Israel Celebrates Birth of a Red Heifer in Galilee. What Does It Have to Do With Al Aqsa?

The Jewish Temple Institute has announced the birth of a red heifer that it says meets the biblical requirements for the ritual of purification. The calf was reportedly born at a dairy farm in the Galilee region in northern Israel.

Abdullah Maarouf, Director of the Jerusalem Studies Centre at Istanbul 29 May University and former Head of Media and Public Relations at Al Aqsa Mosque, said the Temple Institute opened its announcement by describing the calf’s birth during the war in the north, referring to the conflict with Lebanon, as a “divine sign”.

According to Maarouf, biblical tradition regards the red heifer as a miraculous event that occurs without human intervention in determining its colour.

In a post on X, the Jerusalem affairs researcher explained that the newly born calf is viewed differently from the five red heifers imported from Texas in 2022. Because it was born in occupied Palestine, it avoids a rabbinical objection raised against the imported cattle, namely that they were born outside the biblical “Land of Israel”. This, according to that view, prevented them from fully satisfying the conditions required for the purification ritual that would permit entry into Al Aqsa Mosque.

In 2022, Jewish priests in Israel received five red heifers from the US state of Texas. At the time, they were said to meet the requirements associated with the so-called “Tenth Red Heifer”, and have since been raised in preparation for the purification ceremony.

Why Is the Red Heifer Significant?

The appearance of a red heifer carries major religious significance for many Jews, who regard it as a sign from God permitting them to ascend what they call the Temple Mount, referring to the site of Al Aqsa Mosque.

According to this belief, entry to the site has long been prohibited because of ritual impurity. Purification through the red heifer ritual is therefore seen as a prerequisite to entering the area, and by some groups as a step towards demolishing Al Aqsa Mosque and constructing the alleged Third Temple in its place.

Followers of this belief also consider these events to be a precursor to the coming of the Messiah and the redemption of the Jewish people.

Maarouf noted that organisations advocating for the construction of the Temple view the discovery of a locally born red heifer as a crucial requirement for increasing the number of settlers entering Al Aqsa Mosque.

He explained that traditional rabbinical opinion considers purification from the “impurity of the dead” to be an essential condition before entering the site. As a result, the number of participants in such incursions has remained limited despite growing support among the Zionist right for plans aimed at altering the Islamic identity of Al Aqsa.

According to biblical tradition, purification from this impurity can only be achieved through water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer, which is then used in a ritual washing.

A Decades-Long Search

To advance these ambitions concerning Al Aqsa Mosque, the Temple Institute launched a dedicated programme in 1986 to search for a suitable red heifer.

The institute has announced more than five potential candidates over the years. Still, each was ultimately deemed unsuitable after failing to meet all the required criteria upon reaching the age of sacrifice.

According to the institute’s conditions, the animal must be older than 2 years and entirely red in colour, without any wounds or physical defects. It must never have given birth, been milked, used for ploughing, or had a rope placed upon it.

For many believers, fulfilling all these requirements is regarded as nothing short of miraculous.

The Temple Institute later established a dedicated branch known as the National Red Heifer Institute, which it says was responsible for identifying this latest calf.

Because of the rarity of meeting these conditions, Jews have performed the red heifer purification ritual only nine times throughout their history, according to the tradition cited by the institute. The last occasion is believed to have taken place nearly two thousand years ago.

Origins of the Ritual

The purification ritual originates in the Old Testament.

The nineteenth chapter of the Book of Numbers, one of the books traditionally attributed to the Prophet Moses, states that God commanded Moses to find a red heifer of pure colour so that people could be purified from the impurity associated with death.