Love of the Land - Ashkelon ? Home of the Red Cow

When we read this Shabbat the Maftir of Parshat Parah we recall an historical incident connected with the southern city of Ashkelon. Dama ben Netina, a gentile who lived in Ashkelon, was blessed with the birth in his flock of a rare completely red cow, which was needed by the Jews for the purification process of those spiritually contaminated by contact with the dead.

Our Sages(Mesechta Kiddushin 31a) saw this as a reward for Dama's exemplary honoring of his father by refusing to wake him up a year earlier in order to sell at a fabulous price to the Jewish community a precious jewel needed for the priestly garments.

Although he realized that he could ask virtually any price for so rare a commodity as a completely red cow, Dama asked only for the amount of money he sacrificed for his father's honor.

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