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Sacred Cow

By Shlomi Gil | March 27, 2019

On a cattle ranch somewhere in the Golan, a red calf has been born that may have an impact on the future of the entire Jewish people. Is it possible that this Red Angus cow, now over a year old and still unblemished, will be the tenth and final parah adumah?

hile the weeks leading up to Pesach don’t automatically make people think of vacations,the Golan Heights actually attracts thousands of visitors at this time of year, after the winter rains have replenished the earth and the lush green foliage and multi-colored flora take bloom. But we were in the region to look out for another burst of color — we wanted to meet the cattle rancher who’s taken on raising what he hopes might be the next red heifer.

He’s happy to host us, as long as we don’t reveal his name or the exact location of his ranch up here in Israeli cattle country. “Things are already getting complicated for me,” he says. “In this situation, discretion is more important than anything else.”

As we drive to the outskirts of the ranch on his tractor, Mr. Cattleman, as we’ll call him, fills us in on how he landed in this position. He’s been herding cattle here for close to 50 years, as one of the Golan Heights’ pioneer settlers after the region was liberated from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War. He grew up on the religious moshav of Beit Chilkiya in the center of the country, but the challenge of the northern heights pulled him. “I raise 200 head of cattle here on 5,000 dunams,” he says.

Seeing Red

Mr. Cattleman primarily raises Simmental cattle, a popular breed in Israel. But a few years ago, he was contacted by the staff of the Machon Hamikdash in Jerusalem, an institute dedicated to raising public awareness of the mitzvos related to the Beis Hamikdash. The men from the institute made him an offer that he couldn’t refuse. “They wanted me to raise an additional breed of cattle — Red Angus cows,” he says. “Their goal was to try to produce a perfect Parah Adumah which would meet all the halachic criteria.

“I said to myself, ‘What could be bad about this idea?’ After all, I’m a believing Jew, and if I have the opportunity to participate in a project like this, I should consider it a privilege. So I agreed to begin raising the cattle. It didn’t actually require any special effort. I raise cattle anyway, and the Red Angus is a very docile breed. They tend to be good-natured, obedient, and easy to control, and their meat is considered tastier and of better quality than the other breeds generally raised in these parts.”

In 2015, the Machon Hamikdash set its sights on raising a kosher Red Heifer in Israel. The rabbis of the institute had previously been in touch with cattle ranchers in the US who raise Red Angus cows, and they believe this species has the best chance of becoming an authentic Parah Adumah, with all the entailing stringencies from the time of the cow’s birth.

People might assume that red-colored cows are something otherworldly or extremely rare, but in fact there are dozens of species of red-colored cattle. The Machon originally considered importing some Red Angus cows to Israel for breeding, but Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture doesn’t permit the importation of cattle from other countries. They do permit the importation of frozen embryos though, and so the Machon teamed up with several ranchers, including Mr. Cattleman, an expert in the science of animal husbandry, who has been utilizing the technique of implanting these embryos in domestic cattle. The hope of the Machon is that if a totally red female cow is born, it will be cared for in a halachically appropriate environment that would minimize the possibility of a blemish that would render it unfit.

Perfect Parah

“Every time a new calf is born, I alert the people at the Machon Hamikdash, and they come and inspect it periodically,” says Mr. Cattleman. “If it is found to meet the halachic criteria, we begin a process of guarding the calf, to prevent it from losing any of the qualities that are necessary for it to become a parah adumah.

“I isolated this group from the rest of the cattle,” he says as he points to an area where groups of very definitely red cows are grazing. “I keep an exact list of all the cows, and as soon as there is a birth, I inspect the newborn calf to see if it is completely red. If it turns out to be red, the complicated process begins. As we read in oncoming parshas Parah, a preparation for the Jews to become purified so that they can bring the Korban Pesach, the parah adumah must be completely red. Even two hairs of a different color can disqualify it. If we find that the calf is fully red, then we have to be careful to observe all the rules pertaining to raising it. That means no yoke is allowed to be placed on it, it must not be used for any work, may not be petted in a certain way, and many other restrictions.

“To date we’ve had several calves that seemed to fit the criteria. Unfortunately, the last one died of an infection, but we’re still trying to produce the perfect parah adumah. We recently installed video cameras in a portion of the pen where the cows are kept, which will enable us to monitor a calf around the clock to see if something would happen to disqualify it. Our goal is to maintain the kashrus of a calf for two years, until it can be designated a parah adumah.”

Unblemished

Every cheder child knows the opening pasuk of parshas Chukas: “This is the statute of the Torah that Hashem commanded, saying: Speak to Bnei Yisrael, and let them take for you a completely red heifer that has no blemish, upon which no yoke has been placed…” Their rebbeim teach them about this unique mitzvah, which will be performed in the future to cleanse every Jew of tumas meis — the impurity incurred from contact with the dead. While there are many halachic uncertainties pertaining to this mitzvah, the Chofetz Chaim, among other gedolim throughout the generations, advocated the study of the laws of the Beis Hamikdash and the sacrificial offerings; in fact, he personally studied the subjects with great intensity and authored various seforim on the topic, as well as founding the famed “Kollel Kodshim.”

“Of course, there are many things pertaining to the Beis HaMikdash that we don’t know how to do in a practical fashion today,” says Rabbi Azariah Ariel of the Machon Hamikdash, whose father Rav Yisrael Ariel founded the Machon 30 years ago in order to research and authenticate a true Beis Hamikdash experience among today’s Jews.

