Cohn, Jacob. The Royal Table - VWC: Faculty/Staff Web

MIXTURES OF MEAT AND MILK 93
that though milk may not be taken after meat, the reverse
should not be true, and indeed custom permits the
use of meat directly after drinking milk, providing the
mouth is rinsed, or a piece of bread eaten between them. 18
Old or hard cheese, however, acts pretty much like meat,
and the usual six hours must elapse after its use before
meat may be taken. 19 Food cooked in a meat pot
is not
considered as meat, and milk may be drunk right after
that dish. 20 When it is desired to eat meat after milk
the table cloth must be changed, and all the bread which
was on the table together with the meat should be removed.
Likewise, all the dishes should be changed, including the
knife, though it was used merely for bread cutting. 21 In
the kitchen, where meat is prepared, meat and milk may
be kept on the same table. 22
Friends who ordinarily partake
of one another's food should not eat meat and milk
on the same table, lest one of them forget and borrow from
his friend that which he may not eat. If the two wish to
dine together they may do so by placing some object on
the table which ordinarily does not belong there; the ob-
ject acts as a reminder or "barrier" between them. Strangers
who will certainly not reach for one another's food
may eat together without such an object. 23
A great number of questions arise from the accidental
mixing of milk with meat. It is beyond our scope to enter
into the intricate details of these regulations, but a few
important and illustrative laws should be mentioned. There
is no harm done when cold dry cheese touches cold dry
* Y. D. $9, 2.
9 Y. D. ibid.
" Ibid. 3.
* Ibid. 4, Ramah.
M Ibid. 88, 1.
" Ibid. 2. Ramah ad loc. quotes all pur customs concerning dining
together at one table, when one eats milk and the other meat.