Refraining from mixing milk and meat is a biblical instruction with far-reaching ramifications in Jewish law and practice. As with every mitzvah, it carries lessons and significance that enrich our lives. Read on for 11 facts about this mainstay of kosher living.

1. It’s Repeated Three Times in the Torah

“Do not cook a kid goat in its mother’s milk.” This exact phrase appears three times in the Torah.1 Why the repetition? Our sages identify three distinct prohibitions from these three instances: eating milk and meat together, benefiting from their mixture (like selling it or feeding it to a pet), and cooking them together—even if you don’t eat or use it.2

Read: Meat, Dairy, and Pareve

2. There Are Layers of Meaning

At its core, the mitzvah of separating milk and meat is about obeying G‑d’s will and acknowledging that His wisdom is infinitely greater than ours.3 That said, there are many beautiful explanations for this mitzvah. For instance, meat represents death (the animal’s slaughter) while milk symbolizes new life, and it is not proper to mix the two.4

Read: Meat, Milk, and Logic

3. It’s an Oral Torah Classic

When Moses received the Torah at Mt. Sinai, it came in two parts: the Written Torah (the text of the Bible) and the Oral Torah (traditions and teachings conveyed directly by G‑d). One of these oral traditions clarifies that the prohibition against mixing milk and meat applies to the milk and flesh of goats, sheep, cows, and other such animals—not just a calf and its mother.5

Read: On the Need for the Oral Torah

4. It Helps Us Avoid Cruelty

Why does the Torah use the specific example of a kid and its mother’s milk? One explanation is that using a mother’s milk to cook its own offspring is an act of insensitivity.6 Avoiding cruelty is so important that G‑d extended the rule to all kosher animals.7

Read: How Do You Treat Animals?

5. It Shapes the Kosher Kitchen

One of the most visible parts of keeping kosher is separating meat and dairy. To do this, many kosher kitchens have two sets of dishes, cookware, and utensils—ideally also featuring separate sinks, ovens, and dishwashers! This distinct organization helps ensure complete separation is maintained, giving the kosher kitchen a unique look.

Read: What Is a Kosher Kitchen?

6. Meet Milchig and Fleishig

If you’ve ever heard someone talk about a “milchig spoon” or a “fleishig placemat,” welcome to the world of Yiddish kosher vocabulary! Ashkenazi Jews often use these terms for dairy and meat, respectively. In the Land of Israel, you’ll hear the Hebrew equivalents: chalavi (dairy) and besari (meat).

Read: 13 Facts About Yiddish

7. Pareve Is the Third Food Group

Not everything falls into the meat and dairy categories. Kosher food includes a third group: pareve (neutral) items like fruits, vegetables, fish, and eggs that may be eaten with either meat or dairy.

Read: What Is Pareve?

8. Abraham Served the Angels Milk and Meat—Or Did He?

When Abraham hosted three angels disguised as men, he served them a feast of butter, milk, and calf meat.8 But wait—didn’t Abraham follow the Torah even before it was given?9 How could he mix milk and meat? One explanation is that they ate one before the other (see next fact). Another suggests that, as an exemplary host, he simply offered both options.10

Read: Did Abraham Serve His Guests Non-Kosher?

9. You Need to Wait Between Them

Jewish law requires a waiting period or interruption between eating meat and dairy. The length of the wait depends on whether you ate meat first or dairy first; after meat, the wait is generally longer.11 For more details, check out our article on the waiting periods between meat and dairy.

Read: Why Wait Between Eating Milk and Meat?

10. It Impacts the Shavuot Meal Schedule

Shavuot is famous for its dairy dishes (think cheesecake and blintzes). But since holiday meals traditionally feature meat, how do we reconcile this? Chabad practice is to have a dairy meal first, then wait and transition to a festive meat meal later in the day.12

Read: Eating Dairy on Shavuot

11. They Reflect Diverse Energies

In Kabbalah, milk and meat symbolize two different qualities: kindness (milk) and discipline (meat). When interacting with others, we often see-saw between the two, with jumbled results. Refraining from merging milk and meat teaches us to recognize the distinct nature of each quality and harness each one when the time is right.13

Read: A Glass of Milk and a Cup of Kindness