describes how God commanded Moses and Aaron to manage such ritual:
Speak to the people of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, which has no blemish, and upon which never came yoke; And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may bring it forth outside the camp, and one shall slay it before his face; And Eleazar the priest shall take of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle of its blood directly before the Tent of Meeting seventimes; And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; its skin, and its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall he burn; And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. (Numbers 19:2â6)
From the time of the first establishment of a proto-Temple, the Tabernacle, in the wilderness of Sinai, through to Herodâs construction of a Second Temple in the late first century AD, nine red heifers were allegedly born. The tenth, so tradition promises, will appear during the end-time heralding the Third Temple. Yet following the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, no such beasts have been born for the past 1,900 years. By stark contrast, however, since 1997 a rash of appropriately pure heifers have been born: one called Melody at Kfar Menachem in northern Israel; one in the religious youth village of Kfar Hasidim near Haifa; and others on the Texas ranch of a member of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. Where extremist right-wing Jews have welcomed these signs with unbridled excitement, secular Israel is highly concerned. Various sources have recommended that Melody be shot. To the liberal Haaretz newspaper, âThe potential harm from this heifer is far greater than the destructive properties of a terrorist bomb.â
Further minor miracles continue to herald the fast approach of the prophetic end-time in Jerusalem. Thus, on July 18, 2002, the Western âWailingâ Wall of Herodâs Temple inexplicably started to weep, a sign from God. A section of masonry fifty feet high became wet. As foreseen in the book of Joel, water flowing from the hill of the house of God will signal the redemption of the people of Israel:
And it shall come to pass on that day, that the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall issue from the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done against the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall remain for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. (Joel 3:18â20)
The attitude of the Temple Mount Faithful cannot simply be dismissed as the ramblings of a lunatic minority. In the sensitive world of Temple Mount politics, it takes very little to shatter the fragile peace. Nevertheless, plans continue apace to prepare for the end-time. Since 1998 the Temple Mount Faithful have been preparing to lay the cornerstone for the Third Temple. These stones were cut by the Allafy family, immigrants to Israel from Iraq (the ancient Babylon of Jewish exile after the destruction of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC), and, coincidentally, one of the largest workers of stones in modern Israel. The Allafys believe they are descendants of the original Temple builders, thus fated to build the Third Temple. For them, an historical circle is closing today.
Three cornerstones of the Third Temple have already been marched to the Temple Mount. Fortunately, Israeli authorities barred their movement beyond the gates, so these insensitive political objects now sit in Jerusalemâs City of David. Meanwhile, in 2004 the Passover animal sacrifice was resumed on the Mount of Olives in sight of the Holy of Holies. Since Israel reopened the Temple Mount to the non-Muslim world in August 2003, five thousand
Speak to the people of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without spot, which has no blemish, and upon which never came yoke; And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may bring it forth outside the camp, and one shall slay it before his face; And Eleazar the priest shall take of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle of its blood directly before the Tent of Meeting seventimes; And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; its skin, and its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall he burn; And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. (Numbers 19:2â6)
From the time of the first establishment of a proto-Temple, the Tabernacle, in the wilderness of Sinai, through to Herodâs construction of a Second Temple in the late first century AD, nine red heifers were allegedly born. The tenth, so tradition promises, will appear during the end-time heralding the Third Temple. Yet following the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, no such beasts have been born for the past 1,900 years. By stark contrast, however, since 1997 a rash of appropriately pure heifers have been born: one called Melody at Kfar Menachem in northern Israel; one in the religious youth village of Kfar Hasidim near Haifa; and others on the Texas ranch of a member of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. Where extremist right-wing Jews have welcomed these signs with unbridled excitement, secular Israel is highly concerned. Various sources have recommended that Melody be shot. To the liberal Haaretz newspaper, âThe potential harm from this heifer is far greater than the destructive properties of a terrorist bomb.â
Further minor miracles continue to herald the fast approach of the prophetic end-time in Jerusalem. Thus, on July 18, 2002, the Western âWailingâ Wall of Herodâs Temple inexplicably started to weep, a sign from God. A section of masonry fifty feet high became wet. As foreseen in the book of Joel, water flowing from the hill of the house of God will signal the redemption of the people of Israel:
And it shall come to pass on that day, that the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall issue from the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done against the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall remain for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. (Joel 3:18â20)
The attitude of the Temple Mount Faithful cannot simply be dismissed as the ramblings of a lunatic minority. In the sensitive world of Temple Mount politics, it takes very little to shatter the fragile peace. Nevertheless, plans continue apace to prepare for the end-time. Since 1998 the Temple Mount Faithful have been preparing to lay the cornerstone for the Third Temple. These stones were cut by the Allafy family, immigrants to Israel from Iraq (the ancient Babylon of Jewish exile after the destruction of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC), and, coincidentally, one of the largest workers of stones in modern Israel. The Allafys believe they are descendants of the original Temple builders, thus fated to build the Third Temple. For them, an historical circle is closing today.
Three cornerstones of the Third Temple have already been marched to the Temple Mount. Fortunately, Israeli authorities barred their movement beyond the gates, so these insensitive political objects now sit in Jerusalemâs City of David. Meanwhile, in 2004 the Passover animal sacrifice was resumed on the Mount of Olives in sight of the Holy of Holies. Since Israel reopened the Temple Mount to the non-Muslim world in August 2003, five thousand
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