"לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ"/2

Lo Tevashel Gedi

Exegetical Approaches

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Cooking a Goat in Milk

It is prohibited to cook meat and milk together.

Sources:PhiloOn the Virtues 142-144About Philo, Targum Yerushalmi (Neofiti)Shemot 23:19Shemot 34:26Devarim 14:21About Targum Yerushalmi (Neofiti), Mekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelShemot 23:19About Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Shemot, Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan)Shemot 23:19Shemot 34:26Devarim 14:21About Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan), RashiShemot 23:19Shemot 34:26Devarim 14:21About R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, RashbamShemot 23:19About R. Shemuel b. Meir, Ibn EzraShemot First Commentary 23:19Shemot First Commentary 30:12Shemot Second Commentary 23:19Devarim 14:21About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, R. Yosef Bekhor ShorShemot 23:19Shemot 34:26About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor #2, RambamMoreh Nevukhim 3:48About R. Moshe b. Maimon, R. Avraham b. HaRambamShemot 34:26About R. Avraham Maimonides, RambanShemot 34:26Devarim 14:21About R. Moshe b. Nachman, RalbagShemot Beur HaParashah 23:19About R. Levi b. Gershom, Abarbanel, SefornoShemot 23:19Shemot 34:26Devarim 14:21About R. Ovadyah Seforno, ShadalShemot 23:19About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto, R. David Zvi HoffmannDevarim 14:21About R. David Zvi Hoffmann,

Meaning of "תְבַשֵּׁל" – This approach understands "תְבַשֵּׁל" according to its most common meaning, "to cook".¹

Meaning of "גְּדִי" – Most of these sources maintain that "גְּדִי" refers to a young goat, but that the prohibition nonetheless extends to all animals.² The goat is singled out as an example only since it was the most common source of meat to be boiled in milk.(דיבר הכתוב בהווה).³

Meaning of "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" – Though the phrase "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" means the milk of the goat's mother, according to most of these sources,⁴ this, too, is understood to be but an example and the prohibition includes all types of milk. This case is specified only because it is the most common occurrence.⁵

Reason for the Prohibition – These sources offer a variety of possible reasons for the prohibition:

• Bad etiquette and cruelty – According to Rashbam, cooking meat and milk is not decorous and betrays gluttony. Philo and others,⁶ further emphasize that using a mother's to cook her own children is needlessly cruel and/or invites cruelty.⁷ These sources compare the prohibition to that of "אֹתוֹ וְאֶת בְּנוֹ לֹא תִשְׁחֲטוּ בְּיוֹם אֶחָד" (Vayikra 22:28) and "שילוח הקן" (Devarim 22:6-7).⁸
• Idolatrous Customs – Rambam and others in his wake⁹ suggest that cooking meat and milk together was an idolatrous custom, practiced during the festivals. Abarbanel and Seforno add that t   he goal was perhaps to pray for abundant crops or flock. Rambam is consistent in reading many laws as stemming form this same goal of distancing Israel from idolatrous rites,¹⁰ however, as he himself notes, no evidence exists of such a custom in this case.
• Unhealthy Mixture – Rambam and Ralbag add that eating a mixture of meat and milk is unhealthy.  Other food prohibitions, including kashrut, orlah and fat, have similarly been explained as being related to health concerns.¹¹
• Hybrids

Context in Shemot

• Relevant to bikkurim – Targum Yerushalmi (Fragmentary)¹² explains that the punishment for violating the prohibition of meat and milk is damage to the crops mentioned in the beginning of the verse. Seforno presents an alternative variant: in order to receive better crops, the Torah commands one to bring bikkurim, as opposed to the idolatrous custom of cooking meat and milk.
• Relevant to the Festivals – Violating this prohibition is most likely during the festivals.
• According to Rashbam, since during the festivals large amounts of meat are consumed, it is likely that meat and milk might come to be mixed.
• According to Ralbag, since the mixture is an idolatrous festival practice, it is prohibited as part of the festival laws.
• Relevant to Both – According to Ibn Ezra and Ramban, since the young goats are born around the same time of the year as bikkurim, and thus are brought to the Mikdash together during the festivals, they are mentioned together.

Context in Devarim – According to Ibn Ezra and Ramban, the prohibition is listed in Devarim, because it too is a prohibition on eating certain kinds of meat, just like the prohibitions on carrion and non-kosher animals.

Bringing Offerings in a Timely Manner

According to this approach, the prohibition is to let the "גְּדִי" ripen before offering it. The approach subdivides with regards to the meaning of "גְּדִי".

Bringing

According to this approach, "גְּדִי" is fruit, and the prohibition is to be late when bringing Bikkurim to the Mikdash.

Sources:Machberet MenachemבשלגדAbout Menachem b. Saruk,¹³ Dunash cited by R. Yosef KaraShemot 23:19About R. Yosef Kara, Deniers in Ibn EzraShemot First Commentary 23:19Shemot Second Commentary 23:19About R. Avraham ibn Ezra

Meaning of "תְבַשֵּׁל" – According to this approach, "תְבַשֵּׁל" means to allow the fruit to ripen on the tree.¹⁴

Meaning of "גְּדִי" – According to Menachem, "גְּדִי" refers to fruit, as in "מְגָדִים". The word "מְגָדִים" appears in Shir HaShirim 4:13, 4:16, and 7:14. The similar form "מֶּגֶד" appears in Devarim 33:13-15.¹⁵

Meaning of "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" – According to this approach, "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" refers to the sap of the tree,¹⁶ which feeds the fruit till it ripens.

