"לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ"/2

Lo Tevashel Gedi

Exegetical Approaches

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Cooking a Goat in Milk

According to this approach, the prohibition is 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, 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, ShadalShemot 23:19About R. Shemuel David Luzzatto, R. David Zvi HoffmannDevarim 14:21About R. David Zvi Hoffmann

Meaning of "תְבַשֵּׁל" – According to this approach, "תְבַשֵּׁל" is used in its most common¹ meaning, "to cook".

Meaning of "גְּדִי" – According to this approach, "גְּדִי" is a young goat. However, this goat is just an example,² and the prohibition applies to all types of meat.

Meaning of "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" – According to this approach, "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" refers to the milk of the goat's mother, in which the goat is cooked. However, this is just an example, and the prohibition includes all types of milk.

Reason for the Prohibition

• Bad Etiquette – According to Rashbam, cooking meat and milk is not decorous, and indicates hunger and gluttony.
• Idolatrous Customs – Rambam explains that cooking meat and milk together was an idolatrous custom, practiced during the festivals. However, as he himself notes, no evidence exists of such a custom.
• Unhealthy Mixture – Ralbag adds that eating a mixture of meat and milk is unhealthy.
• Preventing Cruelty – Philo, and later Ibn Ezra and Ramban, state that using a mother's to cook her own children would be needlessly cruel, and is thus prohibited.

Context in Shemot

• Relevant to bikkurim – Targum Yerushalmi (Fragmentary)³ 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,⁴ 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.⁵

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 33:13-15.⁶

Meaning of "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" – According to this approach, "בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ" refers to the sap of the tree,⁷ 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 As a verb the root בשל appears 28 times, and twice more as an adjective. Except for two exceptions, all of these clearly refer to cooking, generally of meat from sacrifices.

² Rashi and Ibn Ezra (in his first commentary) understand that "גְּדִי" is not an example, but rather that it actually means any young domesticated animal, since, unlike in most appearances of "גְּדִי", it does not appear together with the word "עִזִּים". However, as Ibn Ezra notes in his second commentary, even the appearances of "גְּדִי" without "עִזִּים" refer specifically to goats (see, for example, Bereshit 38:23 and Yeshayahu 11:6).

³ This explanation is found in all three verses in Targum Yerushalmi (Neofiti), and in the two verses in Shemot in Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan).

⁴ 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.

⁵ 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.

⁶ 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".

⁷ This matches the usage of "חֵלֶב" in Bemidbar 18:12.