Red heifer

The red heifer (Hebrew: פָּרָה אֲדֻמָּה, romanized: pārā adummā), a female bovine which has never been pregnant or milked or yoked, also known as the red cow, was a cow brought to the priests as a sacrifice according to the Torah, and its ashes were used for the ritual purification of corpse uncleanness, that is, an Israelite who had come into contact with a human corpse, human bone, or grave.