The Ashes of the Red Heifer: On the trail of the holy cow

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                                 October 21, 1990

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                            The Ashes of the Red Heifer
                           On the trail of the holy cow
       --------------------------------------------------------------------

       Vangard Notes >>>

              In August  of  1989,  Ron  and  I had the pleasure of meeting
              David Fasold at a conference in Denver.  David has found what
              is believed  to  be  the   original   Noah's   Ark,   located
              approximately 15  miles  from  Mount  Ararat.    The  Turkish
              government has  now  built a state funded park on the site in
              honor of the archeological importance of the finding.

              David is a fascinating man  with  many experiences to relate.
              Among the  many  things  we discussed were  the  Ark  of  the
              Covenant and  the Ashes of the Red Heifer.  We are working on
              a detailed article relating  David's  discovery.   He  has an
              excellent hardback book out entitled, "The Ark  of Noah".  We
              recommend it   highly   if   you   are   interested  in  such
              information.

              In conversation with David, he mentioned that he was to go
              on a  speaking  tour  with   Vendyl   Jones,   the   original
              inspiration for  the  Indiana Jones movie character.   Vendyl
              lives in  Arlington, TX and David arranged for us to meet him
              on the trip he made to Dallas in October of 1989.

              Vendyl is head of a group "the  Institute of Judaic-Christian
              Research" which  actively  seeks  to  develop   understanding
              between the Jewish and Christian traditions.

              Vendyl's lovely  wife  Zahava  is a native of Israel and very
              familiar with  the  areas of  which  the  Qumran  manuscripts
              speak.  One of the scrolls is made of beaten  copper  and  is
              over 7 feet long.

              There is  an  inscription  on  the  scroll  which purports to
              disclose the location of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant and the
              artifacts associated  with its use.  Scholars  had  dismissed
              the inscriptions as myth or legend having no basis in truth.

              When Zahava   read   the  text  of  these  inscriptions,  she
              recognized some  of  the   landmarks   to  which  the  scroll
              referred.  Her translations in addition to those of scholars



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              in ancient  Hebrew  have  pointed  out  definite areas in the
              region which might hold these artifacts.

              For many years now, Vendyl  and  his group have sponsored and
              actively dug in the caves of this region in search of the Ark
              and the associated artifacts.

              Last year, Vendyl found a flask of holy oil  used  to annoint
              the heads  of  high  priests  and kings.  There is an ongoing
              hope that they will succeed in finding these lost treasures.

              The Institute operates a BBS at 817-346-1038 which reports on
              their activities and is open to all.

              The Ashes of the Red Heifer  when  found  and  mixed with the
              ashes generated  from  the  ritual sacrifice  of  a  new  red
              heifer, will  presage  the  re-establishment of the Sanhedrin
              (Jewish ruling Council) and  lead  to  the  rebuilding of the
              third Temple  in  Israel.   The  first and second  were  each
              destroyed centuries ago.

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       It has all  the  makings  of  a sci-Halacha thriller.  A young Torah
       scholar in Jerusalem enlists the help  of  a prominent geneticist in
       Beit Dagan, an  ex-Southern  Baptist  minister  from  Texas,  and  a
       veterinarian in Sweden  to  unlock the secret of ritual purification
       for worship in the Holy Temple.

       But Menahem Burstin,  a  scholar   who  specializes  in  the  Temple
       service, insists that his search for the rare red  heifer  is  not a
       swashbuckling adventure: it  is  serious  research  aimed in part at
       taking the fear out of such practices as animal sacrifices.

       "My father taught me kodashim and  tohorot  (orders  of  the  Mishna
       dealing with the Temple service) when I was a child, so for me these
       subjects were natural." Burstin said last week in his tiny book-
       lined apartment in Jerusalem's Romema quarter. "But  when I lectured
       about the Temple  -  to  ultra-Orthodox, national-religious. Netorei
       Karta, kibbutz youth - I found that  people  were scared by the idea
       of sacrifices and  consequently  scared  of  the rebuilding  of  the
       Temple."

       On the advice  of  leading  rabbinical figures like Rabbi Zvi Yehuda
       Cook and Rabbi Eliezer Schach, Burstin  began  researching  the more
       "esthetic" aspects of Temple service, like incense offering.

       He consulted with  botanists  and painstakingly gathered  herbs  and
       spices from all  over  the world to find the ingredients required by
       the Torah for such offerings.

