The burning of the red heifer on July 1 marked a significant moment in Jewish tradition, sparking considerable discussion. The Temple Institute, which has long been preparing for this ritual, issued its first official statement on the event, addressing the various claims circulating across media platforms, such as YouTube.

Additionally, the Sanhedrin has issued its own statement regarding the event, lending further clarity and direction to the ongoing process.

Jewish tradition maintains that the red heifer is the most enigmatic and difficult to understand law that God gave us in the Torah. The Jewish sources discuss the multitude of details in depth, covering the laws regarding the requirements and aspects that disqualify the heifer, as well as the performance of the ceremony and how it was conducted during the days the Temple stood in Jerusalem. Few scholars are experts in the red heifer. Over a decade ago, the Temple Institute launched its red heifer project and tasked Rabbi Azariah Ariel with studying the subject in depth.

It should be emphasized that the red heifer is used to purify the nation of Israel from impurity resulting from proximity to or contact with a dead body. This state of purity is necessary for Jews to ascend to the Temple. Non-Jews do not become ritually impure and do not enter the Temple, so the mitzvah of the red heifer is not relevant to them, though the Talmud describes the purchase of a red heifer from a non-Jew to be used to purify Jews for the Temple service. 

It should also be emphasized that Jews are currently the only verifiable descendants of Israel. Jewish law explicitly states that Jewish identity is genealogical, passed down from mother to children. Being part of the nation of Israel is not nor has it ever been a result of belief.

On July 1, a red heifer that had been housed at Shiloh by the Boneh Israel organization was prepared and burned on a pyre of wood at an undisclosed location in Samaria. The ceremony was carried out by a Kohen (a Jewish man descended from Aaron the priest). The cow was one of five red calves that were brought from Texas to Israel by Boneh Israel in September 2022

The Temple Institute statement reads as follows:

In light of incorrect information that has been published regarding the red heifer, the Temple Institute would like to announce:

1. For about ten years, the Temple Institute has been engaged in preparations for producing the ashes of the red heifer, both from an educational and practical perspective. The observance of these commandments, the raising of a red heifer according to Torah law, and the production of kosher ashes for the purification of the ritually impure, is very complex and includes thousands (!) of details, which require great knowledge and skill in execution. Therefore, the process also includes a number of practical experiments and exercises.

2. About three months ago, a practice was held in the Samarian mountains, in which a simulation of the making of the ashes of the red heifer was conducted.

3. Of course, ashes of the red heifer that are not made on the Mount of Olives while facing the site of the Holy Temple are completely invalid (Mishnah, Para 4:2; Rambam, Para Aduma 4:5). Therefore, we clarify that the simulation was only an exercise, part of a series of exercises that were and, with G-d’s help, will continue to be conducted, before we are properly prepared to fulfill the mitzvah according to Torah requirements. The act was not kosher for additional reasons, including: a heifer was chosen for the exercise whose overall color was red, but was, nevertheless, the most invalid and unkosher of the heifers in our possession. (Its tail was damaged, and it had a defect.) Likewise, the priestly garments worn by the kohen conducting the practice exercise were not consecrated. The purpose of the exercise was to improve our readiness for producing the ashes, and indeed, the exercise improved our understanding of the process, as well as the kohen’s skill, and also revealed various weak points that we must deal with, such as the proper way to lead the heifer to its destination.

4. For this reason, the ashes were mostly left by us in place without any care on our part. We did collect samples of the ashes by people who are tamei met, (impure due to contact with a corpse), and are therefore rendered ineligible for performing this mitzvah, only for the purpose of checking whether the equipment we have is suitable for the task, and important lessons were learned in this regard as well. In any case, all of the ashes are completely ineligible.

5. Anyone who claims otherwise, that the heifer was kosher and the ashes produced from it are kosher for the purpose of purification, is mistaken and misleading, either intentionally or unintentionally.

6. There are currently four red heifers at the Shiloh site, some of which are owned by Rabbi Ariel, head of the Temple Institute. Their halachic status has not yet been definitively determined, and we are monitoring them.

7. The real red heifer will be made, G-d willing, when we have a kosher red heifer (according to the opinion of the rabbis of the Temple Institute and the rabbis they consult with), and when we are ready in all other aspects of the matter. This is a long process that requires patience and perseverance.

After deliberation, the nascent Sanhedrin released a statement regarding the event:

Sanhedrin Decision from the 19th of Cheshvan, 5786 [Nov. 10, 2025]

Ruling of the Sanhedrin Court on the Matter of Red Heifer Ashes

We sat together as one court.

Questions have reached the Sanhedrin regarding red heifer ashes, and particularly regarding the recent exercises that was conducted. We hereby announce that we completely rely on the attached announcement from the Temple Institute.

And we address all Gentiles throughout the world with the following call:

We, the Sanhedrin, whose ancestors and families stood at Mount Sinai and witnessed the revelation of the Holy One, Blessed be He, to the entire world – generation after generation, we have studied the Torah that the Holy One, Blessed be He, gave us. And we know that the Holy One, Blessed be He, asks those who come into the world to accept upon themselves the Seven Noahide Commandments.

The moment a person accepts upon themselves the Seven Noahide Commandments, they receive directly from the Holy One, Blessed be He, three amazing gifts: 

• They receive a portion of the soul. 
• They receive a portion in the World to Come. 
• They are called “Righteous Among the Nations.”

Anyone who invents something other than the Seven Noahide Commandments causes those who listen to him to sin, and this includes anyone who invents that the ashes from a red heifer exercise purify Gentiles, or heals Gentiles, or anything else – such a person is among the fraudsters and swindlers, and one must distance oneself from him and distance him.