Poultry With Dairy

Chicken parmesan: (source)Even though the biblical commandment specifically limits the prohibition to animals that give milk, the sages saw fit to extend the prohibition also to poultry. This is a case where we can draw a clear line of distinction between biblical and rabbinic kosher laws. Whereas the prohibition of cooking red meat with dairy arises directly from the biblical text, the sages openly admit that the separation of poultry from dairy is a rabbinic safeguard. Although there is dispute in the Talmud about the separation of poultry from dairy,1 the rabbinic prohibition is almost universally observed throughout the Jewish world. (There is no dispute, however, about the separation of red meat from dairy.)

Thus, one who keeps red meat separate from dairy but chooses to combine poultry with dairy can legitimately claim to observe biblical kosher laws.

But to be fair, the idea of safeguarding the Torah is biblical as well.2

1. 1. b.Shabbat 130a.
2. 2. The Hebrew word shamar (שמר), often translated "keep" (as in "keep the commandments"), literally means "protect." A literal translation of Proverbs 7:2 says, "protect my commandments and live; [protect] my Torah like [it is] the pupil of your eye." Of sin, personified as an adulterous woman, it says, "do not stray into her paths" (Proverbs 7:26). "Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life" (Proverbs 19:16).