying the groundwork for the future of our people.”

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A Christian evangelical farmer donated the cows, which rabbis ruled as eligible for a biblical purification rite that allows service in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Excitement and joy abounded last Thursday when five red heifers landed at Ben Gurion International Airport, causing some of their 300 greeters to weep from emotion.

Reason for the exhilaration? According to Jewish tradition, the appearance of a 100%-red cow – which is extremely rare – is a sign of the imminent arrival of the Messiah. In Jewish law, this is the only animal whose ashes can be used to purify people who had been in contact with the dead – and all Jews today are considered to be in this state of impurity. Yet only those who have been purified can serve in the Temple and bring sacrifices to the holy site.

The criteria for the cow to meet the requirements is so rigorous that there has not been a documented case of such an animal in 2,000 years. It must be a particular shade of brownish red; it cannot have more than one white or black hair in its pelt; it cannot have any one of dozens of kinds of defects; and it must never have worked even a day of its life.

Several rabbis laboriously examined the five arrivals and pronounced them kosher, an announcement that brought some viewers to tears.

“It is very gratifying that we have red cows ready both for the building of the Temple with God’s help, and in the meantime to study,” said Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon, the chief rabbi of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. “The building of the Temple is approaching, we need to know, to prepare, and that is one of the things” that is needed.

The five heifers were the generous donation of a Christian Evangelical farmer named Byron, who raised them on his farm in Texas. They were driven to New York by truck and then put on an American Airlines cargo flight to Israel.

The arrivals are currently in a mandated quarantine, but they will ultimately be brought to their new home in the northern Beit She’an area, a breeding farm where it is hoped that their numbers will expand greatly.

Since their existence is such a rarity, the facility also expects to become a tourist site for both religious Jews and Christians from all over the world, as well as a draw for Jewish schoolchildren throughout the country.

Ordinarily, Israel forbids the import of live animals from the U.S., fearing the transmission of disease, but “these cows have undergone over 10 blood tests in the last year and have been in isolation for four months,” a spokesperson said.

According to Maimonides (1138-1204), one of the greatest rabbis and philosophers in Jewish history, there have been only nine red heifers used to purify the nation from the time the Torah was given on Mount Sinai until the destruction of the Second Temple. The 10th, he wrote, will be used by the “King Messiah.”

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