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Chapter 25

Meat and Milk

כה - בשר בחלב

In this chapter (15)
  1. 1. The Prohibition of Cooking Meat and Milk
  2. 2. The Meat and Milk Included in the Prohibition
  3. 3. Eating at One Table
  4. 4. Baking Dairy or Meat Bread
  5. 5. The Reason for the Additional Decrees Regarding Meat and Milk
  6. 6. Separating Meat and Dairy Foods
  7. 7. Separating the Utensils
  8. 8. Parve Foods
  9. 9. Mixing Utensils
  10. 10. Parve Utensils
  11. 11. Mistakes and Mishaps
  12. 12. The Custom of Two Sinks and the Law of Dishwashers
  13. 13. Stovetops
  14. 14. The Oven
  15. 15. The Microwave
25:1

The Prohibition of Cooking Meat and Milk

איסור בישול בשר בחלב

The Torah forbade cooking meat with milk, as it is stated: “You shall not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.” This prohibition is mentioned three times in the Torah (Shemot 23:19; 34:26; Devarim 14:21), to teach us that the prohibition has three parts: 1) It is forbidden to cook them together. 2) If they were cooked together, it is forbidden to eat them. 3) If they were cooked together, it is also forbidden to derive benefit from them (Ḥullin 115b; SA YD 87:1).

This prohibition is unique and different from other food prohibitions. All forbidden foods are always forbidden, whereas meat by itself is kosher and milk by itself is kosher, yet cooking them together is forbidden, and if they were cooked together they become forbidden with an especially severe prohibition. For with all other forbidden foods, such as the meat of non-kosher domesticated and wild animals, a Jew is permitted to cook for a non-Jew; but a Jew may not cook meat and milk for a non-Jew. It is even forbidden to assist in cooking them, for example by raising the flame on which they are cooking. Moreover, meat and milk that were cooked together are forbidden to derive benefit from; therefore it is forbidden to sell them to a gentile, and it is even forbidden to give them to him as a gift, since the Jew derives benefit from this. And even if he burns them, it is forbidden to benefit from the heat of their burning or from the ashes that result from them. It is even forbidden to put them before ownerless animals, since the Jew derives satisfaction from this. Rather, the forbidden food should be buried, and when it is difficult to bury it, one may throw it into a field or into the trash. And although animals will likely eat from it, there is no prohibition in this, since he does not intend it.¹

By Torah law, the prohibition is to cook meat with milk, and without cooking there is no prohibition. Therefore, it is permitted to mix them together without cooking for a non-Jew or for any other purpose. The Sages made a protective fence for the Torah and forbade a Jew to eat meat and milk together even without cooking (SA YD 87:1; 91:8), and the Sages reinforced this fence with many prohibitions: they forbade eating one type when the other type is on the table (below, halakha 3), and they forbade baking dairy or meat bread lest it be eaten with the other type (below, halakha 4). They further forbade eating dairy after meat without a significant wait, and forbade eating meat after dairy without cleaning the mouth (as explained in the next chapter). The reason for all these decrees is explained below (halakha 5).

Notes (1)
  1. Mishna Temura 33b: “These are the ones that are buried… and meat cooked in milk.” They did not say to burn them, so that one would not benefit from their burning and their ashes. Issur Ve-heter He-arokh (21:12) wrote that it is forbidden to put meat and milk that were cooked together before an ownerless animal, and many poskim wrote likewise, because a person has benefit from sustaining animals (MA 448:9). Some say that it is permitted to leave them in a field, in a place where animals can come and eat them, since the prohibition is to put it before them (MA 445:2; Ḥok Ya’akov, Eliyahu Rabba, Shulḥan Arukh Ha-Rav). Others say that this too is forbidden, and the solution is to bury them or throw them into the lavatory or into a river in such a way that no creature will benefit from it (Issur Ve-heter He-arokh 21:13; Knesset Ha-gedola, Ḥokhmat Adam). Rav Pe’alim (vol. 3, YD 5) explained that this refers to a river without fish, or that one should crumble the forbidden food until fish cannot eat it. However, this is difficult, for in any case animals will benefit from them: even if one crumbles the forbidden food, tiny fish will benefit from it, and if one buries it, worms and insects will benefit from it, and it enriches the soil and gives benefit to people. Rather, it appears that their intention is that since this benefit is not very noticeable, there is no prohibition in it. If so, as long as one does not intend to feed animals with the forbidden food and does not benefit from it, one may rely on the lenient opinions and throw the forbidden food into the trash or into a field; however, one who benefits from it must bury it.
    Since the prohibition of meat and milk is stated in the language “You shall not cook,” the Torah prohibition applies only to the manner of cooking, and without cooking there is no prohibition in mixing meat with milk; but the Sages forbade eating meat and milk even when they were mixed without cooking (Pesaḥim 44b). Some say that frying and roasting are also considered cooking, forbidden by Torah law (Pri Ḥadash and Pleti), and some say that their prohibition is rabbinic, since they are not like cooking, which mixes the flavors together thoroughly (Pri Toar, Arukh Ha-shulḥan).
    As a rule, all Torah prohibitions forbid benefit only in the normal manner of benefit, but meat and milk and kil’ei ha-kerem (mixed plantings in a vineyard) are forbidden by Torah law even not in the normal manner of benefit (Rambam, Hilkhot Ma’akhalot Assurot 14:10; SA YD 155:3).
    One who cooks meat and milk or eats from them is punished with lashes, provided that he did so intentionally, in front of witnesses who warned him, and that they contained at least a kezayit (olive’s bulk) (Ḥullin 108b; Rambam, Hilkhot Ma’akhalot Assurot 9:1). There is disagreement as to whether one who derives benefit is liable to lashes. One who ate less than a kezayit or cooked less than a kezayit transgressed a Torah prohibition but does not receive lashes (Ben Ish Ḥai, Year 2, Be-ha’alotkha 2). One who cooks them, even partial cooking, transgresses a Torah prohibition, but only if he prepared them to the point of being edible like the food of Ben Drosai does he receive lashes (the opinion of most poskim, among them Pri Megadim, Pleti, Zivḥei Tzedek, Ben Ish Ḥai). One who cooks in a kli rishon (primary vessel) violates a Torah prohibition. Pouring from a kli rishon (irui), which according to halakha cooks to the depth of a peel (kedei klipa): according to Pri Ḥadash it is forbidden by Torah law, and according to Pri Toar it is rabbinic (see below 35:3).
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