Is the reason we don’t mix meat and milk because it is written in the Torah not to cook a mother in her milk? If so, why don’t we eat chicken with milk? Chickens do not produce milk!

You are absolutely correct that the prohibition against mixing meat and milk stems from the verse in the Torah which states “Do not cook meat in the milk of its mother” (Exodus 23:19). In addition, you are quite correct that chickens do not produce milk, and as such, would seem to be excluded from the prohibition of mixing meat with milk. And the truth is, that the Torah’s probation of mixing meat and milk does NOT, in fact, include poultry meat. Therefore when the Torah was given there was no reason someone could not enjoy a chicken and cheese sandwich.

However, the fact is that chicken meat is very similar to beef – the two can easily be mistaken for each other. Due to this similarity and the possible confusion that can arise, the Rabbis felt it wise to extend the prohibition of mixing meat and milk to poultry meat as well. This extension of the prohibition has become so accepted that, today, the notion of mixing poultry meat and milk is just as foreign to us as is mixing beef and milk. It is important to recognize that even though the nature of the prohibition of mixing poultry and milk is Rabbinic in nature, and not Biblical, it is no less binding, as the Torah itself instructs us to listen to the words of the Sages: “Do not stray to the right or left from the word that they [the Sages] declare to you.” (Deuteronomy 17:11)

Be well,

Rabbi Yoel Spotts