Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
This law is repeated three times in the Torah: Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26, and Deuteronomy 14:21. The spiritual principle that shoulders this law is as follows:
A mother’s milk is designed to give life. It’s intended to nourish the young goat. If we boil the young goat in this milk, we are taking something that is meant for life but using it as a means for death. God’s law prohibits such a corruption.
I remember my dad talking about a certain experience he went through at a large company he used to work for. He told me that higher management had devised a number system meant to measure and reward productive labor. The higher one’s numbers, the more bonus-eligible a worker would become. However, when this number system was implemented, an unexpected thing happened. Lower management noticed that my dad’s numbers were high, so they started to assign him the arduous jobs, one after another. Meanwhile, those workers who tended to slack off were consistently assigned the easiest jobs available. Lower management lessened the likelihood of headaches this way. The net effect, though, was that my dad was being punished for being productive.
Lower management failed to realize they were boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk. They were taking something meant for life (reward) and using it to bring death (hardship) to the vulnerable party. They were transgressing the principle that is expressed by this very relevant commandment.
