Posted today by The Temple Institute:
MAZAL TOV! A PURE RED HEIFER IS BORN!
har-habait.org/article/891
A Red Heifer Is Born in the Galilee
"And They Will Take You a Pure Red Heifer." (Numbers 19:2)
In the shadow of the war in the north, a pure red heifer was born in a dairy farm in the Galilee Mountains.
Shai Givon, who specializes in artificial insemination in dairy farms and cattle farms on behalf of the "Ferion" company, discovered that a completely red heifer was born in a dairy farm in the north of the country from the insemination he performed on a dairy cow nine months ago. The cow as mentioned was inseminated with a Red Angus breed.
Usually, due to the dominance of the black color that dominates dairy cows, this type of crossbreeding produces completely black or brown-black offspring. In this case, a completely brown heifer was born, and the incident surprised Shai very much.
Shai is not new to the field of red cows. About fifteen years ago, a red calf was born in his herd. But it was disqualified after it had black hairs on the edges of its body, ears, and tail. Over the years, Shai has gained experience and is now a member of the team at the National Institute for Red Cow Research.
The National Institute for Red Heifer Research
The National Institute was established to be a home for all specialists in the field of red cows to work under one roof, creating a national-scale project. Among the team members is Rabbi Azaria Ariel of the Temple Institute, who has published books on the subject and has been researching it for over a decade. Menachem Weber, coach of the Israeli national team in Davit, is the institute's spokesperson. Yehuda Ben-Zvi of the Temple Knowledge Seminary, which has been inspiring the desire for the Temple throughout the country for thirty years.
All of them have gained halachic and practical experience and specialization over the years, leading to breakthroughs in the field.
A pure red calf with no white hairs at all is rare, but not unheard of. Especially in Canada, where hundreds of thousands of Red Angus cattle are raised. The formidable challenge is to find a cow that has reached the age of two years, without white hairs, which constitutes the halakhic watershed between a "heifer " and a "cow".
Genetic and practical research has led to the conclusion that these hairs grow mainly due to a lack of "melanin", in the same way as senile hairs in the human body. The challenge is compounded by the American law that requires a number tag to be placed in the ear of each heifer , which makes the task of finding a suitable heifer without a tag almost impossible.
To deal with these challenges, the National Institute for Red Cow Research has established a beit midrash of scholars who are knowledgeable in the field, who discuss and provide a decision on the practical questions of the mitzvah, while consulting with all the great men of Israel in the field. All this in order to give the project broad halakhic backing.
Head of the Beit Midrash, Rabbi Azaria Ariel, believes that electrolysis can be used to remove these hairs, provided that the cow was born 100% pure and the hairs are still few and scattered. Genetics also have implications - the calf's parents have a tendency to be black, which reduces the chances of white hair growing when in fact her hair is red. But G-d's ways are hidden.
Unfortunately, near the birth, a farm worker placed a tag in the calf's ear, which caused her a deformity. Shai was the first to understand the calf's potential and took care to remove the tag eight days after it was placed.
Just last week, Rabbi Azaria Ariel performed a comprehensive examination of the calf and found that she was pure in her redness and was happy to see the rapid recovery rate of the deformity in her ears. Therefore, we chose to name the calf "Tamima" in prayer that she would indeed be found pure in her body and in the redness of her hair.