Last Tuesday, a practice red heifer burning was conducted. A video from the drill was published on Israel National News.

In the drill, a red heifer that had been housed at Shiloh by the Boneh Israel organization was prepared and burned on a pyre of wood as preparation for the possibility of an actual ceremony in the future. The heifer was not suitable for the actual ceremony, as it had been inspected by the rabbis of the Temple Institute and judged to have non-red hairs, thereby disqualifying it. The heifer was burned on a pyre of wood precisely as specified in Jewish sources.

The practice burning was carried out at an undisclosed location in Samaria. The actual red heifer may only be burned at a specific location on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

The red heifer project is being carried out by the Temple Institute under the auspices of Rabbi Azariah Ariel. Any information or developments concerning the red heifer project can only be considered authoritative if the come from these sources.

It must be emphasized that this was a practice and not an actual ceremony done to produce the ashes used in purifying Jews for performing the Temple service. Five red calves were brought from Texas to Israel by Boneh Israel in September 2022. The event led to a flood of misinformation and false reporting, as well as claims by antisemites, Hamas, and Hezbollah that the preparation for the restoration of the Temple service by the Jews incited their attacks on Israel.

A similar practice burning was carried out in 2019 by Professor Zohar Amar, a Professor in the Department of Land of Israel Studies at Bar-Ilan University.