# Why is kosher law on meat and dairy so broad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 13, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079 "2009-12-13T06:24:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079/21 "2009-12-15T18:39:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Which brings us full cicle back to my OP. Why haven’t some Jews said “Hey, we can eat cheeseburgers. The law specifically says goats and cheeseburgers are made out of cows.” Because that’s not how the law was interpreted. Odd-sounding rabbinical interpretations of biblical verses are just as likely to seem overly strict as overly lenient. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079/22 "2009-12-17T15:30:51Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > That passage is interesting, because it’s repeated three times in Torah, so the rabbis figured three different things must have been meant, because God wrote Torah and God doesn’t waste word, right?! So they decided that as well as “cooking”, “serving” and…something else I can’t remember but it might be “storing” or “preparing”…was meant. Is this same thinking applied to the 10 Commandments of Exodus and Deuteronomy or are they considered as one thing? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079/23 "2009-12-17T16:15:52Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > In fact, carrying objects is the only restriction which is affected by an eruv. You can’t carry objects between two domains, so the eruv unites them into one domain. It’s a bit more than a string stretched between buildings, though. The string has to be set up in fairly specific ways. 🙂 > > Also, some Orthodox Jews do not avail themselves of the leniencies afforded by the eruv. One Jewigh group in our community set up the string thing to allow their female members to bring their baby strollers into the synagogue during the Sabbath. A neighboring congregation strongly disagreed with their logic and chaos ensued. The one thing I learned was that apparently neither group had any prohibitions about beating the crap out of their neighbors on the Sabbath. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079/24 "2009-12-17T16:28:18Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Is god a tax attorney? Like he would love to smite you for rulebreaking, except you found a loophole? Yes. God was very specific. He left loopholes for a reason. You aren’t to do certain things, if he didn’t want you to do other things, he would’ve said those too. Goyum just don’t understand… 😉 I’m a non-religious individual, but I’m clearly Jewish, so I understand these things. The laws were written with loopholes for a reason, God wanted them there, or he would’ve specifically outlawed them. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079/25 "2009-12-17T16:41:09Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You think that’s confusing, different Jewish communities have different rules for how long after eating meat you can eat milk. It ranges from 2 hours to 10 hours. then there’s the keeping of seperate pots and pans, which strikes me as vast overkill, especially in the modern age, where you can clean those things pretty thoroughly. Ten hours? :eek: Who waits ten hours? Most of the people I know wait six (and my family waits three). As for the intricacy and pedantry of Jewish law, my understanding follows: the idea is that the spiritual world runs on a complicated system, a sort of computer code for the universe. The little hairline distinctions and loopholes are like typing “/” instead of "" in your program. It looks nearly the same, but for the system it’s a big difference. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079/26 "2009-12-17T18:38:45Z")
Little Nemo: > [@](#): > > Like most dietary commandments, this seems to be pretty specific. But it’s been interpreted to have a broadly symbolic meaning that prohibits any mixing of meat and dairy products. When and how did this interpretation arise? The broad interpretation is at least as old as the Talmud, which means it’s an oral tradition of how to interpret the Torah that goes back a ways further. The details are in Tractate Hullin. It doesn’t apply only to goats, because the word “G’di”, used in those verses, actually means the young of any animal, as proven from the specific term “G’di Ha-izim” used elsewhere for a kid goat. The Talmud there also discusses how scripture indicates that the prohibition is even the meat of one (mammalian) species with the milk of another. The expansion of this to fowl is a Rabbinic “fence” around the Torah’s prohibition, as is the hours-long waiting period. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079/27 "2009-12-17T18:42:11Z")
> [@Todderbob](#): > > I’m a non-religious individual, but I’m clearly Jewish, so I understand these things. The laws were written with loopholes for a reason, God wanted them there, or he would’ve specifically outlawed them. Thin line between faithfully following one’s religion and Obessive/Compulsive Disorder. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079/28 "2009-12-17T18:58:09Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Thin line between faithfully following one’s religion and Obessive/Compulsive Disorder. You misunderstand, I’m not religious at all. I guess I’d be considered a Nontheist. Its no more an obsessive compulsive disorder than Buddist or Tibetan rituals, which are generally viewed positively by Western Society. It’s more restrictive than, say Christian rituals, but less so than Islamic. It’s no different than any other tradition, really. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079/29 "2009-12-17T19:50:14Z")
> [@Todderbob](#): > > You misunderstand, I’m not religious at all. I guess I’d be considered a Nontheist. > > Its no more an obsessive compulsive disorder than Buddist or Tibetan rituals, which are generally viewed positively by Western Society. It’s more restrictive than, say Christian rituals, but less so than Islamic. > > It’s no different than any other tradition, really. I didn’t mean you personally. And I agree, many (perhaps most) religions encourage devotion to ritual leading to odd behavior. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kosher-law-on-meat-and-dairy-so-broad/521079.md?page=1)