I think that those that brought the red heifers to Israel were planning to sacrifice one of them once they reached the proper age.

But then the war started and that changed everything.  In fact, a spokesperson for Hamas identified the red heifers as one of the reasons why Israel was attacked on October 7th, 2023…

Twenty miles north of Jerusalem, five Texas Red Angus cows chew on grass, oblivious to the fact that their mere presence in Israel was cited by Hamas as a reason for its massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7. The terror organization’s spokesperson says the cows were a justification for the attack, stating that bringing them to Israel was “an aggression” based on a “detestable religious myth.”

Apparently Hamas was convinced that if a red heifer was sacrificed Israel would make a move to take control of the Temple Mount so that the rebuilding of the Temple could begin…

Hamas has called the importation of the red cows an act of “aggression” because it falsely believes that the presence of the cows may ignite the rebuilding of the Temple, which the group thinks would end Arab control of the Temple Mount, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located.

Those that are involved in the red heifer project did not want to inflame tensions even more, and so the sacrifice of a red heifer was put off for another time.

But now that Hamas has almost been totally defeated, does that change things?

Middle East Eye is reporting that some of those involved in the red heifer project have been practicing for the day when a sacrifice will finally be allowed…

A group of religious Israelis have been 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 perfectly red heifer cow are needed for the ritual purification that would allow a third temple to be built in Jerusalem.

Israeli journalist Yinon Magal was the one who originally broke this story.  The following is an English translation of what he posted on Twitter…

“Temple worshipers are now practicing the mitzvah [religious duty] of a red cow in front of the Temple Mount, which will enable the return of purity and the observance of all the temple mitzvahs,” posted journalist Yinon Magal on Tuesday, along with a picture of activists from the Temple Institute.

The photograph that accompanied that post is below…

There are two things that immediately jump out at me from this picture.

Number one, the cow that we see is most certainly not one of the five red heifers.

In fact, it is obviously not anywhere close to being a perfect red heifer.

Number two, this photograph was not taken on the Mount of Olives, because we can see the Mount of Olives in the background.

When they decide that the time has finally come for a red heifer to be sacrificed, it will be sacrificed on the Mount of Olives. But of course practice for such a ceremony can be conducted anywhere.

Ever since 1921, Jewish people have been prohibited from entering the Temple Mount unless they are ritually clean, and they can’t be ritually clean without the ashes of a red heifer…

The Chief Rabbinate of Jerusalem has also, since 1921, officially banned Jews from entering the Temple Mount. It ruled that Jews are forbidden to enter the site unless “ritually clean”, which is impossible without the ashes of a red heifer.

Many religious leaders are very much looking forward to the day when the ashes of a red heifer are finally available.

But one official from the Temple Institute recently told the Daily Wire that there “is no plan right now for using a kosher red heifer, killing it and turning it into ashes”…

Conducting a red heifer ceremony is controversial in rabbinic circles, and there is far from a consensus over whether it can even be done, according to the Temple Institute, which provides rabbinical supervision for the cows.

“There is no plan right now for using a kosher red heifer, killing it and turning it into ashes,” Yitzchak Reuven, the director of international development for the Temple Institute told The Daily Wire. “Anyone saying this is making it up. We will only do this when the time is right, because there is no point in doing it if the Jewish and rabbinic world won’t accept it.”

That sounds pretty definitive.

So even though they may be doing practice runs, we may not see the real thing for a while.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for the five red heifers.

In a previous article, I explained that the Temple Institute has determined that a red heifer does not qualify for a red heifer sacrifice until its third year has begun…

As for the time the red heifer may be used for this commandment –  the Sages state that it is valid when it reaches maturity, i.e. from the beginning of its third year. [13] From this age and onward the red heifer is valid without age limitations. Though, ideally, one should not wait till it passes the age of four, lest it grows hairs of colors that deem it invalid. [14]

All of the red heifers that were flown into Israel in 2022 are now old enough to qualify.

But as time passes, there is a risk that these red heifers will develop hairs that are not red and be disqualified.

More than half a million dollars has already been spent on these particular red heifers, and if every single one of them is ultimately disqualified those involved in the project will have to start from scratch.

I don’t think they want to do that.

So we shall see what happens.  Personally, I have a feeling that there is more going on behind the scenes than we are being told.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

I will get to that later in this article, but first I wanted to talk a bit about the upcoming red heifer sacrifice.

According to the Temple Institute, a red heifer cannot be used in such a sacrifice until its third year has begun…

As for the time the red heifer may be used for this commandment –  the Sages state that it is valid when it reaches maturity, i.e. from the beginning of its third year. [13] From this age and onward the red heifer is valid without age limitations. Though, ideally, one should not wait till it passes the age of four, lest it grows hairs of colors that deem it invalid. [14]

The red heifers that were brought over from Texas in 2022 are now old enough to qualify.

