Author: shamyr

Parashat Nitzavim (ניצבים — standing), Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20. It is always read on the Shabat preceding Rosh Hashana.

Deuteronomy chapter 30 – דְּבָרִים פרק ל
^ו’ ומל יי אלוסקיך את-לבבך, ואת-לבב זרעך:  לאהבה את-יי אלוסקיך, בכל-לבבך ובכל-נפשך–למען חייך
⁶ you love the Eternal, your Gd, with all your heart and with all your soul, and ensure your existence.

Rashi: When you repent, Gd will help you overcome the obstacles that the evil inclination seeks to place in your path. בא להיטהר מסייעים אותו. God helps those who seek to purify themselves (Talmud Bavli, tractate Shabbat 104a:13).

The Talmud¹ by Daniel Bomberg : Circa 1530, an edition of the Talmud printed by Daniel Bomberg² reportedly commissioned by Henry VIII, fascinated by the wisdom of Jewish law in a land forbidden to Jews³. Following his politico-theological dispute⁴ with Pope Clement VII, he proclaimed himself in 1531: supreme head of the Church and clergy of England. In 1546, he founded the Regius chair of Hebrew at the University of Oxford and placed there the following year Richard Bruerne (~1519-1565) who would take possession of the famous Talmud which he bequeathed to his death to the Church of Oxford . A few years later, the Talmud became the property of Westminster Abbey (before 1629). In 1980, Jack Valmadonna Lunzer (1924-2016), a manufactured diamond industrialist and great collector of rare Hebrew books ⁵ acquired the copy of the Talmud from Westminster Abbey in exchange for a medieval copy of the charter of the said abbey. In 2015, the Talmud was put up for sale by Sotheby’s. Leon Black, American investor and art collector, buys it for 9.3 million dollars.

In January 2017, the remaining works from the Valmadonna Trust Library were handed over to the National Library of Israel.

¹⁾ Printed in 9 volumes (393 x 266 mm), it includes the treatises of the first (1519/20-1523 ) and the second (1525-1539) editions. see the detail of the book on the site of Sotheby’s (see the site). We only count, nowadays, only 14 copies of this edition.
²⁾ Daniel van Bomberghen, Flemish publisher-printer of the Renaissance, born in Antwerp around 1483, settled in Venice in 1516, specialist in printing of texts of Hebrew religious literature. Died in this city in 1549.
³⁾ Jews have been forbidden to live in England since their expulsion in 1290 by King Edward I. In 1656, Oliver Cromwell put a definitive end to this prohibition.
⁴⁾ The sovereign wanted his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, widow of his brother Arthur Tudor, to be annulled by the papacy. Controversy based on Leviticus 18.16: prohibition against marrying his brother’s wife, Deuteronomy 25:5: Levirate and Deuteronomy 22:13-21: Repudiation.
⁵⁾ Library of Valmadonna Trust: 13,000 books and manuscripts.

Parashat Ki Thavo (כִּי-תָבוֹא – when you will come), Deuteronomy 26:1-29, 8.

Deuteronomy – 26 – דְּבָרִים
:^_ה וְעָנִיתָ וְאָמַרְתָּ לִפְנֵי יי אֱלֹקיךָ, אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי, וַיֵּרֶד מִצְרַיְמָה, וַיָּגָר שָׁם בִּמְתֵי מְעָט; וַיְהִי-שָׁם, לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל עָצוּם וָרָב
^₅ And you will say aloud before the L-rd, your Gd: An Aramean has [wanted] to annihilate my ancestor. He went down to Egypt and resided there in small numbers and there they became a great, mighty and numerous people.¹

The Aramean is Laban² (לבן), brother of Rebecca, father of Leah and Rachel, uncle and father-in-law of Jacob. He is a devious character who deceived Jacob, then pursued him with the intention of destroying him (see Genesis 31, verses 29 and 30).
The name Lebanon comes from the same root LBN (לבן) meaning white, in reference to the snowpack that covers the mountains in winter.