       Later, his studies led him to explore  the  mystery  of  Techelet, a
       bluish (some say violet) dye that was used in the  Temple  and  that
       was also prescribed for the fringes of the tzizit.

       After nearly 14 years of researching the dye, which is produced by a
       sea-creature called the  hilazon,  Burstin  published  a book on the
       subject last year.


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       At the same  time,  he  began a worldwide search for the red heifer,
       used during Temple times to "purify"  those  who had become ritually
       unfit through contact with the dead.

       The reasons for the mitzvah of the red heifer are not  clear  - King
       Solomon said of  it:  "I  thought  I would have wisdom but it is far
       from me" - but the specifications for such a cow are quite explicit:

             it must be pure red (even two  black  hairs  render it unfit),
             must have no blemishes, and
             must never have borne a yoke.

       During his search, Burstin came across two herds of  red  heifers. A
       South African herd  was reported by Tzvi Katz, an Israeli researcher
       who specializes in poultry. The cows,  a brownish-red were crossbred
       by farmers looking for a more sturdy breed.

       But a more promising find was reported by Ronen Yahid,  a student at
       Machon Meir in Jerusalem.

       "He is a  hozer bitshuva (newly religious) Jew from a kibbutz in the
       north, and was sitting in on a lecture  where  he  learned  for  the
       first time abut the red heifer. He raised his hand and told his
       rabbi that he'd seen such cows on a visit to Sweden.  His rabbi said
       it was impossible,  butthe  student  insisted that he had seen them,
       and so he was sent to me for questioning."

       Burstin was convinced that the student's  report was worth following
       up, and contacted  the owner of the herd, a woman veterinarian,  who
       sent pictures of her red cows.

       He said he  would  ask  Stockholm  Chief  Rabbi  Aharon Katz, who is
       visiting Jerusalem, to inspect the  cows  personally  to see whether
       they are pure red.

       But even if  the  inspections  turns up more than two  black  hairs,
       Burstin is confident  that  genetic engineering can produce a kosher
       red heifer. "I have been in touch with Dr. Yehuda Waller of the
       Volcani Institute, a world-renowned  expert  in breeding cattle, and
       he assured me  that  if  the cows' hair is mostly  red  there  is  a
       possibility of improving them."

       If the Swedish  cows  prove  to  be  suitable, Burstin will import a
       frozen embryo and implant it in local cows.

       Burstin's goals are educational, not  practical. He has no intention
       of racing up to the Temple Mount with his red cow and declaring open
       season for sacrificing.

       In the first  place,  there remain some serious practical  problems,
       and in the  second,  he  can't  second-guess G-d's plans for a third
       Temple.

       "I don't have to do G-d"s thinking  for  Him," says Burstin, 33, who
       studies at Mercaz Harav Kook in Jerusalem. "But I have an obligation
       to study all  the  laws  in the Torah, including those  relating  to
       Temple service. This  form of research is exciting because it brings
       to life all the verses and the mishnaic  and  talmudic literature on
       the Temple service."

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       According to the literature, the red heifer is burned together with
       eitzerez, eizov and tola'at shani (cedar-wood, hyssop and scarlet).

       Burstin is convinced that he has accurately identified these items -
       the scarlet, for  instance, is a colour made from Crimson Worm - but
       he lacks one vital ingredient: the ash of a previous red heifer that
       must be mixed with the new ash.

       The solution to this problem may  rest  with  Vendyl Jones, a former
       Baptist minister from Texas, who has studied in yeshiva.

       Jones divides his  time between running a religious  centre  in  the
       U.S. that promotes  the  observances  of the seven Noahide laws, and
       the search for vessels from the Temple  in  the  caves of the Judean
       desert.

       "He is using the Copper Scroll discovered in 1952,  which  describes
       the relative location  of  the vessels. It doesn't say exactly where
       they are located,  but  at  what level  they  can  be  found,"  says
       Burstin.

       "That scroll tells where the `kalal' is located, and  the  kalal was
       the vessel that held the ash of the red heifer."

       Vendyl, who has  already  located  a  vial  of  oil that was used to
       anoint kings, claims that he has  found  the  cave  that  houses the
       kalal. But once he finds the container and, presumably, the remnants
       of the previous red heifer, he must find a way to extract it.

       "Once he touches the kalal it becomes tameh (ritually unfit), and it
       loses its effectiveness," says Burstin. "I have brought  him  to the
       chief rabbis and  we  are looking for a solution to the problem. But
       we don't have it yet."

