דברים

לא תאכל כל תועבה. יזהיר על איסור המאכלות כי הוא מגדר הקדושה שהזכיר כי עם קדוש, כי הוא קדוש בפה ובמעשה. ודרשו רז"ל לא תאכל כל תועבה, כל שתעבתי לך הרי בבל תאכל, כגון בשל בשר בחלב, הרי זה דבר שתעבתי לך והרי הוא בבל תאכל.

לא תאכל כל תועבה, “Do not eat anything which is an abomination.” The reason the prohibition to eat certain creatures follows here is that this is part of the definition of maintaining a level of holiness. When the Torah spoke about the Jewish people being a holy nation (verse 2) this meant that this holiness has to be manifest both in deed and in the way one uses one’s mouth (Ibn Ezra). Our sages in Chulin 114 explain the above words to mean that G’d is saying: “anything which I described as abominable you must not eat.” This includes even matters which though permitted for consumption individually, separately, are forbidden as a mixture such as meat and milk. [This is an expansion of the meaning “abomination,” i.e. anything forbidden automatically comes under the heading “abominable.” Ed.]