The first signs of Jewish presence in Lebanon date back to 132, following the Bar Kokhba³ revolt against the Roman Empire. In 1920, the Lebanese State was created by France⁴ following the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire. In 1926, a constitution was adopted. It gives equality and freedom of worship to all Lebanese⁵. During the Second World War, Lebanon welcomed some Ashkenazi families fleeing the genocide. In 1948, when the State of Israel declared its independence, many Jews fled the belligerent Arab countries (Syria, Iraq, Jordan) and some emigrated to Lebanon. Currently, there are about 4,000 Lebanese Jews, half of whom work abroad, notably in Cyprus and Greece.

The Maghen Abraham Synagogue⁶ is known to have been the most beautiful in the Middle East. Abandoned and damaged during the Lebanon War (1975-1990), its renovation, undertaken in 2010, was completed in 2019.

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¹ According to Rashi’s translation and the interpretation of the Sifri, and this is also the version found in the Hagada.
² לבן הארמי – Lavan (white) ha-arami (the Aramean).
³ Ben Kozevah” (בן כוזבה) or “Ben Koziva” (בן כוזיבא). Thanks to archeology, we know that his name was actually Shimon Bar (or Ben) Koseva (שמעון בר כוסבא or בר כוסבה).
⁴ Mandate of the League of Nations.
⁵ Chapter 2 of the Lebanese Constitution (in french):
Article 7 All Lebanese are equal before the law. They also enjoy civil and political rights and are also subject to public offices and duties, without distinction of any kind.
Article 8 Individual liberty is guaranteed and protected. No one may be arrested or detained except in accordance with the provisions of the law. No offense and no penalty can be established except by law.
Article 9 Freedom of conscience is absolute. By paying homage to the Most High, the State respects all faiths and guarantees and protects their free exercise provided that public order is not undermined. It also guarantees to the populations, to whatever rite they belong, respect for their personal status and their religious interests.
⁶ shield of Abraham

Ki Tetze (כי תצא — when you leave), Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19.

According to the Sefer HaHinukn¹ (ספר החינוך – Book of Education), parsha Ki Tetze has 47 negative prescriptions and 27 positive prescriptions, including the one levirate².

Deuteronomy – 25 – דְּבָרִים

ה כִּי-יֵשְׁבוּ אַחִים יַחְדָּו, ּמֵת מֵהֶם וּבֵן אֵין-לוֹ- לֹא-תִהְיֶה אֵשֶׁת-context הַחוּצָה, לְאִישׁ זָר:  יְבָמָהּ יָבֹא עָלֶיהָ, וּלְקָחָהּ לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה וְיִבְּמָהּ.

⁵ If brothers remain together and one of them dies without issue, the widow cannot marry a foreigner abroad; it is her brother-in-law who must join her. He will therefore take her as his wife, exercising levirate over her.

Levirate and the renunciation of levirate play an important role in the story of Judah and Tamar (Genesis chapter 38), as well as that of Boaz and Ruth (Book of Ruth chapter 4)³. Before a quorum of ten men, Boaz acquires all that belonged to Mahlon and marries Ruth, his widow so that the name of the deceased does not die out.

Ruth – 4 – רוּת

^י וְגַם אֶת-רוּת הַמֹּאֲבִיָּה אֵשֶׁת מַחְלוֹן קָנִיתִי לִי לְאִשָּׁה, לְהָקִים שֵׁם-הַמֵּת עַל-נַחֲלָתוֹ, וְלֹא-יִכָּרֵת שֵׁם-הַמֵּת מֵעִם אֶחָיו, וּמִשַּׁעַר מְקוֹמוֹ:  עֵדִים אַתֶּם, הַיּוֹם.
^ט וַיֹּאמֶר בֹּעַז לַזְּקֵנִים וְכָל-הָעָם, עֵדִים אַתֶּם הַיּוֹם, כִּי קָנִיתִי אֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר לֶאֱלִימֶלֶךְ, וְאֵת כָּל-אֲשֶׁר לְכִלְיוֹן וּמַחְלוֹן–מִיַּד, נָעֳמִי

⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and to all the people: You are witnesses today that I acquire from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, and also to Kilion and Machlon.
¹⁰ And Ruth also, the Moabite, wife of Machlon, I acquire as a wife to maintain the name of the deceased in her patrimony and to prevent the name of the deceased from becoming extinct among his brothers and in his native town. You are witnesses to this on this day.