       There are other problems (finding  a  ritually  fit  Kohen to do the
       service, for instance)  and  possible solutions, but  for  the  time
       being Burstin is taking one step at a time.

       Reprint, Fee Paid, Jerusalem Post
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       Vangard Notes >>>

       Additional information regarding the Red Heifer follows.

       Quotes are taken  from "The Holy Bible in Modern English" translated
       direct from the original Hebrew,  Chaldee  and  Greek  languages  by
       Ferrar Fenton.

       The verse relating  the  sacrifice  of the Red Heifer  is  found  in
       Numbers under the heading THE NATIONAL SACRIFICE FOR SIN.

            The EVER-LIVING also spoke to Moses, Commanding; -

            "The following  is a constitutional law which JEHOVAH commands,
            saying; - Command the children  of  Israel  to select for you a
            RED HEIFER, perfect, and who has not a spot on  her,  which has
            never been under a yoke.



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            Let them  bring it to Aliazar the priest, and he shall slay her
            in their presence.  Then Aliazar the  priest shall take some of
            her blood on his finger, and sprinkle the front  of the Hall of
            Assembly seven  times  with  the  blood, and burn the heifer in
            their sight with its skin, and  flesh,  and its dung.  He shall
            burn it to dissolution.

            Then the priest shall take cedar and hyssop wood,  and  scarlet
            wool, and ashes from among the cinders of the heifer.

            "The priest  shall  then change his clothing, and wash his body
            with water, and afterwards  return  into  the  camp.   But  the
            priest shall be unclean until the evening.  Those who burnt her
            also shall  change  their  clothes,  and wash their  bodies  in
            water, and be unclean until the evening.

            "Afterwards a  clean  man  shall remove the ashes of the heifer
            and place them outside the  camp  in  a  clean  place, and they
            shall be  as  a  witness  to  the children of  Israel  to  KEEP
            THEMSELVES FROM THE IMPURITY OF SIN.

       Now this is  the  procedure  for  creating  what  is  termed  a SIN-
       OFFERING.  The ashes yielded from  this  procedure  are used for the
       purification of what is termed UNCLEAN, part of which  is  specified
       in the following:

            1)  Whoever  touches  the  corpse of a man shall be unclean for
                seven days.  If he offers  a SIN-OFFERING on the third day,
                then he shall be clean on the seventh day;  but  if he does
                not offer  a  SIN-OFFERING on the third day HE SHALL NOT BE
                CLEAN on the seventh.

                Whoever touches a corpse,  -  the body of a man who dies, -
                and does not make a SIN-OFFERING at the  sanctuary  of  the
                EVER-LIVING, is   defiled;   and   that   person  shall  be
                EXCOMMUNICATED from Israel,  because  he has not washed the
                filth from  off  himself  with water; he shall  be  unclean
                while the impurity is on him.

            2)  "These  are  the  laws  about  persons who  have  DIED IN A
                DWELLING.  All who come to the dwelling, and all who are in
                the dwelling ARE UNCLEAN  for  seven  days.   Every vessel,
                also, which  is  open,  unless  there is  a  lid  upon  the
                opening, is defiled.

                And whoever  TOUCHES A MAN KILLED IN FIGHT, OR THE BONES OF
                A MAN, OR KILLED ACCIDENTALLY,  shall  be defiled for seven
                days.

                You shall consequently take to the defiled  person  SOME OF
                THE ASHES  OF  THE  FIRES OF SIN-OFFERINGS, and put them on
                LIVING WATER, in a cup, and take hyssop and dabble with the
                water the man who is to be  purified,  and sprinkle it upon
                the dwelling and over all the furniture, and  over  all the
                persons who  may be there, and over the man who has touched
                the bones, or the slain,  or  the  dead  by  accident,  and
                sprinkle the  purification upon the defiled  at  the  third
                day, and  upon the seventh day, and make a SIN-OFFERING for
                him upon the seventh day,  and  he shall change his clothes
                and bathe in water, when he shall be purified at evening.
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                But the  man  who  is defiled, and does not  offer  a  SIN-
                OFFERING, that person shall BE EXCLUDED FROM THE ENTRY INTO
                THE HOLY  ASSEMBLY  OF  THE EVER-LIVING......Therefore this
                shall be  a PERPETUAL INSTITUTION  to  you;  and  for  this
                reason the  filthy  shall  change  their clothes,  and  who
                touches anything filthy shall be unclean until the evening;
                and all  that touches him who is unclean, shall be unclean,
                and the  person  he touches  shall  be  unclean  until  the
                evening.

