A group of religious Israeli settlers are pictured, practising the ritual of the red heifer, which is meant to herald the building of a new Jewish temple on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to Jewish tradition, the ashes of a red heifer cow are needed for ritual purification. They believe the purification would allow a third temple to be built in Jerusalem.
Radical Jewish groups, want to construct the temple on the raised plateau in Jerusalem’s Old City known as Temple Mount.
This is where Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock Shrine stand today.
Some believe this will herald the messiah’s arrival and possibly even the world’s end.
“Temple worshipers are now practising the mitzvah [religious duty] of a red cow in front of the Temple Mount.
“It will enable the return of purity and the observance of all the temple mitzvahs,” journalist Yinon Magal, posted on Tuesday.
Along with the post is a picture of activists from the Temple Institute.
In 2022, five red heifers arrived in Israel from a Texas ranch and are now kept in an archaeological park next to Shilo.
Shilo is an illegal Israeli settlement near the Palestinian city of Nablus.
The Temple Institute imported the heifers for the ritual purpose.
There have been years of fruitless searching for blemish-free cows, without a stray white or black hair.
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Their eventual slaughter on the Mount of Olives will – according to advocates – allow Jewish people to be purified so they can perform rites and worship on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Research by a professor at Bar Ilan University estimated that the ashes of one cow could cleanse water for 660 billion purifications.
The ritual’s traditional site, the Mount of Olives, is seen in the background on the other side of Al-Aqsa Mosque. This suggests the settlers are performing the practice within the Old City.
The status quo in Jerusalem maintained that Jewish prayer is forbidden on the raised plateau in occupied East Jerusalem.
The site is believed to be the location of two ancient Jewish temples. Jews are permitted to pray at the Western Wall.
The Wall runs along one side of the hill. Jews regarded it as the last remaining part of the Second Jewish Temple that the Romans destroyed in 70 CE.
Restrictions on non-Muslims entering the mosque have been in place since the Ottoman status quo designating Jerusalem’s holy sites to its sects was established in 1757.
The Chief Rabbinate of Jerusalem has also, since 1921, officially banned Jews from entering the Temple Mount.
Rabbinate forbids Jews to enter the site unless “ritually clean”. This is impossible without the ashes of a red heifer.
Over the past century, religious Zionist groups – including the Temple Institute – have advocated for the return of Jewish prayer at Al-Aqsa.
Some even advocate the demolition of the mosque and reconstruction of the temple. (Middle East Eye)
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