Much has been reported about the "Black Shabbat" of October 7, 2023. Since then, events in the Middle East have unfolded rapidly. A new era has already begun there, one that we in the West are still learning to understand. One element that has received little media attention is the religious and spiritual dimension behind the escalation of the Middle East conflict. And here, a Jewish purification rite instituted by Moses plays a crucial role: the ashes of the red heifer.
A background report with commentary by Josias Terschüren
Before the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, together with other terrorist groups from the Gaza Strip, breached the border fence into Israel on October 7, 2023, and barbarically killed 1,200 people, took 240 hostages, and tortured, mutilated, raped, and injured thousands, the leader of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Martyrs' Brigades, Muhammad Deif, explained the ideological reasons for the terrorist attack on Israel in an audio message. This was reported, among others, by MEMRI, an organization that monitors media coverage in the Middle East. In his message, Deif made it clear why Hamas named its terrorist operation "Al-Aqsa Flood." The focus was not on the Israeli kibbutzim near the Gaza border that were subsequently directly affected, but rather on Jerusalem and, in particular, the Temple Mount.
On the 100th day after October 7, Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida elaborated on this motive, stating, according to the Palestine Chronicle website: “We commemorate an aggression that reached its climax against our path (Al-Quds) and Al-Aqsa, with the beginning of its actual temporal and spatial division and the ‘bringing of red cows’ as the application of a despicable religious myth intended for aggression against the feelings of an entire nation at the heart of its Arab identity and the path of its Prophet (the Night Journey) and the Ascension to Heaven.”
Even though Hamas's justification for its abhorrent and barbaric attack obviously does not stand up to ethical scrutiny, and the attempt to blame the Jews for the Hamas massacre itself is all too transparent, it is worthwhile to pause for a moment and consider the red cows that are clearly part of the Hamas agenda behind the attack.
Biblical purification ritual with messianic significance
Bible scholars will be familiar with the significance of the ashes of the red heifer, which Moses describes in his fourth book, chapter 19, and to which the author of the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews (9:13) also refers directly. From a Jewish perspective, the red heifer is one of the necessary prerequisites for the reinstatement of the Temple service—something currently supported only by a religious Zionist Jewish minority. (You can find more on the biblical significance of the ashes of the red heifer in this article by my colleague Dr. Tobias Krämer.)
Jewish tradition states that only nine red cows have been burned and used to make purification water throughout history. Following the performance of the ritual by Moses and later Ezra, seven more cows were burned during the Second Temple period. The medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides taught that the offering of the tenth red cow would signify the Messianic Age.
Red cows found for the first time in 2000 years
For about 2,000 years, there had been no suitable, flawless, two-year-old red cows. That is, until the Temple Institute in Jerusalem launched a worldwide search years ago and finally succeeded. An evangelical farmer from Texas had begun breeding red cows in his retirement, driven by his conviction that Israel needed them. Rabbis, who traveled to Israel to examine every single hair with a magnifying glass – there could not be two non-red hairs – declared 21 animals suitable.
A circumstance that was solely due to Covid-19. Normally, calves must be tagged with an ear tag immediately after birth. However, this would have been a disqualifying factor for the red cows' purity, as required by Jewish law. Due to the coronavirus restrictions, the veterinarian could not travel, and the cows remained kosher at precisely the right moment. Five of them were finally successfully flown to Israel as "pets" in 2022. US trade law actually prohibits the export of live farm animals to Israel, which is why considerable effort was required to find and implement creative legal solutions.
Since then, there are now five red cows in Israel, currently kept and protected in the Israeli town of Shilo in Samaria. Hamas referred to them in its statement. The cows are now about two years and five months old. Currently, only four of the five cows are kosher, as one has developed some white hairs on its tail. Any of the others could now be used for the purification ritual. The likelihood that more cows will lose their purity status increases with the animals' age. It's a race against time.
The perfect plot of land for the ritual
The ritual requires not only a suitable red cow, but also suitable priests. Furthermore, the offering must take place in a specific location: formerly outside the camp in front of the Tabernacle, and during the time of the Temple, outside the city on the Mount of Olives. Until recently, this presented another problem, as this part of the city is firmly in Arab hands, and any Palestinian who sells their land to a Jew can be punished by death by their own countrymen. These are hardly ideal conditions for purchasing land for ritual slaughter.
