Please tell me why we cant eat the meat of fowl together with milk products, after all the edict in the Tanach says we may not consume the Kid in its mothers milk whereby birds do not give milk?
Answer:
It is true that according to Torah law, there is no prohibition of consuming fowl together with milk. However, out of concern that people should not discern between fowl and meat, the Sages enacted that even fowl should not be eaten together with milk it is permitted to cook fowl with milk, and to benefit from a mixture (unlike for meat).
According to one opinion cited in the Mishnah, the reason for which fowl are permitted to be consumed, according to Torah law, with milk, is because birds do not give milk (as you write). According to another opinion (which we follow), the Torah prohibition applies to the meat of behemos (generally farm animals: cows, sheep, goats) alone, and not to chayos, as well as to fowl.
Sources: See Mishnah, Chulin chap. 8; Gemara Chulin 113, 116; Yoreh De’ah 86-87.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.
Please tell me that I understand correctly the following in your answer… “the Sages enacted that even fowl should not be eaten together with milk it is permitted to cook fowl with milk, and to benefit from a mixture (unlike for meat).” – that I can, for instance, cook chicken in a sauce made with dairy products but not eat them together. Please tell me the accepted time between eating fowl and milk products.
With respect
Nick Levi
Your understanding is correct. Concerning the time to wait between eating fowl and dairy, the common custom is to wait six hours, and this is the principle halachic ruling, though some have the custom of waiting a shorter time. There is no difference in this respect between meat and fowl.
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