27.02.2011                      23.Adar l, 5771

Frag den Rabbi:

Ask the Rabbi: On eating fish with milk

Can a scribal error in an authoritative text change Jewish law?

We previously discussed whether the ancient prohibition of consuming meat and fish together remained valid given that talmudic health concerns regarding this combination are no longer true. While that topic raised questions regarding the legal standing of contemporary science, the alleged prohibition of fish and cheese, observed in certain Sephardi communities, also explores the impact of inaccurate texts on Jewish law.
While Jewish law proscribes various mixtures of milk with meat, it excludes fish from the latter group, deeming it instead as an independent neutral category (Hulin 103b). As such, any potential problem with eating fish with either meat or milk will not fall under the rubric of classic laws relating to kashrut. The Talmud does ultimately prohibit combining meat and fish for different reasons – health concerns – and this position is codified in the Shulhan Aruch within ritual laws relating to hygienic practices (OC 173:2). Similar sentiments are never expressed regarding milk and fish, with two passages (Hulin 76b, 111b) implicitly stating that it is entirely permissible (Shach YD 87:5)….