Milk and meat in Jewish law facts for kids

"Milchik" redirects here. For other uses, see Milchik (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids
Milk and meat in Jewish law
Halakhic texts relating to this article
Torah:	Exodus 23:19 Exodus 34:26 Deuteronomy 14:21
Babylonian Talmud:	Hullin 113b, 115b

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Judaism

Why is this law important?

Ancient Jewish teachers, called rabbis, didn't explain why this rule exists in the Talmud. But later thinkers, like Maimonides, thought it was linked to avoiding idol worship.

Some rabbis, like Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno and Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz, believed the law was about a specific ancient practice. They thought some people in the Levant would cook young goats in their mothers' milk. They did this to try and get help from spirits to make their animal herds grow.

Other rabbis saw an ethical side to the law. Rashbam felt it was unkind to use an animal's milk to cook its own baby. This idea is similar to another Jewish law about not taking a mother bird with its eggs. Chaim ibn Attar compared cooking animals in their mother's milk to harming nursing babies.

Understanding the Biblical Law

Three Main Rules

The rabbis understood the Bible's rule about milk and meat in three ways. Even though the Bible repeats the rule three times, they saw it as creating three separate laws:

You cannot cook meat and milk together. This is true even if no one plans to eat it.
You cannot eat meat and milk together. This is true even if they weren't cooked together.
You cannot get any other benefit from a mixture of meat and milk.

This idea of "not benefiting" means you can't use the mixture in any way. For example, you can't sell it or feed it to your pets. You also can't get money back for it if you bought it by mistake.

The rabbis in ancient times said that only meat and milk cooked together were forbidden by the Bible. But later Jewish writers in the Middle Ages also forbade eating anything that just had the mixed tastes of milk and meat. This included, for example, meat that had been soaked in milk for a long time.

What "G'di" Means

The Bible uses the word g'di (גדי) when it says not to boil a kid. Rashi, a famous rabbi, said that g'di means more than just a young goat. He believed it also includes calves (young cows) and lambs (young sheep). Rashi also said that g'di does not include birds or non-kosher animals.

The rabbis of the Talmud agreed with this idea. They said that since kosher animals like sheep, goats, and cattle are similar to kosher birds and wild animals, these meats should also be forbidden with milk. This created a general rule against mixing milk and meat from any kosher animal, except for fish.

What "Mother's Milk" Means

Rashi also thought that "mother's milk" means birds are not included in the rule. This is because only mammals produce milk. According to Shabbethai Bass, Rashi believed the mention of "mother" was just to make sure birds were clearly left out. Bass thought Rashi saw the rule as a general ban on cooking meat in any milk, not just the mother's.

Things made from milk, like cheese and whey, are also part of this rule. But milk substitutes, like almond milk, are not. However, ancient rabbis worried that people might confuse fake milk with real milk. So, they said that artificial milk must be clearly marked. For almond milk, they said to place almonds around it.

What "Boiling" Means

The Bible only mentions "boiling" (Hebrew: bishul). But later, people wondered if this also meant other ways of cooking. This includes broiling, baking, roasting, and frying. Some rabbis, like Jacob of Lissa, said these other cooking methods were only forbidden by rabbinic rules, not by the Bible itself. But others, like Abraham Danzig, argued that the biblical word "boiling" already included these methods.

There is still discussion today about using a microwave oven to cook meat and dairy together. This is because microwave cooking uses radiation, which wasn't known in ancient times.

Rabbinic Rules Added to the Biblical Law

Ancient rabbis believed they should add "fences" around biblical laws to protect them. This means they added extra rules to make sure people didn't accidentally break the main laws. The rules about mixing milk and meat have many of these "fences."

Small Amounts

The rabbis said that food rules could be ignored if the forbidden part was very small. This small amount is called a shiur (Hebrew: שיעור), which means "size." For milk and meat, this small amount was a ke'zayit (כזית), which means "like an olive" in size. However, even half of this amount is still forbidden.

Many rabbis followed the idea that "taste is principle" (ta'am k'ikar). This means if milk and meat accidentally mixed, the food could be eaten if you couldn't taste the forbidden part. Today, rabbis often use the rule of batel b'shishim. This means a forbidden ingredient is okay if it's less than 1/60th of the whole mixture.

Because "taste is principle," foods that are parve (neutral) take on the same status as whatever they are cooked with. For example, if vegetables are cooked with meat, they become "meat" for kosher purposes.

Keeping Foods Separate

Important rabbis in the Middle Ages said that milk should not be on a table where people are eating meat, and vice versa. This was to prevent people from accidentally eating them together. Some rabbis said that if the table was very large, and the foods were far apart, this rule might not apply.

Rabbis also discussed people eating milk and meat at the same table. Some said each person should use a different tablecloth. Others suggested putting a large, unusual item between the people to remind them not to share.