The Rutland Jewish Center is a synagogue and community center housed in a Richardsonian Romanesque building⁴. Originally, it was a library built in 1889 by Brunner & Tryon in honor of Horace Henry Baxter, New York financier and co-owner of the Rutland Marble Company. Then in 1927, the building was bought and converted into a synagogue by the Adath Israel Congregation. In 1978, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

¹ Sefer haHinukh, Book of Education is a medieval text published in Spain in the 13^th century, featuring the 613 commandments of the Torah.
² Formed from the Low Latin levir “brother-in-law” and the derivational suffix “ate”.
³ Boaz and Ruth had for son Obed, father of Jesse, himself father of King David.
⁴ Style of historicist American architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson.

Tu Be-Av (ט”ו באב)

The Talmud in the treatise Ta’anit (26b), reports that Av 15 is one of the happiest days of the year. That day meetings for marriage were organized.

Va’et’hanan (ואתחנן – and I pleaded) Deuteronomy 3: 23-7:11

Moshe exhorts the children of Israel to remain faithful to the covenant contracted at Sinai, insists on the uniqueness of the Torah, reiterates the Ten Words and proclaims the Shema; שְׁמַע, יִשְׂרָאֵל: יי אֱלֹכֵינוּ, יי אֶחָד. The two large letters ^{_{(in red)}} of the verse form the word עד (Ed – witness).

Israel a consecrated people, a people apart.

Deuteronomy Chapter 7 – ז’ דְּבָרִים
^ו כי עם קדוש אתה, לַיי אלכיך:  בך י יי אלכיך, להיות לו סגלה, מכֹל העמים, אשר על-פּני האדמה.
⁶ Because you are a people dedicated to the L-rd your G‑d: he has chosen you, the L-rd your G‑d, for him to be a special people among all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.

Since antiquity the Jewish presence in Rhodes is attested². In the 12^th century, Benjamin of Tudela³ attests to the presence of 400 Jews in the city. At the beginning of the 14^th century the Hospitallers⁴ conquered Rhodes. Gradually the community diminished (earthquake, plague) and at the end of the 15^th century, the Hospitallers expelled the twenty Jews still present in Rhodes. At the beginning of the 16^th century, they brought more than 2,000 Sephardic Jews there, exploited as slaves. In 1522, the island was conquered by the Ottomans. Under their rule, the community thrives. At the beginning of the 20^th century, the island was occupied by the Italian fascists and most of the Jewish⁵ community of Rhodes, feeling threatened, emigrated to the Belgian Congo⁶. In September 1943, the Italians having signed the armistice⁷, Rhodes was occupied by the Nazis. On July 23, 1944, 1,673 Jews from Rhodes were deported to Auschwitz. A commemorative plaque, in French, is dedicated to members of the community who died during the Holocaust, but most of the plaques that adorn the synagogue are in Ladino⁷.

The Kal Kadosh Shalom⁸ Synagogue is the only one of the four synagogues in the Juderia⁹ not to have been destroyed by bombardment. It was built in Kislev 5338 (Nov./Dec. 1577), the date inscribed on the fountain located in the entrance courtyard. It is the oldest synagogue in Greece. Two holy arches, as if symbolizing the two tables of stone on which the Ten Words are engraved, frame a door leading to a courtyard. From this courtyard one once accessed the yeshiva¹⁰. On the ground, a mosaic of black and white pebbles.

¹ Roman decree, dated 142 _^AEC and reported in Book I of Maccabees.
² Rabbi, born in Tudela (circa 1130-1173), author of the Sefer massa’ot. He is a major figure in medieval Jewish geography and history.
³ Also called the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, is a hospitable and military Catholic religious order which existed from the time of the Crusades until the beginning of the 19th^th century.
⁴ During the census carried out in 1931, the Italians counted 4,372 Jews.
⁵ At the independence of the Belgian Congo, the Jews joined Belgium.
⁶ The armistice signed secretly on September 3, 1943 in Cassibile, by which the Kingdom of Italy ceased hostilities against the Allied forces.
⁷ Judeo-Romance language derived from 15th century Old Castilian and Hebrew. Ladino is also called Judeo-Spanish, judesmo, spanyolit, djudyo, tetuani, haketiya, spanyol depending on the place.
⁸ בית הכנסת קהל קדוש שלום – synagogue of the holy congregation of peace.
⁹ ‘לה ג’ודיריה’ – Jewish quarter in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of Rhodes.
¹⁰ Destroyed during the war.

