The prohibition against slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day is a negative commandment in Judaism which forbids the slaughter of a kosher four-legged animal and its offspring on the same day.
Hebrew Bible The commandment originates from a verse in the book of Leviticus that states:
The commandment is preceded by the instruction that a calf or lamb is only acceptable for sacrifice on the eighth day (22:26).Nahum M. Sarna, Chaim Potok, The JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus Jewish Publication Society 1989 Page 113 "In 22:26f., for example, in a formulation identical to that found here, we read that the offspring of large and small cattle may not be "slaughtered" until the eighth day after birth, at which time they first become acceptable as sacrifices. In keeping ..." The Hebrew Bible uses the generic word for bull or cow (Hebrew: שור showrGesenius Hebrew Lexicon "Showr ...This is the general word for one of the ox tribe... without distinction of age or sex"), and the generic word for sheep and ewe (שה seh) and the masculine pronoun form in the verb "slaughter-him" (Hebrew shachat-u)
Second Temple period The earliest Jewish commentary on this commandment is found in the Temple Scroll among the Dead Sea Scrolls:
The interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls differs from later rabbinical Judaism in prohibiting the slaughter of a pregnant animal.Ben Zion Wacholder The New Damascus Document: The Midrash On The Eschatological Torah 2007 Page 296 "3.2.2.9.6.2.7. The Status of a Fetus (4Q270 F2ii:15b) As we have stated above, the prohibition against slaughtering a pregnant animal differs from rabbinic tradition which sanctions it. On this ban, see also 11QT 52:5–7a: yl hmh hbowt yk twalm ..."William R. G. Loader The Dead Sea Scrolls on Sexuality 2009 - Page 140 "... the prohibition against slaughtering a pregnant animal in what immediately precedes (ii.15), an application of Deut 22:6, as in 11QTa/11Q19 52.5, there, applied to sacrificial slaughter, and similarly in 4QMMTB 36-38, and to 11QTa/11Q19 ..."John Kampen, Moshe J. Bernstein Reading 4QMMT: new perspectives on Qumran law and history 1996 - Page 40 "The uniqueness of the Qumran treatment, according to Qimron's restoration, is the association of Lev 22:28 with the prohibition against slaughtering a pregnant animal and the requirement to slaughter a fetus found alive in the womb of its "Jacob Milgrom, David Pearson Wright, David Noel Freedman Pomegranates and Golden Bells: Studies in Biblical, Jewish, and Near Eastern Ritual, Law, and Literature in Honor of Jacob Milgrom 1995 "... there is apparently also a prohibition of consuming the young of an animal found alive within the womb of its mother. The young is regarded as a distinct animal requiring its own ritual slaughter.7"
In the Septuagint of Hellenistic Judaism the passage was translated with moschos - the generic Greek word for bull or cow or calf.Greek Septuagint Leviticus 22:28 καὶ μόσχον ἢ πρόβατον αὐτὴν καὶ τὰ παιδία αὐτῆς οὐ σφάξεις ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷThayer Greek Lexicon moschos "Septuagint chiefly for a bull, especially a young bull, then for cattle, for an ox or a cow, for a calf"
Rabbinical interpretation
Obadiah of BertinoroCommentary on Mishna Chullin 5:1 et al. understood the prohibition to apply to both mother or father of the offspring. Rashi argued that the prohibition only applies to the mother;Commentary to Leviticus 22:28 however Hizkuni argued that while the Biblical prohibition applies only to the mother, a rabbinic decree of lesser stringency also prohibits killing the father with its offspring.Commentary to Leviticus 22:28 The Shulchan Aruch rules that it is uncertain whether the father is included, and therefore one must not slaughter the father with its offspring, but if done the punishment (whipping) cannot be applied.Yoreh Deah 16:2
The "day" in question is defined as running from evening to evening, similar to Shabbat.Talmud Hullin 83a Therefore, one could permissibly slaughter an animal in the late afternoon, and its offspring shortly afterwards at nighttime.
References