This law, together with its Rabbinical extensions, is so important that it constitutes the heart of the standard curriculum for modern-day Rabbinical ordination. The prohibition applies to the milk and meat of any permitted animal. There is an obvious incongruence in this practice. The milk was produced by the mother in order to give life to the kid, and now we seethe the calf in this same milk after its death. There is a related negative symbolism in consuming any milk with any meat - which is also forbidden by the Torah.
Milk occupies a unique intermediate status.
According to Jewish tradition, the milk is formed from the blood - the ultimate embodiment of bestiality. However, once it turns to milk, it is permissible without any further preparation. Just as the milkhas physically escaped from the beast's flesh and blood and collected separately in the udder, so has it escaped the stigma of bestiality. Many people are vegetarians - they put milk in the same category as vegetables. Nonetheless, the milk remains an animal food.