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Biblical red heifer could bring million visitors to Samaria

Hundreds of visitors flocked to Shiloh in Samaria’s Binyamin region on Thursday to welcome a biblically pure red heifer.

The 22-month-old cow, which was brought to Israel from the United States, found a new home at the Ancient Shiloh heritage site, where the biblical Tabernacle once stood.

This is the ritual law that Hashem has commanded: Instruct B’nei Yisrael to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid.” Numbers 19:2 (The Israeli Bible)

In the coming month, two more heifers will be transported to the town, and a center will open there dedicated to researching the phenomenon. The heifers will be kept in a fenced-off area, and visitors will not be able to touch the animals.

The mysterious red heifer, or Parah Adumah, is first mentioned in the Book of Numbers, when God instructs Moses and Aaron to take “a perfectly red unblemished cow, upon which no yoke was laid.” The animal is subsequently slaughtered, and its ashes are used in a purification ritual.

The discovery of an entirely red such heifer is a rarity. Jewish sources state that only nine were slaughtered in the period from Moses to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. According to the 12th-century sage Maimonides, the Messiah will offer the 10th red heifer.

In keeping with biblical law, the heifer put on display in Shiloh is completely red, and has never borne a yoke.

Read More @ Israel 365 News HERE