Why does the Torah Forbid Mixing Meat and Milk?

(8) Meat boiled in milk is undoubtedly gross food, and makes overfull; but I think that most probably it is also prohibited because it is somehow connected with idolatry, forming perhaps part of the service, or being used on some festival of the heathen. I find a support for this view in the circumstance that the Law mentions the prohibition twice after the commandment given concerning the festivals "Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God" (Exod. 23:17, and 34:73), as if to say, "When you come before me on your festivals, do not seethe your food in the manner as the heathen used to do." This I consider as the best reason for the prohibition: but as far as I have seen the books on Sabean rites, nothing is mentioned of this custom.

(20) לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו, it is usual for goats to give birth to two kids at the same time, and it was customary for people to slaughter one of them right away. Seeing that mother goats have an abundance of milk (expecting to nurse at least two young kids) they used the excess milk to boil the young kid in after it had been slaughtered. (Proverbs 27,27 “the goat’s milk will suffice for your food, the food of your household and the maintenance of your maids.”) It is something distasteful, revolting, something akin to gluttony, to consume the mother’s milk together with the young animal that this milk was intended to nourish. We find a parallel in the legislation not to slaughter mother animal and her young on the same day, as well as the prohibition not to take the young chicks while the mother bird is present. (Leviticus 22,25 and Deuteronomy 22,6-7) The Torah teaches you these matters as a matter of elementary culture, i.e. respecting life. Seeing that on the festivals many animals are consumed, the Torah included this legislation in the paragraph dealing with other aspects of these festivals. If the consuming of these animals is prohibited under such circumstances, how much more so are mixture of milk and meat prohibited as discussed in Chulin 113.

There is no need for us to search for the reason it is prohibited.118To seethe a kid in its mother’s milk. The reason is hidden from the eyes of the intelligent. It is possible that it is prohibited to seethe a kid in its mother’s milk because to do so is very cruel. The idea behind this law is like the idea behind And whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and its young both in one day (Lev. 22:28), and thou shalt not take the dam with the young (Deut. 22:6). It is the practice of most people that do not have a flock to buy milk in the market.119If the reason for the prohibition of seething a kid in its mother’s milk is cruelty, then the prohibition applies only to its own mother’s milk and to no one else’s. I.E. thus wants to explain why it is prohibited to seethe a kid in any milk that is purchased. In such a case the milk usually consists of a mixture coming from many goats. It is possible for the buyer of a kid not to know where the mother is.120He would know which animal is its mother only if the kid was born in his house. Now if the one who has bought a kid later buys milk, it is possible that some of this milk contains milk from the mother of the kid which he previously purchased. He will then violate the law.121If he cooks the kid in the milk which he has newly purchased. We must be strict when in doubt regarding a Biblical law.122Hence one is not permitted to cook a kid in any milk that was purchased. The Ishmaelites also admit that if one cooks a kid in its mother’s milk the resulting dish tastes better because the mother and the kid are similar in nature. Scripture speaks of what is most usual. The ancients of blessed memory were strict in order to remove all doubt.123That one never accidentally seethe a kid in its mother’s milk. They thus prohibited meat and milk.124They prohibited seething a kid in the milk of an animal which is not its mother. They also prohibited having milk with any meat. God who gave them wisdom will fully reward them. I will further explain in each of their respective places why Scripture noted this law a second125Ex. 24:26. and a third time.126Deut. 14:21. I.E. never did explain it (Weiser).

(2) It is from the roots of this commandment, according to what appears, that it is similar to the matter that we wrote about the commandment of the witch (Sefer HaChinukh 62), that there are things in the world the mixture of which are forbidden to us, for the reason of the matter that we said there. And it is possible that the reason for the prohibition of the mixture of meat and milk through the process of cooking is from this foundation. And there is somewhat of a proof to this, since the prohibition comes to us with the action of mixing, even though we do not eat it; such that we see from this that its prohibition is not because of the damage [caused by] its eating at all. Rather [it is] that we do not do the action of that mixing, for the sake of the distancing of that matter that we said. And we have also been warned in another place, that if we maybe make the mixture, we should not eat it and not derive benefit from it, to distance the matter [further]. And he is lashed even if he ate it without deriving benefit (enjoyment) from it at all (Pesachim 25a), which is not the case with all the other forbidden foods. And all of this teaches that the foundation of its reason is because of the mixture, and like the matter that we said about magic. This is said out of duress, and we still need the knowledge of the mystic. And Rambam, may his memory be blessed, said (Guide for the Perplexed 3:48) that there are some idolaters that worship through the act of mixing meat and milk. And that is why the Torah distanced that mixture. “But none of this is worthwhile for me.”