7. “Thou shalt not seethe the kid in its mother’s milk” (Exod. xxiii. 19). Tradition explains this law as forbidding all mixture of meat and milk (‏בשר בחלב‎). In its literal sense the verse in which this law is mentioned seems to point to the duty of self-restraint, as if to tell us that we should not greedily devour the first ripe fruit, or the young immediately after their birth. The significance of the law may be learnt from the fact that it is mentioned three times in the Pentateuch. Hence the strictness with which this commandment is observed in Jewish homes. In a Jewish household, established in accordance with Jewish law and tradition, there are two separate sets of utensils, the one to be used for the preparation of meat-diet, the other for the preparation of milk and butter diet. The flesh of fish is not considered as meat in this respect, nor are fish subject to the laws of shechitah. NOTES. 1. On Page 459—1a. The prohibition of eating meat taken from the body of an animal whilst alive is based on the words ‏אך בשר בנפשו דמו לא תאכלו‎ “But flesh, when the blood thereof is in its soul, shall ye not eat” (Gen. ix. 4). The phrase “to be in the soul” means to be surrounded and animated by the soul, to be in the midst of active, living organs of the animal. “The blood of an animal is in the soul thereof” may therefore be paraphrased thus, “The blood hath its vital powers and the animal is alive.” (Comp. Lev. xvii. 11.) This prohibition is one of the ‏שבע מצות בני נח‎ “the seven Noachide commandments,” i.e., commandments which, according to Tradition, were already in force in the days of Noah, and are binding on all his children or all mankind, and not on the Israelites alone; viz., (1) the prohibition of idolatry (‏עבודה זרה‎), (2) of murder (‏שפיכות דם‎), (3) of adultery (‏גלוי עריות‎), (4) of blasphemy (‏ברכת השם‎), (5) of robbery (‏גזל‎), (6) of eating meat taken from a living animal (‏אבר מן החי‎), and (7) the institution of courts of justice (‏דינין‎). See Babyl. Talm., Sanhedrin 56a. 2. On Page 459—1c. The existence of certain rules concerning killing animals for food included in the oral teaching of the Torah is derived from the following passage: “Thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock which the Lord hath given thee as I have commanded thee” (Deut. xii. 21). In the Commentary of Rashi, ad locum, we read: “Here we see that certain commandments have been given with regard to the killing of animals, how this should be done. These commandments are comprised in Hilchoth Shechitah, which form part of the Oral Law, revealed to Moses on Sinai.” They are fully discussed and explained in the first chapter of the treatise Chullin.