Milk and Meat

11 Cheshvan 5782

“And he took cream and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and he placed [them] before them” (Bereishis 18:8)

This verse seemingly implies that Avraham served his guests milk and meat together. This would contradict the concept that all the Avot observed the entire Torah, written, oral, and rabbinic. On further inspection though, the commentaries explain, “seeing that Avraham is reported as first having served milky dishes, and the meat subsequently, it is reasonable to assume that … the interval would have sufficed not to violate the laws of mixing milk and meat.” (Daat Zkenim/Ba’alei Tosafot)

“It is also possible, and indeed probable, that [the Jewish people] will know all the fundamentals of the revealed plane of the Torah from the pnimiyut of the Torah, as was the case with our father Abraham, peace be to him.” (Lessons in Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh, end of Epistle 26)

“The Gemara relates that Abraham fulfilled the entire Torah even before it was given at Sinai. Now, there are passages and commandments to which he could not possibly have related on a physical level.” Instead, the mode of Abraham’s performance of the commandments was spiritual and esoteric, relating to the Torah from its innermost core. “In the Time to Come, all Jews will know the Torah in a similar manner.” (Tanya, as above)

“The stream of G-d is full of water” (Tehillim 65:10)

We will only fully perceive the depth and breadth of Hashem’s stream of water, His Torah, in the time to come. Our mode of worship will then “be directed not to extracting the sparks of holiness hidden in the material world but to bringing about ever higher supernal unions.” Thus our learning will change from the study of “issur” and “hetter”, “kasher” and “passul”, to “the pnimiyut (the innermost, mystical depths) of the commandments and their hidden reasons.” And “everything [will be accomplished] by means of the pnimiyut of the Torah.” (Tanya, as above)