Kosher Foods - Milk and Meat

Milk and Meat

Three times the Torah specifically forbids "seething" a young goat "in its mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26, and Deuteronomy 14:21). The Talmud interprets this as a general prohibition against cooking meat and dairy products together, and against eating or deriving any benefit from such a mixture. To help prevent accidental violation of these rules, the modern standard Orthodox practice is to classify food into either being meat, dairy, or neither; the latter category is more usually referred to as parev from the Yiddish word parev (פארעוו) (also spelled parve and pareve) meaning "neutral". As the biblical prohibition uses the word "Gedi" and not "Gedi Izim", the flesh of all "Behemoth" (domestic mammals) is categorised as "meat", while that of fish and bugs is considered parve; however, rather than being considered parve, the flesh of birds and "chayot" (like deer ) has been regarded by halakha (Jewish law) as meat for over 2000 years, though only by Rabbinic decree.

One of the major dietary laws that observant Jews keep of Kashruth is that you may not eat dairy with meat at the same meal. Though it is mentioned many times in the Old Testament, Rashi held that it was connected to two major ethical laws in the Jewish heritage from the original Five Books of Moses, which are first: to respect the mother animal, Exodus 23:19 "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk" (C.F. to above law about mother birds, Deuteronomy 22:6, "If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young."). Which some held relate to the "hurt to living" (tzaar baalei chaim) statute cited throughout Jewish law, against hurting any living thing, the Mishnah Avoth 1:12 "Be a disciple of Aaron... and love all of God's animals" (chaim, living), also "His compassion is over all of His creatures" (Psalm 145:9) again the term is "chaim" living things.