How are Milk and Honey Kosher?

In Parshat Kedoshim, Vayikra 20:22-24 we read about Israel being the Land of Milk and Honey:

You shall keep My statutes and all of My laws and observe them so that you will not be expelled by the Land to which I am bringing you there to reside in. You shall not follow the customs of the nation which I am expelling before you, for they did all the above mentioned sins and I became disgusted with them. And I have said to you that you shall inherit their Land, and I shall give it to you that you may inherit it, a Land flowing with milk and honey, I am HaShem, your God.

The Mishna in Bechorot 5b teaches: The product of that which is non kosher is non kosher, and the product of that which is kosher is kosher.

The Talmud, Bechorot 6b asks how we know that milk from a kosher animal is kosher.

Israel is “Eretz zavat chalav u’devash”, “A Land flowing with milk and honey.” If milk was not permitted, would the Torah praise the Land of Israel with something that was not fit for consumption?

Is milk considered to be “Ever min haChai”, a complete limb detached from a live animal, and therefore be forbidden for consumption?

Most opinions would say no, because it is not a complete limb.

Could milk be considered “Basar min HaChai”, meat detached from a live animal?

According to the Nodeh B’Yehuda (Tinyana Yoreh Deah 36), milk would not be considered “Basar min HaChai” since it is not a piece of meat. Maybe milk can be considered “eino zavuach”, a byproduct of a live animal that did not go through the Shechita (slaughtering) process. However, many of the Rishonim don’t agree that there is an issue of “eino zavuach” and therefore milk from a kosher animal is permitted despite the fact that it comes from a live animal.

How is honey kosher if it is a product of a bee which is not kosher?

The Talmud, Bechorot 7b teaches that Rav Sheshet follows the ruling of Rav Yaakov who said that God explicitly permitted honey, but otherwise it would have been forbidden since it comes from a non kosher animal. As it is taught in a Braita: Rav Yaakov says: The verse states concerning permitted grasshoppers (Vayikra 11:21) “This may you eat from all creeping creatures that fly”, “this you may eat” (the permitted grasshopper) but you may not eat a non-kosher creeping creature that flies…You may not eat a non kosher creeping creature that flies but you may eat what a non kosher flying creature produces. What is this? This is bee honey.

The metaphor of a Land flowing with milk and honey shows us that Israel is a spiritual Land where extra ordinary things happen. Even though it does not make sense for milk or honey to be kosher, they are.

In the Modern State of Israel today as well, a lot of things just don’t make sense!

May we see peace in Israel and have the opportunity to take advantage of the spirituality that the Land has to offer.