Dear Refiner's Fire...


I have a Question on Leviticus 19:19 concerning the mixture of different threads. Does this mean I cannot wear cotton with silk? Since it is Torah it must be followed since Yah commanded it. Also, concerning the meat and milk commandment, Torah commands us three times (Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26 and Deuteronomy 14:21) not to cook a kid in its mother's milk. What is your interpretation of this?


Our Response....


Baruch ben Daniel, our Canadian affiliate explains:

Generally the halacha follows that wool and linen (flax) or cotton cannot be mixed and there are many ideas why not, but they are all speculation because Torah doesn't actually tell us. I know of no halacha that says cotton and silk cannot be mixed.

The whole controversy of milk and meat being mixed is tradition. Torah says don't boil a kid in its mother's milk, which implies showing mercy to animals; and in both places in Torah where it is mentioned it also suggests that all the Mitzvot are to be administered with this same kind of mercy and respect that one would show to a relationship between an animal an its mother. In other words, if we are to show this level of compassion to an animal, then how much more compassion are we to show to one another and to the observance of the Mitzvot?

All that being said, we don't go about to cause a brother to stumble; those who adhere to this tradition make a very big deal out if it, so we should not be stuffing a cheeseburger in our mouths when we are in their company. I eat cheeseburgers both with melted and raw cheese but I know many other Netzarim who wouldn't touch one. I remember once when I was sitting with a Netzi Rabbi in Sefat and there was a Reuben with swiss on the menu and I asked if this would be an offence to anyone, but he told me to help myself. I was just into about fives bites when a bunch of yeshiva boys walked by and when they noticed by plate, they began to give me a sermon. We reminded them that the meat was from Argentina and the cheese from France, and there was no way that they came from the same cow....

Of course, we also have to remember that if you melt cheese it becomes very difficult to digest and loses its digestive enzymes and healthy properties. The bottom line is, we must do our best to follow YHWH's commands concerning what constitutes "food" and what God warned us not to eat. In the above case, He said not to boil a kid in its mother's milk. So, unless you live on a farm and slaughter a baby goat which you plan to boil it in its mother's milk, it in no way suggests we cannot eat a cheeseburger - which wasn't "boiled in milk" in the first place.