And every day that passes, there is a risk that they will grow hairs that are not red and be disqualified. So the clock is ticking.

Those involved in this project have already spent more than a half million dollars, and if all of the heifers they brought over end up being disqualified they will have to go back to square one.

I think that they would like to conduct a red heifer sacrifice during this current year on the Hebrew calendar, and we shall see if they are able to pull that off or not.

But even if a red heifer is sacrificed, that does not mean that a Temple will be built right away.

In fact, we have been repeatedly told that sacrifices could potentially begin long before a new Temple is constructed.  For example, the following comes directly from the official website of the Temple Institute…

No, the Temple Institute is not building the Temple offsite. We are building a stone altar offsite so that when the opportunity arrives we can move it to its proper location on the Mount. The Divine service, including the offerings can begin before the building of the Temple itself, once the altar is built and standing in its proper place.

I believe that the Temple Institute intends to start conducting sacrifices and offerings very shortly after priests are made ritually clean by the ashes of a red heifer. And that will cause a major stir.

Interestingly, according to Jewish tradition the sacrifice of the tenth red heifer is going to coincide with the Messianic age…

In recounting this historical record in his commentary to the Mishna, the great Maimonides ends with the enigmatic statement: “… and the tenth red heifer will be accomplished by the king, the Messiah; may he be revealed speedily, Amen, May it be G-d’s will.”

With this amazing statement, Maimonides recounts an ancient tradition – that the tenth red heifer is associated with the Messianic era. Does this perhaps mean that the appearance of a red heifer in these waning end times is an indication, a forerunner of the appearance of the Messiah himself, who will officiate at its preparation?

If there has been no red heifer for the past 2,000 years, perhaps it is because the time was not right; Israel was far from being ready. But now… what could it mean for the times we live in, to have the means for purification so close at hand? With the words of Maimonides in mind, we cannot help but wonder and pray: If there are now red heifers… is ours the era that will need them?

So I find it quite noteworthy that we could see the tenth red heifer sacrificed very close to the end of the sixth millennium of human history as we await the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

But I believe that an event even bigger than the sacrifice of the tenth red heifer is coming.

When the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant is finally announced, it will be the biggest archaeological bombshell in all of human history.

On the official website of the Temple Institute, they publicly acknowledge that they know exactly where it is located…

While some claim to have evidence that the ark is in Ethiopia, and of course, moviegoers were treated to a fanciful version of the story in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” in reality, the expression “lost” ark is not an accurate description for the Jewish people’s point of view – because we have always known exactly where it is. So the Ark is “Hidden,” and hidden quite well, but it is not lost.

Tradition records that even as King Solomon built the First Temple, he already knew, through Divine inspiration, that eventually it would be destroyed. Thus Solomon, the wisest of all men, oversaw the construction of a vast system of labyrinths, mazes, chambers and corridors underneath the Temple Mount complex. He commanded that a special place be built in the bowels of the earth, where the sacred vessels of the Temple could be hidden in case of approaching danger. Midrashic tradition teaches that King Josiah of Israel, who lived about forty years before the destruction of the First Temple, commanded the Levites to hide the Ark, together with the original menorah and several other items*, in this secret hiding place which Solomon had prepared.

This location is recorded in our sources, and today, there are those who know exactly where this chamber is. And we know that the ark is still there, undisturbed, and waiting for the day when it will be revealed. An attempt was made some few years ago to excavate towards the direction of this chamber. This resulted in widespread Moslem unrest and rioting. They stand a great deal to lose if the Ark is revealed – for it will prove to the whole world that there really was a Holy Temple, and thus, that the Jews really do have a claim to the Temple Mount. (The official position of the Islamic Wakf, the body that governs over the Temple Mount, is that there never was a Holy Temple, and that the Jews have no rights whatsoever to the place).

When the Ark is revealed to the whole world, it will completely shock the entire planet.

During a recent show, Glenn Beck speculated about what might happen once everyone gets to see the Ark…

Well, it still exists. And this is just my opinion. That’s all it is, just an opinion.

I tend to believe that if it does exist, and it’s going to be revealed.

Then it probably will coincide with the Messianic age, with the Messiah’s return.

And I think that would probably be more likely. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who would be very, very excited to be — to have an opportunity. To find it, look for it. And if they could, bring it out.

And that would cause World War III, most likely.

There are a lot of “scholars” out there that believe that Moses never existed.

And there are a lot of “scholars” out there that believe that either the Ark of the Covenant never existed or that it was just a very simple box or basket.

Once the Ark of the Covenant is unveiled, it will “confirm” that Moses and the Ark of the Covenant really existed just like the Bible says.

And it will also “confirm” that God really did make a covenant with the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai.

