What does separating milk and meat have to do with God? After all these thousands of years what is it about this strange Jewish ritual that Jews insist is absolutely essential to protect the unique relationship they have with the God of Israel?

I confess that it has been a mystery for me, but the dogged insistence of my family, my community and my government that kosher laws must never be abandoned forced me to take a deeper look, and what I found is profound.

I am sure you have heard explanations about how separating milk and meat is healthy and how it reduces cholesterol. Or that the morality of cooking a baby lamb in its own mother’s nurturing milk is questionable at best. I also know that archaeologists discovered ancient Ugaritic cuneiform texts in Lebanon describing how the locals would perform a similar act as described by Moses. And I understood that when Moses commanded the Children of Israel, “You shall not boil a kid (baby goat or lamb) in its mother milk” that he was warning them not...