The laws about the red heifer are among the most enigmatic of any of the biblical commandments. Even a king as notably wise as Solomon, as admitted in Ecclesiastes, could not fully comprehend their logic.
Partly, this is due to the rarity of their presence in our midst; indeed, only nine heifers have ever been sacrificed from the time of Moses until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. In both Judaism and Christianity, the appearance of viable red heifer candidates heralds the Messiah.
The subject is much-maligned and misunderstood, a point that Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, author of a new book, “Return of the Red Heifers: Paving the Road to Redemption,” is at pains to point out.
The genesis of his book had different sources. One was to respond in a deeply researched and accurate manner to the sorts of YouTube videos that garner at least 500,000 views (although frequently as many as one million).
“If [the people who create these videos] think they know about this topic but have not spoken to Rabbi Azaria Ariel—or the Temple Institute—as I have, then they don’t know what they’re talking about. While they do not go to the sources, I do!” Berkowitz told JNS.
The problem extends beyond YouTube and new media, and afflicts previously responsible news organizations, such as CBS, he added. “About a year ago, it had a news documentary saying we were going to perform the red heifer ceremony on Passover, which is forbidden because their people misunderstood the reading of the Torah portion of Parashat Para before Passover. I wanted to dispel misinformation and lies preemptively. If you talk about it, you should know about it.”
The other impetus was the current Swords of Iron War and the Hamas-labeled “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation that preceded it. That might seem hyperbolic until one investigates more deeply what its military wing’s spokesman Abu Obaida said after 100 days of war.
“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, 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.”
As Berkowitz illustrates in his book, red heifers arrived from Texas in September 2022, a joint effort organized by the Christian ministry Boneh Israel and the Temple Institute. We know from captured Hamas communications that the massacre it unleashed on Oct. 7, 2023, was years in the planning and could have been carried out some time prior.
“One of the reasons Israel was attacked is because of the red heifers,” Berkowitz insisted, “and the Palestinian Arabs were worried about Jews rebuilding the Third Temple, which is why the operation was called ‘Al-Aqsa Flood.’ Hezbollah also said the same. So, if our enemies focus on it, we should also know about it.”
Parenthetically, IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza reported that many houses have a picture of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, which Muslims call Al-Aqsa, because they’re focused on thwarting what they see as imminent attempts to build the Third Temple. And it’s a tried and tested rallying cry; Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini did the same thing nearly a century ago by whipping up Muslim Arabs into a frenzy over fears the Jews would take over the Temple Mount.
Berkowitz has covered issues relating to the red heifer for the last nine years. He was also the only journalist to cover the five red heifers’ arrival. In the book, he explores the convoluted and stringent rules governing their use. In doing so, he helps explain why so few have been used in the last 2,000 years.
For example, the cow must be composed entirely of red hairs and checked with a magnifying glass to ensure not even one of its hairs is a different color. As they age, they have a greater chance of sprouting non-red hair. In addition, many countries require a calf to be tagged with a number in its ear when they are born; any blemish would invalidate such a red heifer as a candidate.
“We just need a perfectly red cow,” Berkowitz stated. “An exceedingly rare occurrence.” Meanwhile, the search continues, and ranchers worldwide have contacted the Temple Institute with potential candidates. There are even discussions afoot to investigate the possibility of using genetic manipulation to create a perfectly red cow and whether this would be halachically permissible.
Berkowitz views the way YouTubers and CBS deal with the subject on a superficial level as part of the delegitimization of Jews that makes up modern antisemitism. “They blamed Oct. 7 on the Jews,” Berkowitz maintained. “Their claim was that because we want to build the Temple, we’re inciting the Arabs to attack us—that is pure victim-blaming. According to Rabbi Ariel, the Arabs have never needed an excuse to attack and kill Jews. We are being blamed for Arab violence… and they’re using our Bible and our Temple to justify it!”
Short shrift is also given to the notion that Jews are attempting to usurp Muslim dominance over the Temple Mount. “The claim we’re trying to take over their holy site is insulting.”
He referenced the irrefutable fact—substantiated by carbon dating—that underneath the Muslim buildings on the Temple Mount, there are far more ancient remnants of the First and Second Jewish Temples. The argument that several commentators have put forward is that the question of “ownership” of the Temple Mount ignites such ire among Arab Muslims and those practicing Islam across the world, is the knowledge that the Umayyads didn’t get to the site first—not by a long shot.
One of the more curious aspects of the red heifer situation is Berkowitz’s contention that it is Christians who are much more interested in it than Jews. “Christians see it and are interested in red heifers and a return to the Temple. Remember, a Christian group brought the red heifers over to Shiloh. I think the reason is that many religious Jews do not want a Third Temple; they prefer a Judaism like there was in Poland. The Evangelicals have faith-based support of Israel, which manifests in the Bible.”
In the past, whenever there was a potential red heifer candidate, Jews would hide them and not reveal their whereabouts, concerned that either left-wing people or even the secular government would blemish the animal, making it unsuitable.
It is in this context that Berkowitz made a startling accusation: “Orthodox rabbis have made pronouncements that Jews should not go up to the Temple Mount. They would rather have a religion based on the exile. They don’t want to do shmittah [the seven-year cycle in which crops in a field must not be harvested]; they don’t want to fix the calendar, really anything to do with practically living in Israel, they are against.”
He said the rabbis have put themselves in an invidious position: “If we don’t go up [to the Temple Mount], then we’ve de facto handed it over to the Arabs. Now, mostly Haredim go up in direct contravention of the wishes of their rabbis. It’s also prevalent among the settlers, who yearn for a return to Land of Israel-based Judaism.”
Berkowitz noted that Israeli society is becoming increasingly religious, and while most Israelis used to object to Jews praying on the Temple Mount, in the last two years or so, at least 70% of people are in favor of Jewish prayer, wearing tefillin or a talit, reading from a Sefer Torah or even waving a lulav on Sukkot. “I think this will unite Israeli society and not tear us apart,” he said. “Israelis realize we need to be proudly Jewish.”
Berkowitz likened it to when U.S. President Donald Trump moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, with fears it would spark a war. “The Temple Mount is not a flashpoint; Jerusalem in its name and essence is one of peace. The problem is not that Arabs are up there; it’s that they’re the only ones up there. People are afraid that if Jews start behaving like Jews on the Temple Mount, there’ll be a war. I think the exact opposite,” he maintained.
It should be remembered that Israel’s current ban on prayer on the Temple Mount includes both Jews and Christians. Referring to Yehudah Glick, the president of Shalom Jerusalem Foundation, who campaigns for expanding Jewish access to the Temple Mount, Berkowitz said: “He is in favor of universal prayer. I think peace will break out if we can come to one place and pray to the God of the Bible. However, it won’t happen until we become the priests of all the nations.”
