Why Do Not Boil a Kid Is Written Three Times in the Torah

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 359:1

"You shall not boil a kid [in its mother's milk]." Rabbi Ishmael says: Why is it stated in three places? Corresponding to the three covenants that the Holy One, blessed be He, made with Israel — one at Horeb, one in the plains of Moab, and one at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Rabbi Yoshiyah says: The first instance was stated at the beginning, and we do not expound openings. The second is needed because of the legal argument: a clean animal conveys impurity when carried, and an unclean animal conveys impurity when carried; if you learned of a clean animal that its flesh may not be cooked in its milk, perhaps an unclean animal's flesh too may not be cooked in its milk. Therefore Scripture teaches "in its mother's milk" — and not in the milk of an unclean animal. The third instance: and not in human milk. Rabbi Yonatan says: Why is it stated in three places? One for domestic beast, one for wild animal, and one for fowl. Abba Chanan in the name of Rabbi Eliezer says: Why three places? One for large cattle, one for small cattle, and one for wild animal. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai says: One for the prohibition of eating, one for the prohibition of deriving benefit, and one for the prohibition of cooking.

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