Devarim (דברים – lyrics), Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22

At the end of the 40-year exodus, Moshe rebukes the children of Israel. He reminds them of their rebellious behavior. He insists on the fact that Lord thus offers them a country already built. Moshe also discusses the recommendations he gave to his successor, Joshua.
This parsha is always read on the Shabbat preceding the fast of 9 av. It is called Shabbat Chazon (שבת חזון – Shabbat of Vision) because of the Haftarah (Isaiah 1:1-27), which contains the prophecies of the destruction of the Temple.

Isaiah chapter 1-‘ישעיהו א
א חֲזוֹן , יְשַׁעְיָהוּ בֶן-אָמוֹץ, אֲשֶׁר חָזָה, עַל עַל עַל עַל -יְה וִירוּשָׁלִָם
בִּימֵי עֻזִּיָּהוּ יוֹתָם אָחָז יְחִזְקִיָּהוּ, מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה.
1 Oracle of Isaiah, son of Amos, who prophesied on Juda and Jérusalem,
of the time¹ of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Western Wall (הכותל המערבי – HaKotel HaMa’aravi): The second Temple was destroyed² by the Romans³, but the retaining wall of its esplanade is still standing. It is made up of 46 rows of stones ranging from 2 tons to several hundred, like the one that can be seen in the underground part which is 14 meters long and weighs 570 tons. The wall is almost 500 meters long, but only a 70 meter section is easily accessible (of which 57 meters are in the open). A tunnel runs along the underground part of the wall for more than 200 meters. The initial height of the retaining wall is about 60 meters but it is 32 meters on the visible part of the place of prayer. The thickness of the wall is estimated at 4 meters at its base and 2 meters at its top. The closest place to Saint-des-Saints⁴ is called Kotel Hakatan. It is located in the undergrounds of the Kotel.

¹ VIII^th century BCE
² The First Temple, built in 970 BCE, was completely destroyed when Jerusalem was taken by the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BCE. The Second Temple, built in 515 BCE, was destroyed by the Roman armies of Titus in 70; all that remains today are the retaining walls of the esplanade built by Herod and the remains of the arches that allowed access to the esplanade.
³ Flavius ​​Josephus, testifies to the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the second Temple by Ttitus in “The War of the Jews”, Book VII.
⁴ קודש הקודשים Kodesh Hakodachim, the most central part of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Muslims appropriated the place and built the Dome of the Rock (golden dome).

Rosh Chodesh Av
We are entering the month in which dire elements have occurred.

Mas’ei (מסעי – steps), Numbers 33:1-36:13.
^א אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֲשֶׁר יָצְאוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם–לְצִבְאֹתָם:  בְּיַד-מֹשֶׁה, וְאַהֲרֹן.
¹ This is the steps of the children of Israel, since they came out of the land of Egypt, according to their legions, under the conduct of Moses and Aaron.

The Jewish presence in Alsace is attested from the 12^th century. From 1336 to 1339, a movement of poor peasants, the Judenschläger¹ reigned terror. But the most terrible time was that of the Black Death (1347-1349) when thousands of Jews were massacred². The surviving Jews find refuge in the countryside. Alsatian Judaism became rural.
Kembs :
The Jewish community still present at the start of the 20^th century disappeared and the synagogue was razed.
Altkirch :
As of 1469, there is no longer a medieval Jewish community in Altkirch³. At the beginning of the XIX^th century Altkirch had 8 Jewish families⁴.  In 1834, the construction of the current synagogue began. In 1848, anti-Jewish riots broke out⁵, the synagogue and Jewish dwellings were badly damaged. Life resumed its course in 1864, Altkirch had a cemetery, a school and a mikveh. In 1870, entire families left the region after the Prussian invasion and emigrated to Algeria.
Built in 1834, the synagogue⁶ was the place of worship for the Jewish community of Altkirch, until in 2016, the year in which the last Jew in Altkirch died. Transformed into a cinema in 1940, the synagogue was restored in 1946 by the architect Edmond Picard⁷. Since 2016, there have been no more religious services and the building has been put up for sale⁸.