Reason for the Prohibition – According to this approach, this prohibition is not a unique prohibition, but rather the negative form of the preceding commandment to offer bikkurim.

Context in Shemot – According to this approach, the prohibition is a direct continuation of the previous part of the verses in Shemot: First the Torah commands that bikkurim must be brought, then it forbids bringing them too late.

Context in Devarim – It is unclear what the relationship is between the context in Devarim and this prohibition. A variant of this approach, found in Rashi Devarim, understands the prohibition as referring to delaying the separation of ma'aser (instead of bikkurim), and thus relates the prohibition to the following verses, instead of the preceding ones.

Bringing

According to this approach, "גְּדִי" is a goat, and the prohibition is to be late when bringing first-born animals to the Mikdash.

Sources:Approach in Ibn EzraShemot Second Commentary 23:19About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, R. Yosef Bekhor ShorShemot 23:19Shemot 34:26About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor

Meaning of "תְבַשֵּׁל" – According to this approach, "תְבַשֵּׁל" means to allow the young goat to ripen and fatten.

Meaning of "גְּדִי" – According to this approach, "גְּדִי" is a young goat. In this case, it refers specifically to a first-born goat, although it might refer to other first-born animals as well.

Meaning of "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" – According to this approach, "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" is the milk of the goat's mother, upon which the goat will feed.

Reason for the Prohibition – According to this approach, this prohibition is not a unique prohibition, but rather the negative form of the preexisting commandment to sacrifice the first-born animals.

Context in Shemot – According to this approach, the prohibition is a continuation of the previous part of the verses in Shemot: First the Torah commands that bikkurim must be brought from fruit, then it requires bringing them from animals as well.

Context in Devarim – According to this approach, it is unclear what the relationship is between the context in Devarim and this prohibition.

¹ The root בשל appears 28 times as a verb and twice more as an adjective.  With but two exceptions, the word refers to cooking meat.

² In contrast, Rashi and Ibn Ezra (in his first commentary) understand that the word "גְּדִי" actually means any young domesticated animal (and is not simply being mentioned as an example from which to learn a general rule). [Cf. Ramban who similarly suggests that "גְּדִי" refers to any nursing animal.] As evidence, they point to the fact that the Torah often feels the need to specify  "גְּדִי עִזִּים", telling the reader what type of "גְּדִי".  This implies that the word "גְּדִי" alone has a more general meaning and can refer to any number of animals.  [In his second commentary, Ibn Ezra rejects this reading, claiming that a "גְּדִי" refers only to a goat and the only difference between "גְּדִי" and "גְּדִי עִזִּים" is only that the former is older.]

³ See the Mekhilta, "מפני מה דיבר הכתוב בגדי? מפני שהחלב מרובה באמו".  Rashbam elaborates, explaining that goats tend to bear two calves at a time and tend to have a lot of milk, so it was common to slaughter one and use the ample milk of its mother to cook it.  Ibn Ezra, instead, posits that due to the lack of moisture in goats as compared to other animals, boiling was the most common way to eat them specifically.

⁴ Philo is exceptional, as he understands that one is allowed to boil meat in another animal's milk. It is specifically the mother's milk which is prohibited for only in that is inappropriate and cruel.

⁵ See Rashbam in the footnote above.  Ramban, instead, suggests that the word "אם" refers to any animal who is nursing (and thus to any animal which can provide milk). The text's formulation "אִמּוֹ" (his mother), though, would suggest that it refers to this animal's nurse specifically.

⁶ See Ibn Ezra, R"Y Bekhor Shor, Ramban and Shadal.

⁷ Philo points out that using the very milk which had nourished the kid, ensuring its life, to cook it and consume the flesh is cruel and inappropriate.  The prohibition might be compared to that of eating blood which might similarly stem from its being a life source; eating flesh with either its blood or the milk which nourished it betrays a disregard for the sanctity of life. [See Prohibition of Blood for elaboration on this understanding of the prohibition and for alternative understandings.]

⁸ These laws similarly deal with a mother animal and her son and appear to stem form humanitarian values and a desire to prevent cruelty.

⁹ See R. Avraham b. HaRambam, Ralbag, Abarbanel, and Seforno.

¹⁰ For some of many examples, see his understanding of Sacrifices, Orlah, Hybrids and the Prohibition of Blood.

¹¹ See, though,

¹² This explanation is found in all three verses in Targum Yerushalmi (Neofiti), and in the two verses in Shemot in Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan).

¹³ This is Menachem's opinion in the roots בשל and גד. Menachem seems to contradict himself in root חלב, implying there that חלב is animal milk.

¹⁴ Two verses, in Bereshit 40:10 and Yoel 4:13 (both cited by Menachem), use the root בשל to refer to the ripening of fruit.

¹⁵ This matches Menachem's general approach to grammar, which contains two-letter roots (in this case, the root גד). Ibn Ezra, in his critique of this approach, notes that given the modern three-letter root system, "מְגָדִים" is from the root מגד, and is thus unrelated to "גְּדִי".

¹⁶ This matches the usage of "חֵלֶב" in Bemidbar 18:12.