Q&A: Separating Utensils and a Decree Upon a Decree
Separating Utensils and a Decree Upon a Decree
Question
In honor of Rabbi Michael, hello,
I barely understand these laws of non-sacred slaughtered food, but this question occurred to me—
What is the source of the law that one must keep meat and dairy utensils separate? And my question is really aimed at this point—
Why is this not a decree upon a decree when we are not talking about the meat of a domesticated animal? If poultry is a decree because of animal meat, then isn’t the prohibition against eating dairy from a utensil used for poultry a decree upon a decree?
Many thanks,
Ofir
Answer
In quite a few contexts we do find a decree upon a decree. The Talmud itself raises this difficulty, and in several cases answers, “it is all one decree” (and so too among the medieval authorities (Rishonim)). Here too there is logic to it, since once they extended the prohibition of meat cooked with milk to poultry with milk, they included within that all the details of the law of meat with milk, so as not to differentiate between them.
See here for many qualifications to this rule:
https://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/26903
Just one note about the term “separation” that you used. If you mean not to cook in the same utensil, that is not a decree at all, but part of the basic law itself. And even if one does not cook them together, there is absorption into the utensil which, if the quantity is large enough, is prohibited by Torah law.