Midrash Halakha
In the Halakhic Midrash on Exodus[1] we find eight different opinions regarding the triple repetition of the prohibition, and the one mentioned above is listed as the seventh of the eight. (the text of the Midrash can be found in the footnotes. I have numbered the different opinions.)
This 8-way dispute clearly shows that the text is enigmatic and that the interpretation accepted as Halakha is based more on oral tradition then on textual evidence. This is not to say that it has a lesser status, since we are commanded to adhere to the oral tradition as well, but rather to point out that there could be a discussion as to how comprehensive was the original tradition, as we shall see later.
Mishna
The chapter in the Mishna (Hullin, 8) which deals with the prohibition of cooking meat with dairy contains several contradictions. Here I will present only some excerpts.[2]
1. …fowl can be served alongside cheese on the table, but they are not eaten together… the school of Hillel forbids serving fowl alongside cheese… this only refers to the dining table, but one can put fowl next to cheese on the serving table [buffet].
2. One can wrap meat and cheese in the same cloth as long as they don’t touch each other… two roommates can eat on the same table, one [eats] meat and the other [eats] cheese, with no need to be concerned.
3. If a drop of milk fell on a piece of meat, if the flavor of the milk is noticeable the meat is forbidden (note that it is not the famous 1/60 ratio but rather a taste-test, apparently performed by a non-Jew.
4. …Rabbi Akiva says: the Torah prohibition does not include eating venison and fowl with milk…
There is of course an additional layer to the prohibition, the one we refer to as a fence erected by the Sages to prevent people from transgressing the Biblical law. We will soon discuss the next level of prohibitions as we segue into the Talmud and later writings, but it is important to be familiar with the Mishnaic text to get a perspective of the prohibition.
Talmudic dessert: chicken and cheese?
As we have previously seen, there is a triple dispute in the Mishnah whether fowl can be eaten with cheese, or if the two could be put side by side on the same table. The disagreement, and somewhat confusion, continue in the Talmud (I include here Mishnaic sages whose related opinions and actions are mentioned only in the Talmud):
Second century:
Rabbi Shimon ben Yehudah says in the name of Rabbi Shimon [ben Yohai] that meat and milk [cooked together] cannot be eaten, but one is allowed to derive benefit from it [by selling, giving etc.][3]
This statement, which might seem marginal, is of extreme importance, since it shows that not everyone agreed with the Midrashic interpretation that the triple repetition of the prohibition refers to cooking, eating, and deriving benefit from meat and milk. Even though this is the Halakhic norm accepted today, there is no clear statement in the Talmud that this opinion, which as we saw previously is one of eight, has been accepted as the final ruling.
The implications of this understanding are not immediately applicable, but it sheds light on the Talmudic Halakhic process, in the sense that sometimes a certain opinion became the norm without rigorous legal discussions.
Third century
In the third century, in Israel, people still followed the opinion of Rabbi Yosse of the Galilee, recorded in the Mishnah, that one can eat fowl with milk. In tractate Hullin (116:1), after the Talmud states that in the place where Rabbi Yosse of Galilee was the rabbi, people would in practice eat fowl with milk, the following story is told:[4]
Levi [a scholar and colleague of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi] happened to visit the house of one Yosef, who was a hunter. He was served a peacock head cooked in milk, and he did not say a word [it is not clear if he ate it]. He then came to Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, who opined that Levi should have excommunicated that family. Levi answered that since that locale was under the jurisdiction of Rabbi Yehudah Ben Bethera, he thought that Rabbi Yehudah followed the opinion of Rabbi Yosse, who says that the prohibition applies only to mammals, since they produce milk.
This story teaches us that not only in Rabbi Yosse’s place, but in other places around Israel, and even in Babylonia, where Rabbi Yehudah Ben Bethera lived, eating fowl with milk was commonplace. It is well known that the Mishnah was the culmination of a process meant to unify Halakha, but it was easier to impose the unified law in the public arena then in the private one. It is hard for us to think of a similar situation today because we live in an industrialized, global society, where products come from all over the world and are supervised by an almost standardized system. Another major difference is that in Talmudic times people ate in the privacy of their families and the concept of restaurants was limited to meals served in travelers’ inns.
Fourth century
In the fourth century in Babylonia a practice started spreading, according to which one was not allowed to eat dairy after eating meat. This is the first indication of our practice today of waiting between meat and dairy, but as we shall see, this reference in the Talmud is to a personal practice of several scholars, and it was only signed into law by Maimonides, in the 12th century.
This is the discussion in the Talmud, tractate Hullin:[5]
Agra , the father-in-law of Rabbi Aba [possibly 5th century], taught that fowl and cheese can be eaten [together] as dessert… he explained that this means that there is no need to wash hands or eat something else between the two [it is not clear which one comes first, though it seems to suggest that fowl is first and then cheese].
