What is the reason that orthodox jews can not eat meat and dairy together?!
What is the reason that orthodox jews can not eat meat and dairy together?
Answers:
The first answer is pretty much correct, but I can expand upon it a bit. This law stems from "Do not cook a kid [goat] in its' mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19)." Cooking and eating meat together was also an idolatrous practice and, according to the Kabbalah, meat symbolizes death while milk symbolizes life. This is similar to the reasoning behind the tradition of having something bitter and something sweet with a meal, ie "take the bitter with the sweet."
This law not only means that you cannot mix meat and milk together, but you also must keep separate cooking dishes for meat items and milk items. Bread must contain neither meat nor milk, and be pareve, since bread usually accompanies any meal. One must also wait three hours between consumption of meat items and milk items.