A conference was held in ancient Shiloh on Wednesday and while the event, dealing with an esoteric Torah commandment, attracted only about 120 attendees and no Israeli media attention, Hezbollah saw fit to publicly threaten the gathering.
The conference was held to discuss issues related to reinstating the Biblical commandment of the red heifer. Attendees were treated to a viewing of five fully-grown red heifers that were brought from Texas in September 2022 as calves. The conference was held to coincide with Parsha Para, when the Torah portion concerning the mitzvah of the red heifer is read on Shabbat. Typically held in the second half of the month of Adar, the Torah reading is intended to reinforce the laws of ritual purity in time for the Jews to bring the Passover offering to the Temple in Jerusalem.
The conference took place as the subject of the red heifers went viral on the internet for entirely different reasons. Abu Obeida, the military spokesman for the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas terrorist organization, made a televised appearance on the 100th day of the Israeli war on Gaza in which he claimed the attack was due to the efforts being made by the arrival in Israel of five red heifers. As the war progressed, foreign media focused on the red heifers.
It should be emphasized that performing the red heifer ceremony is unrelated to building the Temple.
But this incorrect narrative led to Hezbollah posting the invitation to the red heifer conference with a warning in Arabic. Arnon Segal posted the image that appeared on Hezbollah’s social media with the comment, “Hezbollah sees it as proper to advertise the red heifer conference in Tel Shiloh, but among us, the conference was not even mentioned in the religious media. Why? By them, the matter is very clear. There is no confusion or nitpicking along the way. There is a great clarity regarding the goal of the war. But with us? The only thing we want is to sleep peacefully.”
