A terrible sacrifice predicted by the Bible will be held in Israel – media

At the end of April, in front of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, uncalved red cows, specially brought from Texas for this purpose, will be burned. Fanatical supporters of the revival of the legendary Jerusalem temple believe that the sacrifice will fulfill the Old Testament prophecy regarding the coming of the Messiah. They are supported and financed by conservative evangelical Christians in the United States, seeking to hasten Armageddon.

The Old Testament prophets promised that this would happen when three prophecies were fulfilled. First, Israel will be restored. Secondly, Jerusalem will once once more become a Jewish city. Thirdly, the Temple will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The first and second prophecies have already been fulfilled. Only the Temple remains.

The most ardent supporters of the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple are united by the so-called Temple Institute. This is a radical Israeli organization, which the American magazine The New Yorker once compared to the “Jewish Taliban.” Their last sacrifice took place during Sukkot, just days before the Hamas attack on October 7. On the hundredth day of the war in Gaza, the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas, Abu Obaida, directly named “red heifers” as one of the reasons for the massacre.

This does not bother supporters of the restoration of the Temple. “Everyone is saying that this building, the third Temple, will bring war, will destabilize the Middle East,” CBS News quotes an activist from New York who, despite the bans, leads tours of the Temple Mount. “But there seems to be no stability in the Middle East anyway.” And the war, if I’m not mistaken, is already here.”

The Temple Institute believes that it is impossible to build the third Temple in Jerusalem without the slaughter of “red heifers.” His followers tried for almost 40 years to find suitable cows and failed every time.

Red cows are a huge rarity in Israel, not only in ancient times, but also now. At one time, the Temple Institute hoped for biotechnology and embryo transfer. Then they tried twice to import suitable cows from the United States, where the Red Angus breed is bred. Both attempts failed.

It’s all regarding the strict requirements for the “purity” of ritual cows. They must not have a single hair that cannot be called red. In addition, the “red heifer” should not only not know the yoke (that is, the collar), but also any other burden. A person cannot even lean on it or put a jacket on it – this will make it unclean.

Suitable cows were eventually found by Texan Byron Stinson and Itzhak Mamo from the Israeli organization Uvne Jerusalem, which also cares for the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple. After the rabbis confirmed their purity, the five “red heifers” were sent to Israel by plane.