OU KASHRUT RABBI EZRA FRIEDMAN PAGE BY Director, The Gustave & Carol Jacobs Center for Kashrut Education
Milk and Meat on the Same Table Part 1 Introduction A unique aspect of the laws pertaining to the prohibition of eating milk and meat is that our Sages extended the prohibition to many areas surrounding eating. The two classic examples are the rabbinic decree to wait in between meat and milk and the prohibition of people eating meat and milk at the same table together, even though each person is only eating either milk or meat. The next few articles will discuss this second prohibition. This occurrence is more common than we might think. It can happen, for example, at a mall food-court, a school’s lunch break, or a family picnic. The Gemara (Chulin 103b) states that one may not eat chicken and cheese on the same table. The Sages in the Gemara are perplexed by the fact that this seems like a very large 42
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extension of the prohibition. In other words, the original prohibition was to forbid cooking or consuming milk and meat cooked together. This now expands to other types of meat such as chicken. There is also a halacha not to eat one after the other. However, to expand the prohibition so far as to prevent an encounter of meat and dairy on the same table seems like a decree on a decree, which Chazal (our Sages) generally do not enact. Most early authorities explain that since both milk and meat are halachically permitted when eaten separately, it is likely that people will not be careful and will come to eat them mixed together. (Ran Chulin ibid, Ramban Avodah Zara 66b, Ritva Avodah Zara 67a) Rashi (Chulin ibid) offers another explanation. He claims that when they are on the table together, because the possibility of eating is almost inevitable, it is as if one is eating milk and meat together. Thus, it is not an additional decree. (For an expansion on Rashi’s commentary, see Moreshet Moshe on Chulin 104b.) Applications: The Gemara (Chulin 107b) states that when two people who are acquaintances (even more so, close friends or family members) and are
