Red Heifer in Jewish Belief Has Been Born, Is the Ritual for the Destruction of Al-Aqsa Drawing Near?

The Temple Institute has announced the birth of a red heifer claimed to meet the criteria mentioned in the Torah for carrying out a ‘purification’ ritual. The calf was born on a dairy farm in the Galilee region of northern Israel. Abdullah Ma’ruf, Director of the Jerusalem Studies Centre at Istanbul 29 May University and former Head of Media Relations and Public Relations for Al-Aqsa Mosque, explained that the Temple Institute opened its announcement by citing the calf’s birth amid the war in the northern region—namely the conflict with Lebanon—as a ‘divine sign’. According to him, in beliefs sourced from Torah tradition, the red heifer must appear as a ‘divine miracle’ without human intervention in determining its coat colour. In a post on platform X, the Jerusalem affairs expert noted that the newly born calf is viewed differently from the five red heifers previously imported from the state of Texas, United States. This is because the new calf was born in occupied Palestine, thus overcoming the objections of several rabbis to the Texas heifers, which were considered not to meet the requirements because they were born outside the ‘Land of Israel’ as understood by the Torah. These objections were previously deemed to hinder the fulfilment of the purification ritual requirements, which, according to some Jewish circles, are a prerequisite before entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque area.