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DAAT · LEVEL 1 — INTRODUCTION

Siman פ״ז · Bassar be-Halav

Meat and milk — to discover and understand the prohibition

יורה דעה · סימן פ״ז

בשר בחלב

🌱 Introduction Level · מתחילים

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A first approach to Siman 87: the 11 seifim of the Mehaber and the glosses of the Rama, the Hebrew text with a fluent English translation, the context of the 3 verses, the key concepts of Yoreh De'ah, the de-oraita / de-rabbanan divide, and modern practical cases.

Topic: The kinds of meat covered by the meat-and-milk prohibition and the definition of "cooking"
Source: שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן פ״ז

Compiled by: הרב יוסף חיים סממה
DAAT · daattorah.com

📑 Study outline

1. The text of the Mehaber: the 11 seifim, by thematic groups

2. Context: why this prohibition and the 3 verses of the Torah

3. The key concepts of Yoreh De'ah explained simply

4. De-oraita vs. de-rabbanan: the meat × milk table

5. The Shach and the Taz: who they are, a few key entries

6. The gloss of the Rama (הגה)

7. Modern practical cases: poultry, almond milk, cheese dishes

8. Summary of the rules to remember

9. Comprehension questions

1. The text of the Mehaber — the 11 seifim

Siman 87 opens the laws of בשר בחלב (bassar be-halav, meat and milk). The Mehaber (Rabbi Yossef Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch) deals here, across 11 seifim, with two underlying questions: which kinds of meat the prohibition covers, and how "cooking" — the forbidden act — is defined. The Rama (Rabbi Moshe Isserles) adds his glosses (הגה) for Ashkenazi practice. Let us explore them by thematic groups.

Group A — The foundation (seifim 1-2)

Seif 1 — The verse, the 3 prohibitions, and "cooking"

It is written in the Torah, "you shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk," three times: one to prohibit cooking, one to prohibit eating, and one to prohibit benefit (deriving any advantage from it). And the Torah expressed "eating" with the word "cooking" to teach that the Torah prohibition applies only to what is cooked together; but by rabbinic decree it is forbidden in every manner. Gloss of the Rama: any meat-and-milk mixture that is not prohibited by the Torah is permitted for benefit.

The central idea in one sentence: a single verse, repeated 3 times, establishes 3 Torah prohibitions (to cook, to eat, to benefit) — but the prohibition of the Torah applies only to what was actually cooked together. The Shach (s.k. 1) clarifies: לא ע"י כבוש ומליחה שאינו דרך בישול — "not by marinating or salting, which is not a form of cooking." The rest (raw, marinated, salted) remains prohibited, but only by the Sages.

Seif 2 — "Kid" is not exclusive

"Kid" (גדי) is not to be taken in a strict sense: the same applies to ox (שור), sheep (שה), and goat (עז); and there is no difference between the mother's milk and the milk of another animal — the Torah simply spoke of the most common case (דבר הכתוב בהווה).

Group B — Which meat, which milk? (seif 3)

Seif 3 — The heart of the siman

The Torah prohibition applies only to the meat of a kosher domestic animal (בהמה טהורה) with the milk of a kosher domestic animal. But kosher meat with the milk of a non-kosher animal, or non-kosher meat with kosher milk, are permitted for cooking and for benefit. The meat of a kosher wild animal (חיה, such as deer) and of poultry (עוף), even with kosher milk, is permitted for cooking and benefit, and even eating it is prohibited only by the Sages. But fish and locusts (דגים וחגבים) carry no prohibition at all, not even a rabbinic one.

This seif is the key to the entire siman. It distinguishes what is prohibited by the Torah (de-oraita), prohibited by the Sages (de-rabbanan), and entirely permitted. We lay it out in the table in section 4.

Group C — Borderline cases of meat and milk (seifim 4-7)

Seif 4 — Human milk and mar'it ayin

It is forbidden to cook with human milk (חלב אשה) because of misleading appearance (מראית העין — one might think meat is being cooked with animal milk). But if such milk falls into a meat dish, it is nullified and requires no measure of nullification (since human milk is not itself prohibited).

Seif 6 — What does not "count" as cooking or as milk

Something that is smoked (מעושן) or cooked in the natural hot springs of Tiberias — one does not incur the penalty of lashes, because this is not real cooking by fire. Likewise, cooking meat in whey (מי חלב), in the milk of a dead animal (חלב מתה), in the milk of a male (חלב זכר), or cooking blood in milk — one is exempt from the penalty, and there are no lashes for eating it on the count of bassar be-halav.

Note carefully: "exempt" (פטור) does not mean "permitted." The Shach (s.k. 13, then again s.k. 22) stresses repeatedly: אבל איסורא מיהא איכא — "yet a prohibition nonetheless remains." The absence of lashes is not a permission to eat.

