Parsha Re'eh: A Spiritual Life Lesson on Judaism's Prohibition of Mixing Meat and Dairy

Food plays such a major role in our lives. We eat three meals a day, not to mention food is a great way to bring people together. What we don't eat almost says as much as what we do eat. Some decide to cut out carbohydrates (Atkins). Others decide to cut out meat (vegetarian) or go as far as not eating animal products (vegan). Why people make these dietary decisions ranges from health to moral reasons. In this week's Torah portion, we come across a particular form of food to cut out of the Jewish diet:

לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו.

Do not cook a kid (baby goat) in its mother's milk. -Deuteronomy 14:21

Although the verse itself only mentions a goat, the Rabbis interpreted this verse to prohibit cooking, eating, and benefiting from a mixture of meat and dairy (also see Exodus 23:19, 34:26). That means no chicken parmesan or no cheeseburgers. What lesson is G-d trying to teach us in this prohibition? Some believe that Jewish dietary laws fall under the category of חק (chok), that which does not have an explanation or reason to it. Much like Rambam (Maimonides), I don't believe that G-d created these laws without reason. I believe that Judaism provides us with the opportunity to elevate the mundane into the holy. I also believe that we are what we eat, a concept I detail while analyzing the Jewish prohibition on pork and the Jewish decree that fish need to have fins and scales in order to be consumed. This makes sense considering that earlier in Deuteronomy 14:21, G-d gives us these laws because "the Jews are a holy people."  Bringing it back to the initial question: what exactly about not mixing meat and dairy is holy? There are a few explanations in Jewish tradition:

1. A choice between life and death. Milk represents life, and meat represents death. Perhaps the purpose of tradition is teach us the importance of distinction and functionality in order that we a) are conscientious of what leads us towards life and towards death, and b) that we choose life so we may live (Deuteronomy 30:19). 
2. Against animal cruelty and human cruelty. R. Abraham ibn Izra said that mixing a kid with its mother's milk implies extreme barbarism. R. Abraham Joshua Heschel said that "How ungrateful and callous we would be to take the child of an animal to whom we are so indebted and cook it in the very milk which nourishes us and is given to us so freely by its mother." If we are supposed to consider animal cruelty as a part of our spiritual practice, we are a fortiori all the more obligated to make sure we are not cruel towards our fellow human beings.
3. The animalistic versus the spiritual side of life. R. Samson Hirsch takes the dichotomy between meat and dairy in a different direction. For R. Hirsch, meat represents the animal portion of life, i.e., reproduction and sexual activity. Milk is the nourishment that supports new life. While these are actions that are natural, we should learn to differentiate between our activities and makes sure they are channeled toward the service of G-d. R. Hirsch saw the prohibition on this mixture as an embodiment of Jewish holiness (R. Hirsch on Exodus 23:19).
4. Idolatry. In his text Guide for the Perplexed (III, xlviii), Rambam suggests that cooking a kid in its mother's milk was an idolatrous practice in the days of yore, hence the prohibition. The only flaw with this argument is that no such rite is known. 
5. Gluttony. The verses that refer to the prohibition of such a mixture use the goat as the example. I was thinking to myself, "What makes the goat special in this context?" I was reading in the Sonchino Chumash that goats are rich in milk. Taking that reality to the next level, the abundance of milk that the goat produced could be seen as a metaphor for gluttony (Rashbam). 

Although it might not seem probable, I can actually tie together these interpretations. I have brought up this point up before, but idolatry is when you take G-d out of the equation and worship something else. In the case of not mixing meat and dairy, the idolatry that this mixture is supposed to represent is gluttony. Gluttony is a form of worshiping the self, one's animalistic desires. This is not to say we should never take ourselves into consideration because there is room for self-care and worrying about oneself. At the same time, when it is only about the self and it is at the expense of other people (and as this passage teaches, at the expense of animals), we lose sight of our humanity, much like we saw with Sodom.

As human beings, we are so much more than unadulterated selfishness or a life of straight-up hedonism. What separates us from the animals is our ability to discern. We can choose between right and wrong. We can choose to be cruel or kind. We can choose to give into our most animalistic of urges or we can channel it towards something higher. The prohibition is more than some seemingly arbitrary dietary rule to make another facet of life more difficult. It is a reminder of a Jew's higher purpose. Judaism teaches us enjoy the pleasures of this world, but not overdoing it. This prohibition is a reminder to be kind instead of cruel. In short, a Jew's calling is to choose life. Amazing what spiritual lessons not eating a cheeseburger can teach!