Rabbi Yitzhak ben Mesharsheya happened to visit the house of Rav Ashei [352-427]. He was served cheese and later meat, and he did not wash his hands between the two, and explained that washing hands after eating cheese is needed only if there are visible leftovers on the hands.
Rav Asei asked Rabbi Yohanan [3rd century] how long should one wait after meat before eating cheese? He answered: there is no need to wait…
This is not the end of the Talmudic text, but before we continue the presentation and analysis of this very important paragraph, we will briefly discuss the chronology of a page of Talmud.
[1] מכילתא דרבי ישמעאל, משפטים, מסכתא דכספא פרשה כ: לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו… [1] מפני מה נאמר בג’ מקומות, כנגד שלש בריתות שכרת הקדוש ברוך הוא עם ישראל… [2] רבי יונתן אומר,
הראשון תחלה נאמר… שנית לו מפני הדין… שלישית, ולא בחלב אדם. [3] רבי יאשיה אומר… אחת לבהמה ואחת לחיה ואחת לעוף. [4] אבא חנן אומר… אחת לבהמה גסה, ואחת לעזים, ואחת לרחלים. [5] רבי שמעון בן אלעזר אומר… אחת לבהמה גסה ואחת לדקה ואחת לחיה. [6] ר’ שמעון בן יוחאי אומר, אחד איסור אכילה ואחד איסור הנאה ואחד איסור בישול. [7] דבר אחר, אחת בין בארץ בין בחוצה לארץ, ואחת בפני הבית, ואחת שלא בפני הבית… [8] רבי עקיבא אומר… פרט לחיה, פרט לבהמה [טמאה], פרט לעוף…
[2] משנה חולין, פרק ח:א: …העוף עולה עם הגבינה על השלחן ואינו נאכל… בית הלל אומרים לא עולה ולא נאכל… באיזה שלחן אמרו בשולחן שאוכל עליו אבל בשולחן שסודר עליו את התבשיל נותן זה בצד זה ואינו חושש.
משנה ב: צורר אדם בשר וגבינה במטפחת אחת ובלבד שלא יהו נוגעין זה בזה… שני אכסנאין אוכלין על שלחן אחד זה בשר וזה גבינה ואין חוששין.
משנה ג: טיפת חלב שנפלה על החתיכה אם יש בה בנותן טעם באותה חתיכה אסור
משנה ד: רבי עקיבא אומר חיה ועוף אינם מן התורה …
[3] תלמוד בבלי, מסכת מנחות, דף קא עמוד ב: רבי שמעון בן יהודה אומר משום רבי שמעון, בשר בחלב אסור באכילה ומותר בהנאה
[4] תלמוד בבלי, מסכת חולין, דף קטז עמוד א: במקומו של רבי יוסי הגלילי היו אוכלין בשר עוף בחלב. לוי איקלע לבי יוסף רישבא, אייתו לקמיה רישא דטיוסא בחלבא, ולא אמר להו ולא מידי, כי אתא לקמיה דרבי, אמר ליה: אמאי לא תשמתינהו? אמר ליה: אתריה דרבי יהודה בן בתירא הוא, ואמינא, דרש להו כרבי יוסי הגלילי דאמר יצא עוף שאין לו חלב אם
[5] תלמוד בבלי, מסכת חולין, דף קד:ב-קה:א: תנא אגרא חמוה דרבי אבא: עוף וגבינה נאכלין באפיקורן… בלא נטילת ידים ובלא קינוח הפה. רב יצחק בריה דרב משרשיא איקלע לבי רב אשי, אייתו ליה גבינה – אכל, אייתו ליה בשרא אכל, ולא משא ידיה; אמרי ליה: והא תאני אגרא חמוה דרבי אבא עוף וגבינה נאכלין באפיקורן, עוף וגבינה – אין, בשר וגבינה לא! אמר להו: הני מילי – בליליא, אבל ביממא – הא חזינא … בעא מיניה רב אסי מרבי יוחנן: כמה ישהה בין בשר לגבינה? אמר ליה: ולא כלום; איני, והא אמר רב חסדא: אכל בשר – אסור לאכול גבינה, גבינה – מותר לאכול בשר! אלא, כמה ישהה בין גבינה לבשר? אמר ליה: ולא כלום… אמר ליה רב אחא בר יוסף לרב חסדא: בשר שבין השינים מהו? קרי עליה: הבשר עודנו בין שיניהם. אמר מר עוקבא: אנא, להא מלתא, חלא בר חמרא לגבי אבא, דאילו אבא – כי הוה אכיל בשרא האידנא לא הוה אכל גבינה עד למחר עד השתא, ואילו אנא – בהא סעודתא הוא דלא אכילנא, לסעודתא אחריתא – אכילנא
