You shall not boil a kid in his mother’s milk

You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk
— Exodus 34:26b

Many of you know that Jews do not mix meat and dairy. It’s because of this one verse. They are so zealous to keep all the commandments, even this one, that they try to make sure that the two don’t even mix in their stomachs. (I believe the rule is that you have to separate eating meat or dairy by 3 to 6 hours.) I’m not going to down this… but I think it’s interesting.

What it speaks to me is about treating animals with consideration and kindness. What if the mother knew that you boiled her first-born baby in her own milk? I remember once hearing of someone who murdered a couple of children. After killing them, he sat down and at their Happy Meals. Somehow, the coldbloodedness of that just makes it worse. …and I think that’s the kind of thing that this verse talks about.

I saw a documentary on feedlots. Cattle belong in fields and pastures, but feedlots take them to a pen, with waaaay too many other cows, and keeps them there from birth until the slaughterhouse. Food is trucked in. The whole thing is just sick. What’s worse is that the cattle are fed corn… which isn’t well suited to their stomachs and makes them prone to disease.

This practice is economically feasible because (a) antibiotics have been able to keep down the disease and (b) energy costs have been low. It’s been cheaper to bring the food to the cows rather than take the cows to the food (pasture). When one (or both) of those changes, feedlots will start to disappear.

So… that’s one thing to be thankful for with rising gas prices.

[Edit] My buddy Steve left a comment with an awesome link to The Meatrix Check it out! – gabe 5/22/08