       It is interesting to note that the 2nd injunction  states  that  the
       ASHES FROM THE  FIRE  OF  A  SIN-OFFERING  are  to  be  used for the
       purification and do not necessarily  require  the  Ashes  of the Red
       Heifer.

       The instructions for  the actual burning of the Red  Heifer  end  by
       stating that the  ashes are to be removed to the outside of the camp
       in a clean place as a WITNESS to  the  children  to  keep themselves
       pure from sin.

       Another interesting series  of  instructions  involve   the   proper
       construction of an altar.  This comes from Exodus.

            Then the  EVER-LIVING  said to Moses, "Say this to the children
            of Israel, you have seen that  from  the  heavens I have spoken
            with you.  Never make for yourselves a God of  silver, or a God
            of gold.  You shall not make them for yourselves.

            You shall  make  an  altar OF EARTH for Me, and you shall offer
            upon it your SACRIFICES and your  thank  offerings, your sheep,
            and your oxen.  In every place where I record  MY  NAME, I will
            come to you and bless you.

            But if you make AN ALTAR OF STONE to Me, it SHALL NOT BE OF CUT
            STONES, for if you carve with a cutter upon it, then it will be
            polluted.

            And you  SHALL  NOT  PILE UP PYRAMIDS FOR AN ALTAR so that your
            nakedness may not be discovered when you go up to it.

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              Since the  writing of this article, Vendyl told  us that they
              have indeed found a Red Heifer  as  perfect  as called for in
              the ritual.  It was 10 months of age in October  of  89' when
              Vendyl spoke  of  it.   One of the other requirements is that
              the heifer could not exceed 4 years of age.

              Also since that time, Vendyl and the rabbis have come up with
              a solution as to how the touching of the Kalal (container for
              the ashes of the red heifer) by the unfit can be avoided.

              Vendyl's sons are studying  to  become  Kohen  and  therefore
              ritually fit to handle the Kalal.

              There are many aspects of Jewish tradition which  we  find of
              interest, especially  those  which  relate  to  some  form of
              device, ritual or geometry.   Many  of  the  Vangard Sciences
              include the  use  of  geometries  and devices  to  accomplish
              specific functions.
                                      Page 6





              Just as  a comment, a friend of ours from England worked with
              a group involved with the  Teslar  (ELF)  watches on a Jewish
              device known as the Tiflin.  The Tiflin is a  device used for
              ritual meditation  and to assist the aspirant in establishing
              contact with G-d. (Jewish  tradition  forbids  the use of the
              word GOD when written, thus the o is left out)

              The Tiflin consists of a headpiece and an  armband  (for  the
              left arm),  both made of leather.  An area is provided in the
              armband and headpiece to hold  paper  printed  with  specific
              quotes from the Koran or other Jewish religious texts.  These
              must be written in Hebrew.

              The left armband is attached at the heart level.   The nature
              of the  text  determines  the purpose of the meditation.  Our
              friend said  a test was done  with  the  Tiflin  using  blank
              papers or suitably inscribed papers in the Tiflin chambers.

              When, unbeknownst to the operator,  blank paper was placed in
              the chambers, the energy field measured during the meditation
              was extremely  weak.   When the Hebrew inscribed  texts  were
              placed in  the  chambers,  a  powerful  energy field emanated
              during the meditation.

              We do not know if tests were also done using different Hebrew
              quotes although  it  would  follow  that  the  intensity  and
              "flavor" of the energy would be dependent  on  the  nature of
              the quote.

              Another interesting  thing is the Ark of the Covenant and its
              use.  There  is  every  probability   that  the  Ark  somehow
              functioned as  a storage chamber for the life  force  of  the
              being which was sacrificed in its presence.

              Ritual magic includes the sacrifice of animals and humans for
              the purpose  of  releasing  their  life  force.   A  properly
              trained operator could then  capture  and redirect that force
              for the carrying out of specific purposes.

              Comments made  by  mass or serial killers include  statements
              that they  get  a "rush" when the victim expires.  No doubt a
              great part  of  this is the  psychological  thrill  of  being
              dominant over a helpless victim, although the release of life
              energy must play a part.

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            If you  have  comments  or other information relating  to  such
            topics as this paper covers,  please upload to KeelyNet or
            send to the Vangard Sciences address as previously listed.

              Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.

           Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
                             Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
       --------------------------------------------------------------------
                     If we can be of service, you may contact
                 Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
       --------------------------------------------------------------------

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