The red heifer: Catalyst for war or harbinger of global peace?

(JNS) - The laws about the red heifer are among the most enigmatic of any of the biblical commandments. Even a king as notably wise as Solomon, as admitted in Ecclesiastes, could not fully comprehend their logic.

Partly, this is due to the rarity of their presence in our midst; indeed, only nine heifers have ever been sacrificed from the time of Moses until the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. In both Judaism and Christianity, the appearance of viable red heifer candidates heralds the Messiah.

The subject is much maligned and misunderstood, a point that Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, autho...