Seif 5 and 7 — Eggs and the fetus

Seif 5 deals with eggs found inside poultry: if they are fully formed (white + yolk), one may eat them with milk; if they still have only the yolk, one does not cook them with milk. Seif 7 teaches that one who cooks (or eats) a fetus (שליל) with milk is liable, but that the placenta, the skin, the sinews, the bones, the horns, and the soft hooves are exempt.

Group D — Milk from the abomasum and rennet (seifim 8-11)

The last four seifim deal with a highly technical case: the milk found in the abomasum (קיבה, the rennet stomach) of a young animal, and its use as rennet (מעמיד, a coagulant) to curdle cheese. The Mehaber (seif 9) cites two views — the one that treats it as a mere permitted residue (Rif, Rambam) and the one that prohibits it (Tosafot, Rosh, Rabbenu Tam, Rashba, Ran). The Rama rules: וכן נוהגין — "such is the custom" (we follow the stringent view for liquid milk).

These seifim are studied in depth mainly at the higher levels (Lamdan). For the beginner, the essential point to remember: animal rennet can raise a meat-and-milk problem in cheese production — hence the importance of cheese with a reliable kashrut certification.

2. Context — why this prohibition, the 3 verses

The prohibition of mixing meat and milk is one of the best-known in Judaism — it is the basis of the separation between "meat" (bassari) meals and "dairy" (halavi) meals. But where exactly does it come from?

A single verse, repeated three times

The Torah never explicitly says "do not eat meat with milk." It says, on three occasions, one striking phrase:

Occurrence	Reference	Prohibition derived (Chullin 115b)
1st time	Shemot (Exodus) 23:19	Prohibition of cooking (בישול)
2nd time	Shemot (Exodus) 34:26	Prohibition of eating (אכילה)
3rd time	Devarim (Deuteronomy) 14:21	Prohibition of deriving benefit (הנאה)

This is the very first phrase of seif 1 of the Mehaber: כתוב בתורה לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו ג' פעמים — "it is written in the Torah three times." The Sages teach that no repetition is superfluous: each occurrence adds a distinct prohibition.

Why "cook" and not "eat"?

The verse never uses the verb "eat," but always "cook." Why? The Mehaber explains this in seif 1 itself:

The Torah expressed the prohibition of "eating" through the word "cooking" (הוציא אכילה בלשון בישול) to teach us a precise limit: the Torah prohibition applies only to what was cooked together — דרך בישול. A raw, marinated, or salted mixture is prohibited only by the Sages.

The severity of the prohibition explains its depth: according to the Pitchei Teshuva (s.k. 1, in the name of the Rambam), bassar be-halav is one of the rare prohibitions for which one is liable even when consuming it "not in the usual manner of eating" (שלא כדרך אכילה) — a severity shared almost only with the forbidden mixtures of the vineyard (כלאי הכרם).

3. The key concepts of Yoreh De'ah

To understand this siman and the ones that follow, you need to master a few Hebrew terms that recur constantly in the laws of kashrut.

דרך בישול — Derech bishul: "by way of cooking." This is the condition for the prohibition of the Torah. As the Shach clarifies (s.k. 1), anything that is not cooking — marinating (כבוש) and salting (מליחה) — falls only under the prohibition of the Sages.

חיה / עוף — Chaya / of: the kosher wild animal (deer, gazelle…) and poultry (chicken, turkey…). Seif 3 teaches that mixing them with milk is prohibited only for eating, and only by the Sages — not by the Torah.

מראית עין — Mar'it ayin: "appearance in the eyes of others." The Sages sometimes prohibit an action that is permitted in itself, because an onlooker might think a transgression is taking place. This is the reason for the prohibition of human milk (seif 4) and the precaution regarding almond milk (Rama, seif 3).

הנאה — Hana'a: deriving a profit or benefit. Bassar be-halav is one of the rare prohibitions in which one may not even benefit from the mixture. But this prohibition of benefit applies only to what is prohibited by the Torah; the gloss of the Rama (seif 1) clarifies that everything else is permitted for benefit.

ספק — Safek: doubt. When one is unsure about the status of a mixture, precise rules apply. A key principle: a doubt over a Torah prohibition is decided stringently (לחומרא), whereas a doubt over a rabbinic prohibition can often be treated leniently.

A concept to come in Siman 98: ביטול בשישים (bittul be-shishim, nullification in sixty times its volume). When a drop of something prohibited falls into a large volume of permitted food, it can be "nullified" if the permitted food is at least 60 times greater. Seif 10 of our siman already alludes to it (עד שיהא ס' בחלב), but the full rule is developed in Siman 98 — we will return to it at that level.

4. De-oraita vs. de-rabbanan — the meat × milk table

All of seif 3 can be summed up in a table. Let us cross the type of meat with the type of milk, and look at the status of each combination.

