The prohibition against slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day is a negative commandment in

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

which forbids the slaughter of a kosher four-legged animal and its offspring on the same day.

Hebrew Bible

The commandment originates from a verse in the book of Leviticus that states: The commandment is preceded by the instruction that a calf or lamb is only acceptable for sacrifice on the eighth day (22:26). The Hebrew Bible uses the generic word for bull or cow (Hebrew: שור ''showr''), and the generic word for sheep and ewe (שה ''seh'') and the masculine pronoun form in the verb "slaughter-him" (Hebrew ''shachat-u'')

Second Temple period

The earliest Jewish commentary on this commandment is found in the

Temple Scroll The Temple Scroll ( he, מגילת המקדש) is the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Among the discoveries at Qumran it is designated: 11QTemple Scrolla (11Q19 1QTa. It describes a Jewish temple, along with extensive detailed regulations about s ...

among the

Dead Sea scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

: The interpretation of the Dead Sea scrolls differs from later rabbinical Judaism in prohibiting the slaughter of a pregnant animal. In the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

Hellenistic Judaism Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Greek culture. Until the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellenistic Judaism wer ...

the passage was translated with ''moschos'' - the generic Greek word for bull or cow or calf.

Rabbinical interpretation

Obadiah of Bertinoro Obadiah ben Abraham of Bertinoro ( he, ר׳ עוֹבַדְיָה בֵּן אַבְרָהָם מִבַּרְטֵנוּרָא; 1445 – 1515), commonly known as "The Bartenura", was a 15th-century Italian rabbi best known for his popular comme ...

understood the prohibition to apply to both mother or father of the offspring.

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

argued that the prohibition only applies to the mother; however

Hizkuni Hezekiah ben Manoah, or Hezekiah bar Manoah, was a French rabbi and Bible commentator of the 13th century. He is generally known by the title of his commentary, Chizkuni ( he, חזקוני). In memory of his father, who lost his right hand through ...

argued that while the Biblical prohibition applies only to the mother, a rabbinic decree of lesser stringency also prohibits killing the father with its offspring. The

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in I ...

rules that it is uncertain whether the father is included, and therefore one must not slaughter the father with its offspring, but if done the punishment (

whipping Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

) cannot be applied. The "day" in question is defined as running from evening to evening, similar to Shabbat.Talmud

Hullin Hullin or Chullin (lit. "Ordinary" or "Mundane") is the third tractate of the Mishnah in the Order of Kodashim and deals with the laws of ritual slaughter of animals and birds for meat in ordinary or non-consecrated use (as opposed to sacred use ...

83a Therefore, one could permissibly slaughter an animal in the late afternoon, and its offspring shortly afterwards at nighttime.

References

{{kashrut Animal killing Animals in the Bible Jewish sacrificial law Kashrut Kosher meat Law of Moses Negative Mitzvoth