Shemoth (Exodus) 23:19: "Bring the choicest of the first fruits of your land to the House of HaShem your G-d; do not cook a gedi in the milk of its mother."
This verse is one of three in the Torah prohibiting the mixture of milk and meat. The others are Shemoth 34:26 and Devarim (Deuteronomy) 14:21. Rashi here explains, according to Talmudic teaching (Chulin 113B, 115B), that each of the three mentions of the prohibition reveals another layer of the depth of the prohibition. In all, the Torah hereby prohibits (1) cooking a mixture of milk and meat, (2) eating cooked mixtures of milk and meat, and (3) deriving any additional benefit from cooked mixtures of milk and meat.
Most translations of this verse have the word "kid," meaning young goat, for gedi. Therefore, people often ask from whence the law derived that other animals, such as cows, are included in this prohibition. While true that both the English words "kid" and "goat" clearly relate to the Hebrew "gedi," a sensitive examination of the meaning of this Hebrew word indicates a much broader
application. Rashi here explains:
This verse is one of three in the Torah prohibiting the mixture of milk and meat. The others are Shemoth 34:26 and Devarim (Deuteronomy) 14:21. Rashi here explains, according to Talmudic teaching (Chulin 113B, 115B), that each of the three mentions of the prohibition reveals another layer of the depth of the prohibition. In all, the Torah hereby prohibits (1) cooking a mixture of milk and meat, (2) eating cooked mixtures of milk and meat, and (3) deriving any additional benefit from cooked mixtures of milk and meat.
Most translations of this verse have the word "kid," meaning young goat, for gedi. Therefore, people often ask from whence the law derived that other animals, such as cows, are included in this prohibition. While true that both the English words "kid" and "goat" clearly relate to the Hebrew "gedi," a sensitive examination of the meaning of this Hebrew word indicates a much broader
application. Rashi here explains:"'do not cook a gedi' - Even a calf and a lamb are included by the term gedi, for gedi simply means 'tender offspring,' as we find in several places in the Torah that the term gedi is used and it was nevertheless necessary for the Torah to specify that it refers to goats. Some examples: 'I will send a gedi of goats (izim)' (B'Reshith 38:17); '[Yehudah sent] a gedi of goats' (ibid v. 20); '[Take for me from there] two gediyim (pl.) of goats' (ibid 27:9). This teaches that any place that gedi is mentioned alone, even a calf or a lamb can be implied."
"Gedi," then, meaning "tender offspring," as Rashi points out, is most similar to the English "kid," which can mean not only a young goat, but essentially means the young of any species, as "kid" in English is used to refer to anyone who is youthful. Hence, since this verse mentions gedi plainly, without specification of a goat, it can be taken to refer to any domesticated animal, thereby including cows etc. in the prohibition against meat/milk mixtures.
As a side note, even the word used to mean goat in Rashi's examples, "ez" (sing. of izim) can also be seen as the source for the English words "goat" and "kid." The "e" sound here is a vowelized "ayin," a gutteral Hebrew letter that is properly pronounced so deep in the throat that its sound is similar to that of an English "g." For that reason, in most English translations of the Bible, the cities Sedom and Amorah are transliterated as Sodom and Gomorrah (see B'Reshith 14:2 for example). Here again the Hebrew letter ayin is transliterated as having a "g" sound. The "z" sound of the word "ez" can also be seen as the root for the "d" in "kid" as the "z" and "d" sounds interchange in Semitic languages. In Hebrew, the word for gold is "zahav." In Aramaic, the same word is "dahava." Even in Hebrew, the letter "daleth," which produces a "d" sound also has a softer form. Properly pronounced, the soft daleth is pronounced like the English "th" as in the words "this" or "that" (as opposed to the English "th" in the words "thanks" or "thought"). Even in English, these words are frequently mispronounced as "dis" or "dat." This soft "d" or "th" sound is easily replaced with a "z" sound, as frequently occurs when an accented European attempts to pronounce these English words. Think of a Frenchman trying to speak English. My high school French teacher taught us that the French have shy tongues, so no French letters require the tongue to protrude beyond the teeth as the English "th" sound requires. Therefore, a Frenchman would pronounce "this" and "that" as "zis" and "zat." The same is true for a German, as would be true in the interchange of many languages. Hence, the Hebrew "EZ" becomes "GD." The "G" sound easily interchanges with a "K" sound, as in "aqua" (pronounced AH-kwah), the Latin word for water, and its Spanish counterpart, "agua" (pronounced AH-gwah). (See also this post.) Likewise, the D and T sounds easily interchange (I don't think this requires demostration). What results is both English words "goat" and "kid" deriving from the Hebrew "ez."
"Gedi," then, meaning "tender offspring," as Rashi points out, is most similar to the English "kid," which can mean not only a young goat, but essentially means the young of any species, as "kid" in English is used to refer to anyone who is youthful. Hence, since this verse mentions gedi plainly, without specification of a goat, it can be taken to refer to any domesticated animal, thereby including cows etc. in the prohibition against meat/milk mixtures.
As a side note, even the word used to mean goat in Rashi's examples, "ez" (sing. of izim) can also be seen as the source for the English words "goat" and "kid." The "e" sound here is a vowelized "ayin," a gutteral Hebrew letter that is properly pronounced so deep in the throat that its sound is similar to that of an English "g." For that reason, in most English translations of the Bible, the cities Sedom and Amorah are transliterated as Sodom and Gomorrah (see B'Reshith 14:2 for example). Here again the Hebrew letter ayin is transliterated as having a "g" sound. The "z" sound of the word "ez" can also be seen as the root for the "d" in "kid" as the "z" and "d" sounds interchange in Semitic languages. In Hebrew, the word for gold is "zahav." In Aramaic, the same word is "dahava." Even in Hebrew, the letter "daleth," which produces a "d" sound also has a softer form. Properly pronounced, the soft daleth is pronounced like the English "th" as in the words "this" or "that" (as opposed to the English "th" in the words "thanks" or "thought"). Even in English, these words are frequently mispronounced as "dis" or "dat." This soft "d" or "th" sound is easily replaced with a "z" sound, as frequently occurs when an accented European attempts to pronounce these English words. Think of a Frenchman trying to speak English. My high school French teacher taught us that the French have shy tongues, so no French letters require the tongue to protrude beyond the teeth as the English "th" sound requires. Therefore, a Frenchman would pronounce "this" and "that" as "zis" and "zat." The same is true for a German, as would be true in the interchange of many languages. Hence, the Hebrew "EZ" becomes "GD." The "G" sound easily interchanges with a "K" sound, as in "aqua" (pronounced AH-kwah), the Latin word for water, and its Spanish counterpart, "agua" (pronounced AH-gwah). (See also this post.) Likewise, the D and T sounds easily interchange (I don't think this requires demostration). What results is both English words "goat" and "kid" deriving from the Hebrew "ez."
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