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Conservative Judaism/Milchic/Fleischic separation

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Expert: - 5/20/2003


Question
Dear Rabbi Lerner,

I understand why beef and dairy products must be separated (to prevent from cooking a kid in its mother's milk) but I can't understand how chicken meat fits into the equation.

Shouldn't chicken be handled the way fish is? Thanks for your answer.

Eric

Answer
Dear Eric,

Thanks for writing and you raise a very important distinction that our Rabbis did consider.

They had no trouble deciding which animals were to be considered meat after having determined which ones had a split hoof and chewed the cud. Beef, sheep, goat, deer, buffalo, etc.

Chicken clearly doesn't chew its cud or have a cloven hoof; it is an edible bird, and the Rabbis believed that there was a clear tradition about which birds were kosher.

Now, they came to conclude - after some real initial differences of opinion they concluded that the birds/fowl would be treated as meat rather than food such as fish.

Rabbi Yosi Hagalili ate chicken with milk, considering it like fish - the general rule being that only milk producing animals were not eaten together with milk. In later generations, chicken simply became more identified as "meat", and it is interesting that R. Yosi was also blind. He must have felt the chicken, felt a goat and "saw" the differences. Others who could see the food product, with legs, wings=arms, breast-meat, thighs - and they ultimately saw the chicken to be more like the meat animal than fish. Hence as meat, they could not allow the chicken to be eaten with milk.

OK?

Best wishes

Rabbi Dov

Conservative Judaism

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Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner

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Write to me with questions about Jewish customs and law, history, philosophy and tradition for answers from a Conservative perspective or conversion. I am a graduate of The Jewish Theological Seminary and a member of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly. Having served in congregational pulpits since 1970, I now am President of the Foundation For Family Education, Inc. a non-profit educational endeavor. I established it to create new formats of hands-on programs and provide free educational downloads at www.jewishfreeware.org. In addition to general informational questions I welcome your questions about programs for social action, outreach to dual-faith families, inter-faith clergy projects, healing services, education for conversion, adult education for the congregation and the community. If you have questions about Informal and Formal Education I am ready to share my extensive experience with Youth Activities, Camping and Religious School/Hebrew High School on a congregational, community and national/international level.

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I have served on the National Youth Commission for more than 25 years and serve on the Boards of the Conservative Zionist movement MERCAZ and the World Council of Synagogues. I have always dual-families and taught candidates for conversion with a great sense of fulfillment. I am very proud of 25 years on the Jewish camping staff of Camps Ramah. My greatest source of pride is my family! Ask me about them, please!:-)

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