For those that are interested, I get even deeper into all of this in my latest book entitled “Chaos”.

The physical representation of the covenant that God made with the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai has always been the Ark of the Covenant.

And when it is finally revealed to the world, everything will change.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.

So will a red heifer be sacrificed in Israel in 2024?

According to CBS News, a “massive altar” has already been constructed.  In the video that I have embedded below, you can see footage of this altar starting at the two minute mark…

I was absolutely floored when I first saw that.

A red heifer sacrifice would need to happen on the Mount of Olives, and the land where the sacrifice would take place is owned by Rabbi Yitshak Mamo…

According to those working on the project, the ceremony of the red heifer needs to be performed on the Mount of Olives, and in a place that would have looked directly into where the Temple stood. The land directly east of the Temple Mount, purchased 12 years ago, meets both of those standards.

Rabbi Yitshak Mamo owns that land on the Mount of Olives. Mamo is with Uvne Yerusalim, a group that preserves Israel’s history and works to educate future generations.

Concerning the specifics of the land, he told CBN News, “It had to be exactly at the front of the place that the priest that made this ceremony can see the Holy of the Holy Place.”

But the clock is ticking. If the heifers get too old, they will no longer qualify.

During a recent public appearance, Mamo explained that “we are very close to the third year of these cows”…

“If there is any [mathematicians] here, so you can understand that we are very close to the third year of these cows,” reveals Mamo. “Which means that with the help of God, we will get permission from God and from the people to make the ceremony. And then we can be pure.”

Recently, there has been a lot of buzz that we could actually see a red heifer sacrifice very soon.

Last month, All Israel News reported that the Temple Institute wants to conduct a sacrifice “before Passover 2024”…

As of now, four of the heifers remain blemish-free and, according to Temple Institute rabbis, they hope to carry out the ceremony before Passover 2024.

This year, the Jewish people will celebrate Passover on April 22nd.

That is about a month away.

During a recent broadcast, Glenn Beck also discussed the possibility that a red heifer sacrifice could happen in the very near future.  The following is an excerpt from a transcript of that broadcast…

If you’re going to rebuild the temple, you need to purify it.

And purifying it, according to the book of numbers, chapter 19, is a heifer. A red heifer ceremony. That results in the creation of ash and water mixture.

And that cleanses the entire nation of Israel. From ritual impurity.

And then the ceremony requires some of the blood to be sprinkled at the front of the tabernacle. That later became the temple.

It usually took place at the Mount of Olives, where they are planning on doing this again in the coming days.

It is essential for all aspects of the temple, and temple worship to take place.

In addition, anyone participating in temple worship, would be required to be sprinkled with the ash water.

Beyond that, even without the presence of a physical temple, the ceremony, would be — would allow the general population to be ritually cleansed and remove much of the religious prohibition for a Jewish presence, on the Temple Mount.

When are they planning on doing it?

Well, they imported these red heifers before October 7th.

We now know that Hamas said, that this was going to — this was part of the reason, because they’re going to use the red heifers to purify the temple, which is desecration to them.

Purifying them, so they can then, actually, go up, and even if there’s no temple. They can pray as if they were in the temple.

They’re going to do this, passover weekend. So Easter weekend.

There has been a lot of speculation on social media that a red heifer sacrifice could potentially take place on March 29th because the “Sabbath of the red heifer” begins at sundown that evening…

Shabbat Parah for Hebrew Year 5784 begins at sundown on Friday, 29 March 2024 and ends at nightfall on Saturday, 30 March 2024. This corresponds to Parashat Tzav.

Shabbat Parah (“Sabbath [of the] red heifer” שבת פרה) takes place on the Shabbat before Shabbat HaChodesh, in preparation for Passover. Numbers 19:1-22 describes the parah adumah (“red heifer”) in the Jewish temple as part of the manner in which the kohanim and the Jewish people purified themselves so that they would be ready (“pure”) to sacrifice the korban Pesach.

I have not been able to find any confirmation that a sacrifice will happen on March 29th.

So I don’t know if we will see anything happen on that date or not.

But I do believe that the Temple Institute fully intends to conduct a red heifer sacrifice at some point in 2024. And when that happens, Israel’s enemies are going to go haywire.

As CBS News has reported, Hamas has actually admitted that the red heifers were one of the reasons why they attacked Israel on October 7th…

When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of “bringing red cows” to the Holy Land.

The cows he was talking about are red heifers, which now graze at a secure, undisclosed location in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Some Jews and Christians believe they’re key to rebuilding the Jewish temple that once stood in Jerusalem, and to beckoning the Messiah.

Once Israel’s enemies realize that a red heifer has been sacrificed, they are going to go absolutely nuts.

So this is a really big deal.

Let’s keep watching and praying, because it appears that events in the Middle East are about to get very, very interesting.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.