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Many Jewish rabbinical teachers have an erroneous understanding of the Exodus and Deuteronomy Scripture verses pertaining to boiling a goat or kid in its mother’s milk, which prohibits the cooking and eating of nursing mammals. These verses are closely related to the mercy commands regarding the humane slaughter of animals. This article will argue the case against veal being classified as clean kosher meat, and will declare veal to be UNCLEAN.
Cattle (bulls and cows) are clean animals. Veal is the meat from cattle calves that haven’t yet been weaned off from nursing on milk. Veal meat products are often certified, marketed, and sold as kosher. Calves that haven’t been weaned off from nursing on their mother’s milk, that are being nourished by their mother’s milk, and have their mother’s milk literally ‘in’ them should not be cooked, nor eaten, and should be considered unclean.
EXODUS 23:19, 34:26; DEUTERONOMY 14:21 (TLV):
You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
The Scripture verses regarding not boiling a young goat or kid in its mother’s milk should be understood in the following way:
EXODUS 23:19, 34:26; DEUTERONOMY 14:21 (TLV) [WITH INTERPRETATION]:
You shall not boil [COOK] a kid [YOUNG MAMMAL] in [THAT IS STILL NURSING ON] its mother’s milk.
NURSING MAMMALS
The command not to cook a kid in its mother’s milk literally means not to cook young mammals in (THAT HAS MILK INSIDE IT) from its mother. Milk is ‘in’ a young mammal that is nursing milk from its mother. While young mammals are still feeding on their mother’s milk, we are commanded not to cook and thereby not consume them. The command equates to: Do not cook, or eat, young mammals while their mother’s milk is being digested in them. Cattle nurse their calves during their first 6 to 8 months. It is prohibited to cook or eat a calf while it is in (nursing on) its mother’s milk. Milk is inside the calf, and is being digested and utilized for nourishment. This would prohibit the eating of veal, as young cattle are slaughtered while they are still feeding on their mother’s milk. If a person cooks and consumes veal, he or she is cooking and eating a calf that literally still has its mother’s milk digesting and providing nourishment inside it. Calves should first be weaned off their mother’s milk before they are slaughtered for meat and eaten. Veal meat, meat from a calf that had not been weaned off milk when slaughtered, has a distinctively different color, texture, and taste than matured beef.
GOD’S SIMILAR MERCY COMMANDS TOWARDS ANIMALS
LEVITICUS 22:28 (NKJV):
Whether it is a cow or ewe, do not kill both her and her young on the same day.
DEUTERONOMY 22:6-7 (NKJV):
If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
PROVERBS 12:10, 27:23 (NKJV):
A righteous man regards the life of his animal, …
Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds.
The command against cooking young mammals while they are nursing on their mother’s milk is a command demonstrating God’s mercy and concern for the mental state of animals, similar to Leviticus 22:28, Deuteronomy 22:6-7, and Proverbs 27:23. God commands us to not slaughter (and therefore eat) mammals and their offspring on the same day (Leviticus 22:28). Additionally, God prohibits us from capturing and slaughtering a bird with her chicks or eggs, commanding us to let the mother go free and live. This command of mercy, to let the mother bird go free and live and keep the chicks or eggs, comes with a promise of wellness and longevity (Deuteronomy 22:6-7).
VEAL: BAD
If a promise of wellness and prolonged days comes to those who obey God’s mercy commands concerning animals, the alternative will be the case if those commands are ignored and violated. If a person slaughters and consumes a hen together with her eggs, or cooks and then eats a calf that is still feeding on its mother’s milk (veal), and continually does this throughout his or her life, then a curse of feebleness, illness, and a shortened lifespan may ensue. If feebleness, illness, sickness, and shortened lifespan could result from continually eating veal, then veal should be considered unclean.
GENESIS 18:7-8 (NKJV):
And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hurried to prepare it. And he took CURDS AND MILK AND THE CALF, which he had prepared, and put it before them and he stood by them under the tree AS THEY ATE.
Genesis 18:7-8 shows that it is permissible to eat young calves, but it should be concluded that the calf served by Abraham was a mature young calf that had been weaned off from feeding on its mother’s milk.
Messianic and others believers obeying God’s dietary commands should avoid eating young mammals until they are weaned off milk. Veal is the most commonly consumed meat product which comes from calves that are slaughtered while still being fed and nourished with milk. Cooking and consuming veal is a violation of Exodus 23:19, 34:26, and Deuteronomy 14:21.
