Metaphors in the Torah: Cooking a Young Goat in its Mother’s Milk

Photo: "Goat's Head Soup" Album Cover

In this series of articles appearing in the Jerusalem Post, I have tried to hammer home the point that: “food” is a metaphor for: “knowledge” and, specifically, “each type of food” represents: “a certain type of knowledge”. Sometimes the Tanakh comes right out and says that a certain tree or a certain food should be associated with a specific feeling or idea (for example: “grapes” are associated with: “happiness”). Other times no indication is given at all.

In the Torah, there is a commandment forbidding the Israelites from cooking a young goat in its mother’s milk. For some totally unexplained reason, the rabbis have decided to expand this law to include every meat from every animal and every conceivable type of dairy product. That millions of dollars have been, and continue to be, wasted each year enforcing this absolutely ridiculous interpretation of the law has no real relevance to this article.

Our purpose here is simply to analyze the law and to attempt to discover the real motive behind this commandment.

Basically, there are four elements to the commandment:

1)    Milk

2)    Cooking

3)    A goat

4)    The mother

Okay, so the first element we shall discuss is: “milk”. In previous articles we have shown that, based on a two-letter root system used in ancient Hebrew, the Hebrew words for: “field”, “a female breast” and “a spirit” are all related. Thus, since “a woman’s breast produces milk”, we can also say that “a field produces a type of spiritual knowledge associated with milk”. In other articles we noted that, even in modern times, “the earth” is used as a metaphor for: “a school” and in any university in the world one can hear the question: “What is your field of study?”. We went on to conclude that this interpretation was connected to the phrase: “A Land of Milk and Honey” (We also pointed out that, in the New Testament, the Pharisee Paul of Tarsus comes right out and says that “milk” is a metaphor for: “easy to understand spiritual teachings” and “meat” is a metaphor for: “difficult to understand religious teachings”).

In regards to: “the milk” produced by the field/breast, all we can say for sure is that it has something to do with: “spiritual teachings” because of the common root already mentioned. In addition to this, we can also say that the milk of a woman’s breast is very tasty, very sweet and very easy to digest. What this then suggests is that: “the milk” represents:  “a spiritual knowledge which is agreeable to the listener and is not too difficult to understand” (As mentioned in other articles, even in modern times, we still talk about “digesting information” found in a book or presentation).

The second part of the commandment has to do with: “cooking”. Basically, there are not too many stories in the Torah about cooking, but of the three we shall discuss here, two of them have to do with spices.

The first reference we already discussed in a different article and we noted that Potiphar, the man who bought Joseph when he arrived in Egypt, in Hebrew is described as: “a chef” or: “a cook” and NOT: “Captain of the Guards” which appears in most English translations.  

We also explained that Joseph arrived with a spice caravan and that the Hebrew word for: “meat” also means: “to preach”. Our conclusion was that Potiphar took Joseph into his household as a spiritual advisor to help him prepare religious explanations for Pharaoh (i.e. to help “spice up” his religious sermons).

The second story dealing with cooking has to do with Jacob preparing a “red food” for Esau and exchanging this for his birth right as the first born son. Why this is important is that, as a direct result of this story, Esau’s descendants will be known as: “The Edomites” which means: “The Red Men” (Thus we could say that as far as Esau is concerned: “you really are what you eat”).

Also, as mentioned in an earlier article, Esau was a hunter (i.e. he chased after meat). What should be considered is that, somewhat surprisingly, the Torah says Esau returns home “tired”, not hungry, when he makes his deal with Jacob for food.

My feeling is that: “strength” is a metaphor for “intellectual strength”.  Apparently, Esau in his efforts to find a certain type of spiritual knowledge by listening to other religious sermons; reduced his appreciation for the value of being the first born son of Isaac. In other words: by studying the ideas of men, instead of honoring the word of God, Esau’s power to understand was diminished, not strengthened (i.e. the new ideas brought confusion and doubt, not clarity)

The third reference about cooking also introduces us to the third element of the commandment which is: “the goat”.

What is interesting here is not only does Rebecca cook a spicy or savory stew, but she uses two goats. Hence, our first question must be:

Why did Rebecca tell Jacob to bring goats and not lambs or calves?

The second question, which we will answer later, is:

Why did Rebecca request two goats and not one?

To answer the first question we must examine other stories about goats in both the Torah and the Tanakh.

One of the most famous stories in the Torah is the betrayal of Joseph by his brothers and selling him into slavery. What is not appreciated is that the brothers, in order to convince their father that Joseph is dead, dip his robe into the blood of a goat. Hence, “goat’s blood” in this story has something to do with: “deception” and we should keep in mind that God told Noah that: “the soul is in the blood”.

Another story dealing with a goat features the daughter in law of Judah deceiving him into thinking that she is a prostitute. Why this is worth noting is that we are told that Judah was on his way to shear his sheep, so one would think that a prostitute would have asked him for a lamb from his flock. Regardless, once again deception is involved and, in order to accomplish her goal, Tamar specifically asks for a goat.

