Dear Friends,
“Do not see the kid in its mother’s milk.” (Deuteronomy 14:21)
From this short, 5-word (in Hebrew) formula, comes the basis of the kashrut laws of separation of meat and milk. This exact verse is found also in Exodus, and from it the rabbinic sages built the prohibition of mixing meat and milk, as a broad proscription.
Yet, the verse is quite specific. It only forbids cooking the (meat) of the young goat in the milk of its own mother. It does not disallow cooking any other meat in any other milk, nor mixing meats or milks in a dish, nor including milk foodstuffs separately in an otherwise meat meal (for instance, having blue cheese on a salad accompanying a steak dinner), or even requiring two sets of dishes, or among the most fastidiously observant, even having two dishwashers – one meat and one dairy – in one’s kitchen (or having two, separate kitchens!)
Yes, the sages did extend the proscription, extensively. They called it “A Fence Around the Torah.” And, though it may seem untoward and onerous, they did have a critical point they were making in their compounding extensions. They were warning us to be careful not to cross a line in a negative commandment. Positive commandments (Honor your father and mother, or feed the hungry, for instance) need no limitations. We can do them to no end. Yet, negative commandments do have limits and safeguards, ostensibly in that violating them may come with significant penalties.
We may not know what the penalty for mixing meat and milk may be. Torah does not indicate any consequence. But, we do know what the penalty for driving 75 miles an hour in a 25-mile zone might be: not only a hefty fine and points, but possibly accident, injury, and death.
Being careful to heed the “Thou shalt not’s” is the key theme of the rabbinic sages. They figured, correctly we presume, that prohibitions are stated for a given reason, and if the Torah indicates not to boil the kid in the mother’s milk, the rabbis enlarged the circle of avoidance by including other meat, other dairy, and then all meat and milk and even the utensils.
In our day, we learn to be cautious with driving. We learn to be sensitive to verbal and interpersonal boundaries and interactions. We know that we must not trespass (look at the attack on the Capitol on January 6), and we know that we must not bring hazardous items onto airplanes. There is an abiding value to enlarging the “Do not’s” for our own sake and safety, and that of others.
Hence, today, we better understand, “Do not see the kid in its mother’s milk.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
“Do not see the kid in its mother’s milk.” (Deuteronomy 14:21)
From this short, 5-word (in Hebrew) formula, comes the basis of the kashrut laws of separation of meat and milk. This exact verse is found also in Exodus, and from it the rabbinic sages built the prohibition of mixing meat and milk, as a broad proscription.
Yet, the verse is quite specific. It only forbids cooking the (meat) of the young goat in the milk of its own mother. It does not disallow cooking any other meat in any other milk, nor mixing meats or milks in a dish, nor including milk foodstuffs separately in an otherwise meat meal (for instance, having blue cheese on a salad accompanying a steak dinner), or even requiring two sets of dishes, or among the most fastidiously observant, even having two dishwashers – one meat and one dairy – in one’s kitchen (or having two, separate kitchens!)
Yes, the sages did extend the proscription, extensively. They called it “A Fence Around the Torah.” And, though it may seem untoward and onerous, they did have a critical point they were making in their compounding extensions. They were warning us to be careful not to cross a line in a negative commandment. Positive commandments (Honor your father and mother, or feed the hungry, for instance) need no limitations. We can do them to no end. Yet, negative commandments do have limits and safeguards, ostensibly in that violating them may come with significant penalties.
We may not know what the penalty for mixing meat and milk may be. Torah does not indicate any consequence. But, we do know what the penalty for driving 75 miles an hour in a 25-mile zone might be: not only a hefty fine and points, but possibly accident, injury, and death.
Being careful to heed the “Thou shalt not’s” is the key theme of the rabbinic sages. They figured, correctly we presume, that prohibitions are stated for a given reason, and if the Torah indicates not to boil the kid in the mother’s milk, the rabbis enlarged the circle of avoidance by including other meat, other dairy, and then all meat and milk and even the utensils.
In our day, we learn to be cautious with driving. We learn to be sensitive to verbal and interpersonal boundaries and interactions. We know that we must not trespass (look at the attack on the Capitol on January 6), and we know that we must not bring hazardous items onto airplanes. There is an abiding value to enlarging the “Do not’s” for our own sake and safety, and that of others.
Hence, today, we better understand, “Do not see the kid in its mother’s milk.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
