Do Not Cook a Young Goat In Its Mother's Milk

This verse included in today's reading (Exodus 23:19, 34:26, Deuteronomy 14:21) is rather intriguing. Commentaries say that it has puzzled biblical scholars for a long time. According to the People's Bible on Deuteronomy, based on this verse Orthodox Jews have required complete separation of meat and dairy. They have even gone so far as putting hours between the dairy and meat meals of the day and have separate vessels for cooking, serving, and washing dairy dishes and meat dishes. In just the last century archaeological findings have shown that cooking a young goat in its mother's milk was a pagan fertility rite in Canaan, which explains why God would ban the practice.