Finally, in the story of Rebecca convincing Jacob to steal Esau’s blessing, the entire narrative is based on deception and the goat has a double function:

First: the goat is cooked in a special manner, using spices, to make Isaac think that it is some type of meat caught in the field (Once again: it should also be emphasized here that we have repeatedly shown in other articles that: “a field” is a metaphor for: “a school” therefore the subject in this story is NOT: “real food”, but: “knowledge”).

Second: the goat’s hair is placed on Jacob’s arms and shoulders because Esau is described as a man covered with hair as thick as a garment. What, I believe, is significant here is that: “hair” appears in the stories of Samson and Samuel and is described as being: “a sign of one’s devotion to God”.

Thus, in my opinion, these two elements are reflected in the 2^nd question we asked about:  Why Rebecca requested two goats and not one?

Jacob’s second son is named: “Simon” and his name means: “to hear”. This suggests that Simon is always willing to consider or listen to: “two sides of a story” or he is always willing to propose, or accept, an alternative view. This is why I believe we are told that Esau is a hunter (i.e. “he runs after meat”). Esau is associated with “the field” which we said represents: “a school”. This combined with chasing after meat suggests that Esau was intellectually curious and was interested in other people’s cultures and religions.  

Thus, Esau is a man with red hair which is described as being similar to goat’s hair and we have already touched upon the connection between: “hair” and “devotion”. In Hebrew the word for “red” also means “man” and “ground”. Thus, Esau is: a man of: “the earth” and not “a spiritual man” since God, traditionally, is associated with the “sky/heaven” (In Hebrew the words for: “sky” and “heaven” are the same).

Thus, Esau is devoted to the academic lifestyle based on the teachings of men, however, when compared with the teachings of God, these teachings of men are deceptive in their very nature because men don’t know anything for sure (Just as an aside: in the New Testament, The Tetrarch Herod, the descendant of Esau, is described as a person who was very interested in listening to the talks of John the Baptist and Jesus).

The fourth part of the commandment has to do with: “mothers”. A mother is a metaphor for: “a spiritual medium”.  Eve was made from the bone of Adam’s rib. The Hebrew word for: “bone” shares the same two letter root with the word for: “adviser”. Furthermore, the rib bones produce blood and we already mentioned that God told Noah that: “the soul is in the blood”. Finally, Adam said that “Eve” received her name because she is: “the mother of all living things”.  This is clearly a metaphor because Eve is NOT the mother of Adam and she certainly wasn’t the mother of the animals.

The Hebrew name for “Eve” means: “alive” and, even in modern times, there is a connection with a person’s ability to understand and life. So, we say a person is: “brain dead” to suggest that they are: “stupid” and, in fact, brain activity is the standard now used by hospitals to determine if a person is still living.

Thus, “a mother” is a metaphor for: “a source of spiritual understanding” given to man by God. In other words: “a mother” is: “a spiritual intermediary”. God said it was not “good” for Adam to be alone. God is always associated with the knowledge about what is good, hence the function of Eve, as a spiritual intermediary, was to help increase Adam’s knowledge about God, but instead, initially she helped increase his knowledge about the snake.

So then, when we combine our interpretations for: “milk”, “cooking”, “goat” and “mother”: What do they tell us about the meaning of the commandment?

And: How is all this related to eating a cheeseburger?

If “meat” does indeed represent “a type of preaching”, then: “goat’s meat” represents: “a deceptive sermon”. The fact that the commandment specifically mentions: “a young” goat, suggests that this is: “a new idea” or “a new perspective” being presented (i.e. a new form of deception).

The fact that it speaks of: “a mother” implies this is some type of: “spiritual teaching” about God.

The specific food: “milk” means this teaching is: “easy to comprehend or digest”.

Finally, the fact that the meat is: “cooked” and does not simply soak in or touch the milk (i.e. like a type of gravy or sauce), suggests that “the message has been deliberately altered” in some way to make it more appealing and digestible (So in modern times we still use the term: “to cook the books” when talking about: “financial deception”)

Thus, putting all these elements together we see that the THRICE REPEATED commandment:

“Don’t seethe a young goat in its mother’s milk” actually means:

“Teachings about God are difficult to understand. Don’t accept new spiritual teachings about God that look too good, and too easy, to be true; they have probably been deliberately ‘cooked up’ to deceive you”.

And what does all this have to do with eating a cheeseburger? Or: Eating steak and eggs?

NOTHING….absolutely nothing….

The rabbis have based their interpretations on the teachings of men utilizing men’s logic, NOT the words of God. Therefore, just like Isaac who enjoyed eating Esau’s venison, they are blind……

And this is the exact same reason why the rabbis also consider the Western Wall in Jerusalem to be a Holy site. A wall that was built by a descendant of Esau; a man who everyone now knows was an ego centric murderer. A man who expanded the temple in order to enhance his own image, NOT to honor God….