Why cant Jews eat milk and meat together?

The practice of not eating dairy products with meat comes from the Torah prohibition again cooking a kid (baby goat) in its mother's milk. The exact quote is:

"You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19)

The reason for this prohibition is humanitarian. The practice of cooking a young animal in its mother's milk is cruel and therefore not allowed.

Now, why do Jews not eat ANY meat with dairy when the mitzvah is so specific? In Jewish practice, there is a tradition called 'building a fence around the Torah'. What this means, is that, in the Torah, there are many mitzvot, like the one quoted above that are specific. However, there is the possibility that a person can accidentally violate or appear to violate the mitzvah in question.

In regard to the prohibition against cooking a young goat in it's mother's milk, once meat is prepared, it's hard or even impossible to tell the difference between different types. Also, there is the possibility that we might accidentally end up eating a young goat that was cooked in its mothers milk thinking that it was a different type of meat. As a result no meats of any kind (including poultry) are cooked in milk so that it doesn't appear that we're violating this mitzvah or that we unknowingly violate the mitzvah.

The fence was taken a step further by prohibiting the combination of ANY meats with ANY dairy products, including cheese. The logic behind this is the same (so that we don't accidentally or appear to have violated the core mitzvah).

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_can't_Jews_eat_meat_...

Jewish people can drink milk and eat foods made with milk. However, they can't eat them at the same time that they are eating meat. It has to do with a Scripture that prohibits "seething (boiling) a kid (young goat) in its mother's milk." Jewish scholars have interpreted that passage to mean that you cannot eat or drink milk products with meat. A true kosher household has two sets of dishes and pots and pans -- one for meat, one for dairy. Kosher refers to following prescribed dietary rules. Meat has to be clean -- that is, on the list of acceptable foods. Beef and chicken are clean animals, while shellfish and pork are not. Animals also have to be killed in a specific fashion that drains all the blood from the carcass because Jewish dietary law forbids consuming blood or blood products. Hope that helps.

How cruel would it be to let your cow see you spreading a burger you made out of its calf with cheese you made from its milk? It's bad enough that calves need to be butchered, but to eat the baby in its mother's milk? Terrible.

Let's apply this to factory farmed food: Can you be sure that the cow that provided your milk didn't bear the animal you prepared for dinner? No, of course not. So they just don't mix meat and dairy. It's a big deal, but it's a very nice gesture.

Because about the time when Judaism was being invented in the 7th century BCE, there was a nearby religious group that prepared young goats boiled in the milk of their mother as part of a religious ritual. The Jewish priests and "kings" wanted to keep the population subservient to themselves, so they forbid other religions and their practices, putting the words in the mouth of their god in legends that they made up about a mythical founder.

So that's how the Hebrew Bible got the commandment not to boil a baby goat in its mother's milk. And from that commandment came the prohibition of dairy and meat being served at the same meal.

After studying that scripture it sounds to me that it is based on the God Yahweh's respect for the animals in that particular situation and is not a restriction on eating meat with dairy products as a whole. If it was a more direct law for humans to follow I believe Yahweh would have spent more time explaining His statutes against it.

It is according to the Talmudic interpretation of a command in the Torah not to boil a little goat in its mother's milk.

It is forbidden in the Torah.

It stems from the scripture that forbids one to broil a young animal in its own mother's milk.

But the reason is, that is the meaning the Rabbis have read from the Torah for thousands of years.

It is what it is.

they have over 650 rules and commandments

they were big on not mixing different kinds

they could not use two fibers in one cloth or hitch two different animals to the same plow. ( actually a very practical idea)

milk and meat spoil easily in the hot climates

contact a Rabbi for details

Exd 23:19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

Cuz someone a long time ago said they were not supposed to.