ABSTRACT
On three separate occasions in the Hebrew Bible, the Israelites are enjoined: Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk. This chapter explores Jewish interpretation of this biblical commandment in antiquity. Prior to the rabbis, it would seem that this law was interpreted literally: so long as one did not literally cook a baby animal in its own mother's milk, then the prohibition was not violated. It is not until the Mishnah that people encounter a text that reads the biblical prohibition as a general prohibition, not a particular one. The early rabbis, the Tannaim, interpret the biblical law to refer to all meat and all milk, regardless of whether they come from different sources. If the mixture of fowl and milk were biblically prohibited, then setting them both on the same table would violate the negative commandment from the Hebrew Bible. Practices, which involve both words and actions, establish social orders. They erect borders between communities.
