(word processor parameters LM=1, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2) Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501 Sponsored by Vangard Sciences PO BOX 1031 Mesquite, TX 75150 HEIFER.ASC October 21, 1990 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 1 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Page 2 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." Page 3 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Page 4 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. Page 5 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 7