As we learned on yesterday’s daf, objects that appear to have value, but whose use is forbidden by Jewish law, cannot be used for kiddushin, which can only take effect if the object that is transferred from the husband to his wife has some minimal value. The Gemara on our daf examines each of the examples cited in the Mishna as being assur be-hana’ah – objects from which someone cannot derive any benefit – and searches for a source for them.
When examining basar be-halav – the forbidden combination of meat and milk, the Gemara quotes a baraita taught in Rabbi Yishmael’s yeshiva that the Torah states the prohibition against cooking meat and milk together three times, “lo tevashel gedi ba-halev imo” (see Shemot 23:19; 34:26 and Devarim 14:21). One teaches that they cannot be eaten together, one teaches that they cannot be cooked together and one teaches that we cannot derive benefit from their combination.
The Ritva points out that even though there are three separate prohibitions derived from these three passages, nevertheless they are all expressed the same way in the text – lo tevashel – do not cook them together. He suggests that it must be taught this way in the Torah because on a Torah level meat and milk are only forbidden together if they are cooked. Our tradition of separating meat and milk even when cold and raw is a relatively new tradition.
The Gemara mentions that there is a dissenting opinion on this matter. Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda believes that meat and milk that are cooked together cannot be eaten, but you can derive benefit from them. His source for this is the use of parallel language in the case of meat and milk which is introduced with the words: “Ki am kadosh ata la-Shem Elokekha, lo tevashel gedi ba-halev imo – for you are a holy nation to God, do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk,” which is similar to the passage about not eating an animal that was killed by violence (terefa): “Va-anshe kodesh tihiyun li, u’basar ba-sadeh terefah lo tokhelu, la-kelev tashlikhun oto – holy people you will be to me, and meat that is found in the field as terefa you should not eat, rather you should throw it to the dog.”