Keeping Kosher

(1) 1) It is a positive commandment to know the simanim (signs) that distinguish between domesticated and wild animals, birds and fish, and grasshoppers that are permitted to be eaten, and those that are forbidden for consumption, as it says, (Leviticus 20:25) "And you shall distinguish between a kosher animal and a non-kosher animal, between a non-kosher fowl and a kosher fowl." And it says, (Leviticus 11:47) "To distinguish between the kosher and the non-kosher, between a beast which may be eaten and one which may not be eaten."

(4) Similarly, the meat of a wild beast and the meat of a fowl together with the milk of a wild beast or the milk of a domesticated animal is not forbidden according to Scriptural Law. Therefore it is permitted to cook it and it is permitted to benefit from it. It is forbidden to partake of it according to Rabbinic Law so that people at large will not be negligent and come to violate the Scriptural prohibition against milk and meat and partake of the meat of a kosher domesticated animal [cooked] in the milk of a kosher domesticated animal. For the literal meaning of the verse implies only the meat of a kid in the milk of its actual mother. Therefore, they forbade all meat in milk.