Food Categories

To help people avoid forbidden mixtures, foods are put into three groups:

Meat (Yiddish: פֿליישיק, romanized: fleishik; Hebrew: בשרי, romanized: besari)
Dairy (Yiddish: מילכיק, romanized: milkhik; Hebrew: חלבי, romanized: halavi)
Pareve (פאַרעוו, meaning 'neutral')

Pareve foods include things like fish, fruits, vegetables, and salt. Some Jewish groups, like the Karaites and Ethiopian Jews, also consider poultry (like chicken) to be pareve.

The Talmud says that the biblical rule only applies to meat and milk from kosher mammals like cows, goats, and sheep. But rabbis later extended the rule to include meat from wild kosher mammals (like deer) and kosher poultry.

If parve foods are cooked with meat or dairy, they can lose their parve status. This happens if they absorb the taste of the meat or dairy.

Dishes and Cooking Tools

Kosher dairy dishes from the 19th century in the Jewish Museum, Berlin.

Some cooking tools and dishes, like those made of ceramic or metal, can soak up the taste of food. So, if a frying pan is used for beef sausage, it might still have a slight sausage taste later. This taste could transfer to other foods, like an omelette with cheese.

A rabbi named Samuel ben Meir said that tastes could stay in a cooking pot for up to 24 hours. This led to a rule called ben yomo (Hebrew: "son of the day"). It means that dishes and tools should not be used for milk within 24 hours of being used for meat, and vice versa. After 24 hours, any leftover taste is thought to be old and not strong enough to matter.

Because of these rules, Jewish families who keep kosher often have two separate sets of dishes and cutlery. One set is for dairy foods (called milchig or halavi). The other set is for meat foods (called fleishig or besari).

Historically, this practice of having two sets of dishes is fairly new. Some historians believe it only became common in the late 1300s or 1400s. Before that, families might have had only one set of dishes and would clean them very carefully between using them for meat and dairy.

Eating Meat and Dairy in Sequence

Rabbis have discussed how long to wait between eating meat and dairy. They noted that meat can leave a fatty taste or small pieces stuck in the teeth.

Eating Dairy After Meat

A respected rabbi named Mar Ukva would not eat dairy after meat at the same meal. His father would even wait a whole day. Some rabbis said this was just Mar Ukva's personal choice. But others said it should be a minimum rule for everyone.

Maimonides said that you need to wait between meat and dairy because meat can get stuck in your teeth. He suggested waiting "about six hours." Many other important rabbis agreed with this.

However, some rabbis believed that the main point was just to avoid having dairy at the same meal as meat. So, they said it was enough to just clear the table, say a special blessing, and clean your mouth. Some later rabbis also said that a new meal truly began only after at least an hour had passed.

Today, most Sephardi Jews follow the rule of waiting six hours. Ashkenazi Jews have different customs. Many wait six hours, but some wait three hours, and others wait only one hour. Rabbis have made exceptions for young children, sick people, and nursing mothers.

Eating Meat After Dairy

It's usually considered less strict to eat dairy before meat. This is because dairy products are thought to leave less residue in the mouth. Many modern rabbis say that just washing your mouth out between dairy and meat is enough. Some also suggest saying a blessing.

Some rabbis in the Middle Ages said that after eating solid dairy products like cheese, you should wash your hands. Others said that if your hands looked clean, you didn't need to wash them.

For hard and aged cheeses, some rabbis believe you need to be extra careful. This is because they might have a stronger, longer-lasting taste. Some opinions say that you should wait the same amount of time (up to six hours) after eating hard cheese before eating meat, just like waiting after eating meat.

Other Jewish Groups

The Karaites are a Jewish group that does not follow the Talmud. They are less strict about mixing meat and milk. They only forbid cooking an animal in the milk of its actual mother.

The Beta Israel community from Ethiopia traditionally did not include poultry (like chicken) in the ban on mixing meat and milk. However, since most of them moved to Israel, they have generally adopted the broader rules followed by other Jewish groups.

Samaritanism

In the Samaritan Pentateuch, which is their version of the Torah, an extra sentence is added after the rule in Exodus 23:19. It says, "For he who does such as that is like a forbidden offering. And this is a transgression to God of Jacob."

How This Affects Jewish Food

These rules mean that some dishes are not part of Jewish cooking, and others have to be changed. For example, the Middle Eastern dish shawarma often has lamb or beef with a yogurt sauce. But in Israel, kosher shawarma is usually made with turkey and served with tahini sauce instead of yogurt.

Another interesting effect is that many Jewish people in places like New York City often choose Chinese restaurants that follow kosher rules. This is because Chinese food often has many parve options, and it's easier to find dishes without mixed meat and dairy.

Images for kids

Kosher dairy dishes from the 19th century in the Jewish Museum, Berlin.

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