However, Rabbi Yitzchak Mamo, who, along with the evangelical businessman Byron Stinson, was involved in the successful search for the red heifer and reported on it at the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance in Washington, D.C., declared that he had "miracle" managed to purchase a dunam (1,000 square meters) of land on the Mount of Olives, at the same elevation as the Temple Mount. Thus, for the first time since the time of Jesus, nothing physically stands in the way of the purification ritual. Now, it depends entirely on the rabbis involved and the Israeli government whether and when the ritual can take place. To date, the Israeli government has consistently thwarted Jewish attempts to return to sacrificial rituals or to rebuild the Temple through police action.
Gold from Papua New Guinea
At the same event, Rabbi Mamo reported that he had been invited by the Ophia tribe from Papua New Guinea. For three millennia, this tribe has passed down the identity and the secret that they were the ones who once gave gold to the Israelite King Solomon to build a temple.
Papua New Guinea also includes the Solomon Islands, an archipelago discovered in the 16th century by the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendaña de Neyra. Perhaps he named them after this orally transmitted tradition? Indeed, in 1 Kings 9 and 10 of the Bible, we read that King Hiram's sailors, commissioned by Solomon, set sail from the city of Eilat on the Red Sea and brought back gold from Ophir every three years.
Papua New Guinea is one of the countries with the world's largest gold reserves, and the country's prime minister, along with his cabinet, has decided to develop new gold deposits. One-third of the gold is to go to the operating company, one-third to the state, and one-third to Israel for the construction of the Third Temple. A corresponding letter of intent has already been signed. It's interesting to see all the simultaneous and independent events relevant to the temple construction taking place right now.
Western blindness to spirituality
Does the purification ritual of the red heifer necessarily mean the construction of the Third Temple or the coming of the Messianic Age? Not necessarily. While the ashes of the red heifer are a prerequisite for ritual purity and thus for Temple service, their availability does not guarantee the existence of a Temple. However, Judaism would have the opportunity, under the Law, to attain a spiritual state that has been denied it for almost 2,000 years. The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel sees this step, following the gathering of Israel from the nations, as another necessary condition for the complete restoration of Israel:
“For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you back to your own land (already done, or underway), and I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit in you and make you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You will live in the land I gave your ancestors, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:24-28)
The fact that, precisely at the time when this becomes possible again for the first time, the Middle East conflict reaches its greatest escalation to date, and that the largest massacre of Jews since the Shoah occurred precisely with reference to this circumstance, may give the observant person pause for thought.
Preparations for the Gog and Magog War?
On the Jordan News website, published by Jordan United Press based in Amman, we learn of a purported Israeli investigative report claiming that five red cows are "imported from Texas," housed "on a secret farm," and "believed to be in preparation for the imminent arrival of the Messiah and the subsequent construction of the Temple on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa Mosque." The article interprets these actions as preparation for the biblical battle of Gog and Magog. According to Ezekiel 38 and 39, the Gog and Magog War is an end-times conflict in which Israel will be attacked by a coalition of nations, supposedly led by Russia and including Iran and Turkey, and defended by God himself. More information can be found by scanning the QR code at the end of this article.
Regardless of one's stance on the Islamic interpretation of the end times presented in the article, the fact remains: unlike our Western, atheist-influenced culture, reality is understood differently in the Middle East. Origin, country, family, homeland, and religion are not despised and suppressed values or institutions there, but rather integral parts of political and lived reality. The significance of religion in the Middle East conflict cannot be overstated. It's just a shame that Europeans have so far failed to grasp this spiritually.
The spiritual conflict surrounding Jerusalem and the Temple Mount is escalating, much to Israel's dismay. Yet Israel remains oblivious to the hubris of an enlightened European continent, as a Tagesschau background report from April 22nd on the "red cows" demonstrates. This report fails to cover the topic without quoting one-sidedly anti-Zionist Christians, thereby discrediting the issue and pushing it into a fanatical-extremist corner. Global media outlets like CBS in America and even the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera report on this matter more neutrally.
More information about the Gog and Magog war mentioned in the Bible can be found here.
This article first appeared in our newspaper "Israelaktuell," issue 137. You can order the newspaper here . We would also be happy to send you several copies to display and distribute.
