Red cow sacrifice

The source of the ritual is found in chapter 19 of the book Numbers ( Hebrew במדבר ) ^[1] : " Tell the tribes of Israel that they will bring you a red cow without a speck that has no blemish and has never worn yoke ."

The cow is slaughtered in a ritual way ( burlap ) ^[2] and burned outside the settlement. Lebanese cedar wood , hyssop and scarlet-colored fabric are added to the fire; the resulting ash is collected in a vessel with holy water ( 19: 9 ) ^[3] .

In order to cleanse a person who has become contaminated with ritual impurities, having contact with corpses (as well as with a grave or with metal weapons touching a dead body), water from this vessel is sprayed with broom from hyssop on the third and seventh days of the purification process.

The priest conducting this ritual itself becomes ritually unclean and must plunge into the ritual bath for washing ( mikvah ) and wash his clothes. Until evening (before the appearance of three stars), it is considered unclean.

The book of the prophet Daniel refers to the sacrifice of a red cow. In line 12:10, the Lord tells Daniel that in the last days “ many will be cleansed and whitewashed, ” that is, this is a reference to the ritual of the sacrifice of the red cow. “ If your sins are scarlet they will become white as snow ” ( Isa. 1:18 ). This analogy may apply to the return of the messiah at the end of the world, although it is more likely that it is an allusion to the Doomsday ritual (during which a scarlet thread was tied to the scapegoat 's horns, which miraculously turned white as a sign that Israel's sins were forgiven).

The Mishnah (the main collection of oral law) contains a treatise on the red cow. This is the treatise of Para (“The Cow”) in the last section of the Mishnah ( Tejarot ), which explains the essence of the ritual. The treatise does not contain comments ( Gemara ), although key elements of the procedure can be found in the comments (Gemara) for other treatises of the Talmud. According to the Para treatise, the presence of at least two black hairs nearby makes the red cow unsuitable for ritual in addition to the usual requirements for the impeccability of the animal intended for sacrifice.

There are additional requirements, such as natural birth. Water should be "live", that is, spring. Ablution is also subject to strict rules. Rainwater collected in the tank is suitable for the ritual of mikvah, but cannot be used in the ritual of sacrifice.

According to the Mishnah, in the days of the existence of the Jerusalem temple, water for the ritual was taken from the Siloam basin ( Hebrew השילוח מעיין ). The ceremony was complicated. In order to ensure the cleanliness of the participants, great attention was paid to ensure that none of the participants came into contact with the dead or anything unclean. Ritual accessories were made from materials that, according to Jewish law, could not be carriers of ritual mud. The Mishnah says that children born and raised in isolation were used to draw and carry water in order to prevent any contact with corpses for them.

In Jerusalem there were courtyards built on an untouched rock below them [cellars were made] so that there were no graves in the depths and pregnant women were brought here, they gave birth to children and there they grew up. The cattle drove in, the doors were laid on the backs of the animals, and the children sat down with stone goblets in their hands. When they arrived at Siloam [the children] dismounted and filled [the goblets with water] and rose and sat down on the door again.

Original text

There were courtyards in Jerusalem built over [the virgin] rock and below them a hollow [was made] lest there might be a grave in the depths, and pregnant women were brought and bore their children there, and there they reared them. And oxen were brought, and on their backs were laid doors on top of which sat the children with cups of stone in their hands. When they arrived in Shiloah [the children] alighted, and filled [the cups with water], and mounted, and again sat on the doors

- Mishnah Parah 3: 2

In order to prevent the cow and the priests accompanying it from coming into contact with the graves, a cobbled road was used from the Temple Mount to the Mount of Olives ^[4] .

According to the Mishnah, the ceremony of burning the red cow took place on the Mount of Olives. The ritually pure cohen slaughtered the animal and sprayed sacrificial blood seven times in the direction of the Temple. Then the cow was burned at the funeral pyre together with the purple-dyed wool, hyssop and cedar wood. The site of burning red cows on the Mount of Olives has been tentatively established in recent years by archaeologist Jonathan Adler ^[5] .

The existence of a red cow that meets all the stringent requirements of Halacha is a biological anomaly. The animal must be completely the same color, in order to ensure this, the rabbi group conducted a series of tests. For example, the hairs of a cow’s fur had to be completely straight (to be sure that the cow didn’t carry a yoke, which makes it unsuitable for ritual). According to Jewish tradition, from the time of Moses until the destruction of the second temple, only nine red cows were slaughtered. The treatise Mishnah Para marks eight sacrifices, stating that Moses scored the first, Ezra the second, Simon the Righteous and High Priest Jonahan scored two each and Elonai ben Kayaf and Ananel the Egyptians scored a cow (Mishna Para 3: 5).

The rarity of the animal, together with the ritual in which it is used, gives the red cow a special place in the Jewish tradition. In modern times, Jews who want to achieve the biblical purity necessary for temple service, by carrying out the ritual and waiting for the construction of the third temple, are making efforts to find the red cow and recreate the ritual. However, the numerous cows found for the ritual were disqualified - the last in 2002.

The Temple Institute organization, which is dedicated to the construction of the Third Temple in Jerusalem , tried to find cows for the rite that meet the requirements of 19: 1–22 of the Hebrew Bible and the treatise of Mishna Para ^[6] . In recent years, the organization found two cows - one in 1997 and the other in 2002 - and proclaimed that both of them met kosher requirements, but later found both unsuitable. In March 2010, a representative of the organization said in a radio interview that a kosher red cow had been found in Israel ^[7] .

According to the thesis of Ernest L. Martin’s book Secrets of Golgotha (1984), in the uncanonical epistle of Barnabas, the scarlet cow unambiguously associates with Christ. The phrases of the New Testament “without a gate” (13:12) ^[8] and “outside the camp” (Heb. Bibl. 19: 3 ^[2] , 13:13 ^[9] ) not only identify Jesus with the red cow, but point to place of crucifixion.

Some Christian fundamentalists believe that the second coming of Christ will not happen until the Third Temple is erected in Jerusalem, which will require the sacrifice of a red cow born in Israel. Clyde Lot, a cattle breeder from O'Neill ( Nebraska ), periodically grows red cows and exports them to Israel, hoping to raise a breed of red cows that will help build the third temple and bring Christ's second coming closer ^{[10] [11]} .

The Qur'an mentions the history of the cow in Sura al-Bakar (Cow) (the longest Surah of the Qur'an) in lines 2.67-2.73. According to the surah, a simple cow is required first, then it is mentioned the restrictions of choice and its color after people unsuccessfully try to find out from Moses details about the age and color of the cow, and why it is needed, thereby showing unwillingness to fulfill the order to sacrifice the animal as valuable as a cow.

Ibn Abbas and other researchers said: “ Among the children of Israel there was a rich old man, he had several nephews, and one of the nephews killed the old man. His body was thrown at his brother's door. Then disputes followed, and they asked the prophet Musa for help. When, according to the order of Musa, they found a yellow cow, he ordered them to slaughter her and hit the deceased with a piece of beef. The old man came to life. The Prophet Moussa asked who killed him, the old man pointed to his nephew and died again . "

• Ruste Taurus by Reb Chaim HaQoton
• “Letter from Jerusalem: Forcing the End” (July 20, 1998, The New Yorker )
• "Ashes and Water - From the Chassidic Masters"
• Gann Academy - The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston
• About the possibility of offering a red cow in our time