Meat	+ Milk	Cooking & benefit	Eating
Kosher livestock (ox, sheep, goat)	Kosher livestock	🔴 Prohibited by the Torah	🔴 Prohibited by the Torah
Kosher livestock	Non-kosher animal	🟢 Permitted (on the meat-milk count)	🔴 Prohibited, but because of the non-kosher milk, not because of meat-and-milk
Non-kosher animal	Kosher livestock	🟢 Permitted (on the meat-milk count)	🔴 Prohibited, but because of the non-kosher meat
Kosher wild animal (חיה) or poultry (עוף)	Kosher livestock	🟢 Permitted mi-Torah	🟡 Prohibited by the Sages (de-rabbanan)
Fish or locusts	Milk	🟢 Permitted	🟢 No prohibition at all, not even rabbinic

The three tiers of the prohibition:

From the Torah (de-oraita): only kosher livestock + kosher milk, cooked together.
From the Sages (de-rabbanan): poultry or kosher wild animal + kosher milk, for eating.
Permitted: fish + milk (no meat-and-milk prohibition).

An important nuance regarding the "non-kosher" cases: the Shach (s.k. 3) and the Taz (s.k. 2) debate at length the wording of the Tur. They both conclude that when one of the components is non-kosher, there is no meat-and-milk prohibition at all — the prohibition comes solely from the non-kosher food itself. The Beit Yossef therefore "did well" (יפה כוון, says the Shach; יפה עשה, says the Taz) not to adopt the ambiguous wording of the Tur.

And fish with milk? Seif 3 is unequivocal: there is no meat-and-milk prohibition. The Shach (s.k. 5) even hammers the point home against an opinion that would have prohibited it on grounds of health (סכנה): וכל יומא ויומא נהגינן הכי לבשל דגים בחלב ולאכול — "and every single day we follow the practice of cooking fish in milk and eating it." This is a point among the Acharonim that is distinct from the meat-and-milk prohibition, and it is debated: some (Pitchei Teshuva s.k. 9, in the name of the Levush and of several physicians) are cautious about fish boiled in milk, whereas fish fried in butter is unanimously permitted. For practical halacha (halacha lema'asse), consult your Rav.

5. The Shach and the Taz — the great commentators

In Yoreh De'ah, the Shulchan Aruch is never read on its own. Two great commentaries accompany it on every page and structure the entire practical study of the siman: the Shach and the Taz. These are the standard nos'ei kelim (companion commentaries) of Yoreh De'ah.

The Shach (ש״ך) — an abbreviation of שפתי כהן, Siftei Kohen ("the lips of the Kohen"), by Rabbi Shabtai haCohen (Lithuania, 17th century). It is the standard commentary on Yoreh De'ah, of great analytical depth.

The Taz (ט״ז) — an abbreviation of טורי זהב, Turei Zahav ("the rows of gold"), by Rabbi David haLevi Segal (Poland, 17th century). Often in dialogue — and sometimes in disagreement — with the Shach.

Two key entries of the Shach

Shach s.k. 1 — What is "cooking"?

On the words "prohibited by the Torah only by way of cooking": this means — but not through marinating (כבוש) or salting (מליחה), which are not a way of cooking. (Those mixtures are prohibited only by the Sages.)

Shach s.k. 5 — Fish with milk poses no problem at all

The Shach firmly rejects the idea of prohibiting fish with milk: "every single day we follow the practice of cooking fish in milk and eating it," and even the Gemara shows that there is no health risk here at all — "this is self-evident."

A key entry of the Taz

Taz s.k. 1 — Benefit from a permitted mixture

On the gloss of the Rama "what is not prohibited by the Torah is permitted for benefit": the Taz notes that the Maharshal (רש״ל) disagrees and wishes to be stringent regarding benefit as well; but the Taz rules: "as for us, we follow only the words of the Rishonim and the Acharonim" — that is, the lenient view of the Rama.

Here one sees the method: the Shach and the Taz do not merely repeat the Mehaber — they cite the sources, compare the Rishonim, and rule. This is exactly what is studied in depth at the Lamdan levels.

6. The gloss of the Rama (הגה)

The Rama (Rabbi Moshe Isserles) adds to the text of the Mehaber glosses that reflect Ashkenazi practice and clarify how the law is applied. Here are his most notable interventions in our siman.

On seif 1 — benefit from a non-de-oraita mixture

On seif 3 — almond milk and mar'it ayin

Gloss of the Rama: the practice is to make almond "milk" (חלב שקדים) and to put poultry meat in it, since (the prohibition of poultry with milk is) only rabbinic. But with livestock meat, one must place almonds beside the "milk" because of appearance (מראית העין) — so that no one will think that meat is being mixed with real milk — as was explained earlier in Siman 66 regarding blood.

