{"id":35565,"date":"2026-03-26T13:31:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T13:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/?page_id=35565"},"modified":"2026-03-26T13:33:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T13:33:44","slug":"the-mystery-of-the-red-heifer-and-bete-israel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/the-mystery-of-the-red-heifer-and-bete-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mystery of the Red Heifer and Bete Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\">\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><video src=\"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/FINAL-Red-Heifer-YT-Small.mp4\" controls=\"controls\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"><\/video><\/figure>\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In this video, Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom, the founder and director of the International Center for the Study of Ethiopian Jewry at Ono Academic College, explores the deeper meaning of the biblical red heifer ritual and why it still matters today. He explains how an ancient purification ceremony points to a larger lesson: not everything in life can be understood through logic alone, and moral clarity is often difficult but essential. Rabbi Dr. Shalom reflects on how purity laws changed after the destruction of the Temple, arguing that religion should never be used to divide or rank people. Drawing on the Ethiopian Jewish tradition of Bete Israel, the video presents impurity as a temporary human condition, not a mark of shame, and emphasizes faith as a source of dignity and equality. It ends by connecting these ideas to the moral confusion of the present moment, especially after October 7 and amid conflict with Iran, calling for clear moral vision in dark times.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":35569,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-35565","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35565"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35570,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35565\/revisions\/35570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ono.ac.il\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}