Melody, Israel's First Red Heifer in 2,000 Years, Is Called More Dangerous Than a Bomb

Newsweek reported on Melody, a red heifer born on a farm in northern Israel, which Judaica scholars said was the first born in Israel since the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in AD 70. In Temple times, a red heifer's ashes purified Jews before they approached the Temple. Some devout Jews saw her birth as a sign the Messiah was near. Many Muslims, and some Israelis, feared extremists would take it as a signal to clear the Temple Mount for a third temple, and possibly provoke a war. In Ha'aretz, David Landau wrote: "The potential harm from this heifer is far greater than the destructive properties of a regular terrorist bomb." Image: Caspar Luyken, Purification by the red heifer (Phillip Medhurst Collection), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.