New Red Heifer Calf born Erev TishBAv

The National Institute for Red Cow Research announces this morning the birth of another red calf in the Golan Heights.

The new calf was born in the herd of Shai Givon, the institute's farmer, while being careful not to attach an ear tag to it in order to preserve its innocence. Givon is also the one who identified the previous calf about a month and a half ago in one of the barns where he provided service.

According to Givon, "I feel that we are in a historic period. Since the last calf was born, I have received inquiries and questions from all shades of the Jewish spectrum in Israel and abroad, Hasidic, Lithuanian, secular and religious. The people of Israel are awakening more than ever to the issue of the Temple and the restoration of purity to Israel, and the Lord of the worlds is opening doors and opportunities for us that have not existed for 2,000 years."

Givvon added, "We are on our way to growing a herd of red cows. Although the team at the National Red Cow Research Institute expected potential calves to be born this season, her birth near Tish B'Av certainly gives the feeling that God is urging us to accelerate the path to building the Temple, and the real question is whether we want it."

The institute notes that the calf was born as a twin to a male calf. According to them, in cattle there is a "premartin" phenomenon, in which the placentas of twin fetuses are connected, and in most cases the mixing of hormones causes the female to remain ayalon due to damage to the development of the uterus.

This issue is expected to be the focus of discussions at the National Red Cow Research Institute's Beit Midrash, which includes about twenty rabbis who are guiding the project from a halakhic perspective. This is after the Beit Midrash also recently addressed the question of the kashrut of the previous calf that was born a month and a half ago, to whose ear an ear tag was attached near its birth.

The head of the institute's Beit Midrash, Rabbi Azaria Ariel, said, "There is a question whether a congenital defect that is not external and visible to the eye in the cow's body invalidates its innocence, both with regard to sacrifices and in particular with regard to the red cow. Since our goal is to create national halachic backing, we will not decide on the issue alone, and the Beit Midrash will have to discuss the issue together and bring its conclusions to the support of the rabbis of the generation. In the meantime, we hope to publish our conclusions about the central questions in the field in about a year, and later to publish four extensive volumes of 'The Red Cow as Its Law', which summarizes a decade of halachic research that will be brought to the attention of the