This is a very concrete gloss: almond milk resembles real milk. To prevent an onlooker from thinking a transgression is taking place, one places clearly visible almonds beside the dish. The Shach (s.k. 6) adds, in the name of the Maharshal, that it is even fitting to place some beside poultry with almond milk, as an additional precaution of mar'it ayin.

On seif 6 — precautions against mixing in the kitchen

Here the Rama records several cautionary customs: not to mix the water used to rinse meat dishes with that of dairy dishes; to avoid certain shared utensils in which meat and milk might have become mingled. But he concludes: ובדיעבד אין לחוש בכל זה, ואף לכתחלה אין בזה אלא חומרות בעלמא והמיקל לא הפסיד — "after the fact there is nothing to be concerned about in all this, and even ab initio these are merely stringencies; one who is lenient has lost nothing."

7. Modern practical cases

How do these ancient laws apply in our kitchens today? Here are three common situations, illuminated by our siman.

Case 1 — Chicken in cream sauce (poultry + milk)

According to seif 3, poultry (עוף) with milk is prohibited for eating only by the Sages (de-rabbanan), and not by the Torah. But it remains entirely forbidden to eat. A "chicken in cream sauce" is therefore prohibited. The de-oraita / de-rabbanan distinction is not a permission: it merely changes certain technical consequences (benefit, certain rules of doubt). For practical halacha (halacha lema'asse), consult your Rav.

Case 2 — Almond milk (and plant-based milks)

Almond, soy, or oat milk is not real milk: one may therefore consume it with meat. But the Rama (seif 3) teaches the principle of mar'it ayin: since these "milks" resemble animal milk, it is fitting to place a few almonds (or some visible marker) beside the dish when serving them with livestock meat, in order to remove any suspicion. Many packages today carry the word "parve," which partly resolves the issue. For practical halacha (halacha lema'asse), consult your Rav.

Case 3 — Cheese dishes and rennet

Seifim 9 to 11 remind us that the rennet (מעמיד) used to curdle cheese may be of animal origin. If it comes from the abomasum of an animal, a meat-and-milk question can arise. This is one of the reasons that cheese requires a kashrut certification: it ensures that the rennet used is kosher. For cheese dishes, vigilance also concerns the dishware (dairy) and the separation from meat. For practical halacha (halacha lema'asse), consult your Rav.

8. Summary of Siman 87

The essence of Siman 87 in a few sentences:

A single verse, repeated 3 times, establishes 3 Torah prohibitions: to cook, to eat, to benefit.
The prohibition of the Torah applies only to what is cooked together (דרך בישול); raw, marinated, or salted is prohibited only by the Sages.
De-oraita: only kosher livestock + kosher milk.
Poultry and kosher wild animals + milk: prohibited for eating, but only by the Sages.
Fish + milk: no meat-and-milk prohibition.
Human milk and almond milk: permitted in themselves, but with precautions of mar'it ayin.
Benefit (הנאה) is prohibited only for what is prohibited by the Torah; the rest is permitted for benefit.

Memory table

9. Comprehension questions

Combination	Status
Steak + milk, cooked together	🔴 Prohibited by the Torah (to cook, eat, benefit)
Chicken + cream	🟡 Prohibited for eating (de-rabbanan)
Deer (kosher game) + milk	🟡 Prohibited for eating (de-rabbanan)
Salmon + cream sauce	🟢 Permitted (health point to be distinguished — see your Rav)
Meat + almond milk (with a marker)	🟢 Permitted, with visible almonds (mar'it ayin)

Check your understanding:

How many times does the Torah repeat "לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו," and what are the 3 prohibitions that follow from it?
Why does the Torah express the prohibition of eating with the word cooking? What limit does this set on the Torah prohibition?
Does the word "גדי" (kid) limit the prohibition to kids alone? Explain using seif 2.
On which precise combination does the prohibition of the Torah (de-oraita) apply?
What is the status of poultry with milk? And of fish with milk?
What is מראית עין? Give two examples from the siman (human milk, almond milk).
What does "פטור" (exempt) mean in seif 6? Does it mean "permitted"? What does the Shach say about this?
Who are the Shach and the Taz? What are their full names in Hebrew?
Why is a "chicken in cream sauce" prohibited, even though the prohibition is only rabbinic?
Why does cheese need a kashrut certification, in connection with the last seifim?

To go further

If you want to deepen this siman:

📚 Level 2 — Lamdan: the pilpul, the Shach / Taz debate on the "non-kosher" cases, the status of rennet (קיבה) and the שיטות ראשונים, anchored in the sugya of Chullin 113-116
✨ Level 3 — Synthesis: the master meat × milk table, the golden rules, and quick memorization of the 11 seifim
⚖️ Level 4 — Halacha lema'asse: practical ruling (Shach, Taz, Pri Megadim, Pitchei Teshuva) and contemporary poskim on concrete cases

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