Posted on 04/02/2015 6:21:58 PM PDT by Former Fetus
A fully red cow on a small farm outside Lakewood, New Jersey is attracting worldwide attention in orthodox Jewish circles and various movements with a Messianic or “End of Days” bent. Let me explain why.
In the Biblical Book of Numbers (19:2-13) it stipulates that the only way to purify oneself after contact with the dead is to be sprinkled with water that is a mixture of hyssop, cedar-wood, scarlet and the ashes of a red heifer or cow – in Hebrew, “Parah Adumah” – sacrificed on the altar of the Holy Tabernacle. Put differently, according to Biblical law, to overcome the impurity of death, one needs a kosher red heifer for a sacrifice in the Temple. For a red cow to be “kosher” it must be totally red. A mere two black or white hairs, in close proximity to each other, disqualifies it. After the Biblical Exodus, the Tabernacle that Moses built served the Israelites for 40 years in the Sinai desert. Then there were two Temples that stood in Jerusalem for about a thousand years, from the 10th century BCE until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Since then, there has been no Temple and, as far as we know, no kosher red cow – until now.
>>SNIP<<
And now it seems that such a red heifer – two years old and unblemished – has appeared in Howell, New Jersey. The red cow was born to two black bovines on the farm of Herb Celler, the son of Auschwitz survivors. Rabbis are presently arriving from various locations around the world and, so far, the cow has passed the kosher test with flying colors – so to speak.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.timesofisrael.com ...
Is our red heifer a red herring?
(Is herring kosher?)
http://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/156/Q1/
... Dear Readers,
As rare as it may be, the birth of a red heifer is nothing more than a curiosity. There is no source in Jewish tradition that sees the birth of a red heifer as a sign of the arrival of the Mashiach...
... Maimonides writes that from the time of Moses until the destruction of the Second Temple, only nine red heifers have been used to prepare the ‘purifying waters.’ The tenth red heifer, says Maimonides, will be prepared by the Mashiach.
This can be easily misunderstood. It does not mean that there existed only nine red heifers in history, and that the tenth one to be born will be used by the Mashiach. It simply means that the ashes from each heifer lasted a long time, and there was never a need to prepare more than nine. The tenth red heifer process will take place in the times of the Mashiach...
The Sages indicate that the existing ashes of the red heifer will be discovered first, as they would in any case be needed for the next preparation, as even the Temple Institute concedes:
http://www.templeinstitute.org/red_heifer/original_ashes.htm
ping
It seems like maybe it is here.
I don't know if a red heifer is a requirement for the coming of Messiah, but from reading Daniel I understand that the Temple will be rebuilt in the last days. It is my understanding that the ashes of the red heifer are necessary to purify the Temple Mount and to cleanse the priests every Passover. So, am I excited at the possible existence of a red heifer? You bet!
I agree, we have been here before, kind of. The difference is that previous heifers were very young and, as they grew, they develop black or white hairs and were disqualified. This heifer is already 2 years old and, according to the rabbi in the video, if she is kosher at this age, she is it. I don't know where the rabbi got that "deadline" for inspecting the heifer, but if he is right you must agree that we really have something quite unlike anything we have seen before.
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