The efforts to contend with the halachos of parah adumah in the modern era have created many complicated challenges and have given rise to a variety of questions without clear answers. For instance, should a calf be inoculated against disease? If so, how should it be done? Another question that has been raised is whether it is permissible to insert a magnet into the calf’s digestive tract. This is a standard practice, used for protecting the cow’s internal organs by isolating nails and other pieces of metal that the cow might otherwise ingest while grazing.

A while back, it was reported that a pure red heifer was born in a small town in New Jersey, to a Jewish rancher. The news of this heifer’s birth was seized upon by the Jewish world with great enthusiasm — many considered it a harbinger of the final Geulah. In fact, the rancher told reporters that he had been offered a million dollars to sell the cow, but he wouldn’t consider it, because he wanted to personally present the heifer to Mashiach upon his arrival. Soon after, however, the New Jersey red heifer was disqualified because of a basic Biblical blemish: It gave birth.

Purity Protocol

This ranch in the Golan isn’t the first place where there’s been an attempt to locate a parah adumah that conforms to halachic strictures. There are actually many herds of red cows in existence, both in Israel and abroad. Red cattle can be found in plenty throughout the world, and are not even that uncommon in some areas. However, these are not authentic red heifers. Raising a perfect red heifer in accordance with Torah requirements is a daunting task that necessitates advance planning, exacting preparation, and constant supervision.

In fact, cattle ranchers have an economic interest in raising the red breed of cows, since their meat tends to be tastier and more succulent, and the animals have a higher market price. Mr. Cattleman, however, doesn’t think about market value when a potential parah adumah is born. His job is to raise it according to the required halachic criteria.

The rabbis and scholars of the Machon Hamikdash have prepared a complex halachic protocol which instructs a modern-day farmer how to raise a kosher red heifer utilizing the standards and technology available today. This includes a number of basic innovations and changes in the daily care and supervision of the cattle, as well as modifications relating to the infrastructure of the farm, to protect the cattle from any possible blemish.

“According to the Torah, a parah adumah must be female, unblemished, must not be worked, and must be completely red,” Rabbi Ariel says. “If a cow doesn’t have even two hairs of any other color, it has the potential to serve as the parah adumah, which is slaughtered opposite the Bais Hamikdash and burned to ashes. Those ashes are mixed with water, and a hyssop is used to sprinkle the water on a person who has become impure. The preparation of the parah adumah was performed by Kohanim who had been brought up in a special state of purity and had never been exposed to tumah of any kind. A Kohein who has never become tamei means he must have never left Eretz Yisrael, he must have never been in a hospital (even at birth), and he must have grown up in conditions that would prevent him coming in contact with any sort of tumah.

To that end, about a decade ago there was an initiative underway to raise a Kohein who would be tahor from birth until bar mitzvah, when he could potentially prepare the ashes of the parah adumah. A tumah-free compound was actually created in a yishuv somewhere in Gush Etzion, and five women, married to Kohanim, bravely volunteered for the project. In the end, two gave birth to girls, one miscarried, another gave birth to a baby boy who had to be hospitalized in infancy, and the remaining fifth mother pulled out when she realized that, even if her son could possibly stay tahor, it would mean he’d be raised in total isolation without any friends or peers throughout his childhood.

Is it the Time?

Let’s say a calf reaches two years old, blemish-free. If indeed there were a Kohein also raised in a tumah-free environment, would it be permissible to carry out the ritual cleansing process involving the parah adumah even before the Bais Hamikdash is rebuilt? Presumably not — the Rambam states that the tenth parah adumah will be prepared by Mashiach himself, and that is the consensus of most poskim.

Still, Mr. Cattleman says on his ranch alone, 13 cows are currently expected to give birth to red calves. “I hope that at least one of these cows will bring the next kosher parah adumah into the world,” he says.

So why the secrecy? “We want to minimize our risks. A heifer must be two years old in order to be valid for use as a parah adumah. Two years at pasture is a long time. The heifer can be invalidated by any of a thousand different factors, so the fewer people are aware of its location, the greater are the chances that it will survive those two years. We are concerned that if we have a calf that might become a kosher parah adumah, visitors might begin coming here to see it, and then all it would take to disqualify it is for one curious child to lean on it.”

The Mishnah states that there have been only nine red heifers throughout history. and that the ashes of the first parah adumah, which was shechted by Elazar the son of Aharon Hakohein and processed by Moshe Rabbeinu himself, served the Jewish people for a period of about one thousand years. The second parah adumah was slaughtered in the days of Ezra Hasofer, and the Jews continued slaughtering another seven red heifers until the destruction of the Second Beis Hamikdash. “Historical accounts reveal that the ashes of the parah adumah were still in existence 200 years after the churban. At a certain point, though, the ashes were used up,” explains Rabbi Ariel.

In recounting this historical record in his commentary to the Mishnah, the Rambam ends with the statement: “… and the tenth red heifer will be accomplished by the King Mashiach, may he be revealed speedily, amen, may it be G-d’s will.”

Could this possibly mean that the appearance of a red heifer in these waning end times is an indication, a forerunner of the appearance of Mashiach himself, who will officiate at its preparation? With the words of the Rambam in mind as we look out at this pasture of red cows, we can’t help but wonder and pray: If there is indeed a halachically kosher red heifer today, does that mean ours is the era that will use it?

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 754)

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