The 4^th step of the Tour of Alsace 2022 (July 30) connects
Kembs in Altkirch.

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¹Those who beat the Jews.
²More than 2000 Jews are murdered in Strasbourg , February 14, 1349, the day of Saint Valentine.
³ Emigration to Basel (1365) and to Mulhouse (1410).
⁴ For comply with the decree of Bayonne, of July 20, 1808, by Napoleon, in which it is said that the Jews of the Empire must adopt a surname and have it registered by a civil registrar of the commune where they are domiciled.
⁵ Juden Rumpel or Judenrumpell.
⁶ Listed in the general inventory of cultural heritage.
⁷ Edmond Picard (1893-1960), son of Abraham Picard and Pauline Schwab, architect, town planner, property developer. A combatant in the French army, he was decorated with the Croix du Combattant Volontaire 1939-1945. He is the grandfather of Dominique-France Picard, wife of Fouad II, the last king of Egypt (1952-1953).
⁸ Property of the Israelite Consistory of Haut-Rhin.

Matot (מטות – Tribes), Numbers 30:2-32:42 .
[…] ב וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל-רָאשֵׁי הַ מַּטּוֹת , לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר
^{2 tribes of the children of Israel, in these terms […]}

The Ed Kahn Foundation Synagogue which is located across the street from Rabbi Elie Cyper^[1] in Dijon a was built in 1879. It is located in a district^[2] where the Jewish presence has been attested since the XII^th century. In 1394, the Jews were expelled from the city and would not return until after the French Revolution.

Appointed in January 1939 rabbi of the Community of Dijon, Elie Cyper was mobilized nine months later as captain-chaplain. He was taken prisoner in May 1940, but he immediately escaped. He resumed service as chaplain until his demobilization in August 1940. He then became the rabbi of the refugees. During the occupation of Dijon by the Germans (1940-1944), Canon Felix Kir^[3], so municipal councilor has the synagogue transformed into a clothing warehouse to avoid its destruction and warns Rabbi Elie Cyper to save the objects of worship. From May 1943, Elie Cyper was active in the resistance group Combat^[4]. He was arrested by the Gestapo on April 8, 1944, the first day of the Passover holiday. He was deported and assassinated by the Nazis in Kovno, Lithuania-Estonia, at the age of 35, on May 15, 1944. The population of Dijon and networks of smugglers allowed half of the Jews of Dijon, in particular the wife of the Rabbi Cyper and his 2 daughters to escape deportation.

The Dijon synagogue is listed in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments (March 15, 1989). In neo-Byzantine style, the building, the work of the Dijon architect Alfred Sirodot^[5], is composed of ‘a central nave and two aisles, interrupted by a transept with two small turrets. The choir is topped with an octagonal cupola. The decorative ornaments were made by Jules Schanovki (sculptures), Léon Leniept (paintings) and Eugène Oudinot^[6] (stained glass, especially those symbolizing the twelve tribes).

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^[1] Elie Cyper was born in Ukraine in 1908. He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945, the Medal of the French Resistance and the Medal of the Order of the Liberation.
^[2] The streets of Petite-Juiverie where there was a synagogue (currently rue Piron), of Jews (rue Buffon) and of Grande-Juiverie (rue Charrue) .
^[3] Félix Kir (1876-1968) priest, politician and resistance fighter (Commander of the Legion d’Honneur, Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, Medal of the French Resistance, etc.), he gave his name to a cocktail recipe based on Aligoté white wine (lively and fresh wine) and crème de cassis. When he went to the Assembly, he carried a bag containing the necessary to make kirs that he offered to his companions.
^{[ 4]} The most important of the eight great French Resistance movements created by Henri Frenay (Henri Frenay Sandoval, 1905-1988) and Berty Albrecht (born Berthe Pauline Mariette Wild, in 1893 in Marseilles and died on May 31, 1943 at Fresnes prison).
^[5] Philippe Auguste Alfred Sirodot (1831-1900) .
^[6] Eugène-Stanislas Oudinot de La Faverie, known as Eugène Oudinot (1827-1889), is a French glass painter. He also made

Pinchas (פנחס) Numbers 25:10-30:1

Regarding Pinchas, grandson of Aaron the Pontiff, Gd says:

כה יג וְהָיְתָה לּוֹ וּלְזַרְעוֹ אַחֲרָיו, בְּרִית כְּהֻנַּת עוֹלָם- תַּחַת, אֲשֶׁר לֵאלֹ לֵאלֹהָיו, וַיְכַפֵּר, עַל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.
He and his posterity after him will possess, as pledge of alliance,
the priesthood in perpetuity; because he sided with his God
and made atonement for the children of Israel.”

