Why Did Tor•âhꞋ Specify Not To Boil A Kid
"In Its Mother's Milk"?

What the Idiom Meant at Mt. Sinai

2002.08.05 © 2002 by Yi•rᵊmᵊyâhꞋu Bën-Dâ•widꞋ. Permission to quote contingent upon proper citation, including link to www.netzarim.co.il

Family Structure in Tor•âhꞋ

The Father

In Tor•âhꞋ, the father was the בַּעַל הַבַּיִת, the owner and manager of the family property. The father was responsible transmitting the family’s religious items (property) and their proper handling (rituals) – Tor•âhꞋ – to his sons.

The Mother

The mother, by contrast, was responsible for transmitting the family’s culture, the חָלָב, to the "kids", including their rearing, especially in their early years. The prime example of the function and responsibilities of mother in Tor•âhꞋ is Ri•vᵊq•âh who, when faced with the dilemma of cultural fitness for the role of family religious leader conflicted with traditional religious succession from father to a firstborn who wasn’t culturally fit, secured the patriarchal blessing for her son Ya•a•qovꞋ.

Thus, it may be said that while the father teaches his sons the rituals, the how and בָּשָׂר of religion, the mother teaches the חָלָב — and (only) when the two concepts conflict, the mother, the lesson of Ri•vᵊq•âh demonstrates, and her חָלָב, have priority.

Note also that the drinking of חָלָב, after a swish of water and a 5-minute pause, may precede the eating of בָּשָׂר — but not the reverse. The symbolism holds here as well. If the "kid" is brought up in the "milk" of the meaning and whys of Tor•âhꞋ, then the proper practice, the "meat", follows naturally. However, when the milk and why is unknown to the kid, then ritual becomes its own, and only, reward; resulting in the flowery glorification of the rituals as glorious magical incantations (concealing European medieval reforms) in their own rite (sic) to the exclusion of the Principles of Tor•âhꞋ — well describing today's "Jewish" and Ultra-Orthodox / Kha•reid•imꞋ practices.

That mothers have been relieved of too many mi•tzᵊw•otꞋ that the rabbis, who don't know why themselves (their mother's weren't permitted to teach them either) interpret to apply only to men, swept into an almost non-religious role of maid and housekeeper, is a prime reason why, out of every flock of 100, more than 90 stray away (from the Orthodox, and especially Ultra-Orthodox / Kha•reid•imꞋ traditions). Mom, who is traditionally in the home with the children, and the only – irreplaceable – one who could do the job, isn’t teaching the "why" while the rabbis maintain it’s the man’s job.

Mother’s Milk

Mother is the culture, the "why" of things. It isn’t without reason that one’s native country is called his or her "mother country." The same is true of culture. Everyone has a "mother culture" into which they were born – the "mother’s milk" upon which they were succored.

גְּדִי

There are exactly three instances in Tor•âhꞋ of the prohibition against boiling a גְּדִי in the חָלָב of its mother: Shᵊm•otꞋ 23.19; 34.26 and Dᵊvâr•imꞋ 14.21. In each case, this prohibition is mentioned either in the explicit connection of the three annual tithe pilgrimages, specifically PësꞋakh and the prohibition against khâ•meitzꞋ (leaven, symbolizing transgression of Tor•âhꞋ), or (in the latter case) tithing that imply one of the three annual tithe pilgrimages.

We find the key to understanding the symbolism of the גְּדִי in the juxtapositioning of this prohibition to the geir and nâ•khᵊr•iꞋ (foreigner) in the same verse (14.21). Together, these verses teach that, [a] while being meticulous to avoid the khâ•meitzꞋ, that is the assimilation toward the nâ•khᵊr•iꞋ, [b] "Don’t boil the kid in its mother’s milk." In other words, [a] don't assimilate toward the goy•imꞋ but, at the same time, [b] don’t harass ("boil") the geir ("kid") because of his or her native ("mother") culture ("milk"). This is in perfect accord with all of the other Scriptures about relating to geir•imꞋ, for which see "גֵּר" in a Hebrew-indexed (not English-ordered) concordance.

Consider in this light Yᵊsha•yâhꞋu 11.6.

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