Q&A: Why Is Schnitzel Kosher?
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Why Is Schnitzel Kosher?
Question
Schnitzel is chicken meat dipped in chicken eggs and bread crumbs.
There is the issue of “a kid in its mother’s milk,” and the argument is that it is not moral to eat the kid together with the cow’s milk.
Why, then, is schnitzel considered morally acceptable and kosher to eat?
Thank you
Answer
There is no connection whatsoever between Jewish law and morality, and cheap explanations about moral aspects of Jewish law are mainly good for a little Torah sermon at a sheva berakhot celebration.
But if you want a cute thought about the relationship between schnitzel and the chicken, here’s what my grandson (three and a half years old) said a few days ago: Mom, why don’t you eat schnitzel? Because Mom doesn’t eat things that come from animals. What, Mom, does the chicken sit on the schnitzel so that’s how it comes out? Seems much more convincing to me than your little thought.