Rabbi Pinhas Ha-Cohen is a great Moroccan figure. Born in Taroudant, he was renowned for his kindness, his tolerance, his uprightness and his modesty pushed to the point of humility.

He died in Marrakech on Shabbat afternoon, 14 Tebet 5712¹. On the day of his funeral, the whole town was present. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Marrakech and his grave continues to attract pilgrims from all over the world. It is reported that he several times saved the life of the pasha of Marrakech, Thami El Mezouari El Glaoui² nicknamed The Black Panther.

The Jewish presence in Morocco is attested as early as the 2^th century BCE (some believe it dates back to the time of the First Temple). In 1062, when Marrakech was founded, Jews settled there. In 1492, Rabbi Yitzhak Deloitte, expelled from Spain, founded the Salat al-Azama³ or Laazama synagogue in the Mellah of Marrakech. The current building is a riad⁴ from the end of the XIX^th century in the traditional Moroccan style where zelliges⁵ are omnipresent. The building was renovated in the 50s and a space for women  (עזרת נשים – ezrat nashim) was created and on the upper floor, a yeshiva.

¹ January 12, 1952.
² Grandfather the French actor Moroccan Mehdi El Glaoui (Belle Et Sébastien).
³ Meaning: prayer of dissidents, outcasts or expelled.
⁴ Traditional urban dwelling of Morocco and Andalusia with a central patio or an interior garden.
⁵ Mosaic whose elements are pieces of glazed terracotta, cut and assembled geometrically. Originally from Morocco, this type of decor is present in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.

Balaq (בלק), Numbers 22:2–25:9
^{כד ה} מַה-טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ, יַעֲקֹב; מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ, יִשְׂרָאֵל.
^24-5 How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel!

So beautiful! A jewel in the Arab-Andalusian style. The Spanish Synagogue was designed by the architects Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann and Josef Niklas in 1868. It presents an incredible interior decoration with its stucco arabesques, its gildings, its stylized oriental motifs. After an initial renovation of 20 years and a reopening in 1998, the synagogue is undergoing a new but less extensive renovation in 2020.

On the first floor are exhibited no fewer than 6,000 pieces, the work of 13 generations of goldsmiths from Bohemia and Moravia.

‘Huqat (חקת – decree), Numbers 19:1-22: 1.
^ב זֹאת ַתּ הַתּוֹרָה, אֲשֶׁר-צִוָּה יי לֵאמֹר: דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה תְּמִימָה אֲשֶׁר אֵין-בָּהּ מוּם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא עָלֶה עָלֶיהָ, עֹל .
² This is a decree of the law which the Lord hath commanded: Warn the children of Israel to choose unto thee a red heifer, intact, without any blemish, and which has not yet borne the yoke.

The Institute of Temple (מכון המקדש – Makhon HaMiqdash) located near the Western Wall (הכותל המערבי – HaKotel HaMa’aravi) is a museum and institute of research dedicated to the Temples. It was created in 1987 by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel. The Temple Institute has built many artifacts that can be used in the Third Temple. He also set up an ideal farm project, in a secret location in southern Israel, to create a small herd of cattle of the American breed Red Anguss¹. Several red heifers (פרה אדמה – Parah Adumah) were born there. They receive a rich diet and rigorous veterinary control. Jewish laws concerning the red cow are strict: For example, it is forbidden to use this heifer for agricultural use or transport. In addition, the cow must have reached the age of two years, not have calved and have only red hair.

¹ The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture does not allow the import of live cattle due to the threat of bovine diseases such such as foot-and-mouth disease or mad cow disease, so any farmer who wishes to breed a breed of cow not available in Israel must use frozen embryos.