When we studied medicine in the sixties in Holland, we were taught how to prepare cow’s milk or goat’s milk for babies in cases where the mother could not feed. We learned how to dilute the milk, how to add extra calories, and how to supplement with folic acid (which is very low in goat’s milk) as well as extra B12 (a lesser problem with cow’s milk). Years later, no doctor was taught even a single sentence about this subject. Formulas had been developed and aggressively pushed onto the market — sometimes for good reasons, but often without balance. For many years I was able to help tens of babies who tolerated formula very badly by using goat’s milk. Yet more and more, this practice was considered “malpractice” by the medical establishment, even though they had never truly studied the material. Only recently has goat’s milk been reinstituted as an excellent option — but only when sold as a commercial formula. All of this has been done very silently, without acknowledging the years of prejudice against it. I am writing this because I would like to share some ideas about goat’s milk and Torah — how the lessons of medicine and the wisdom of Torah can illuminate each other. A Torah Hint About Goat’s Milk

There is a beautiful suggestion in Torah and Talmud that goat’s milk may be the closest substitute to human milk — second best after mother’s milk itself.

The Talmud (Niddah 9a) teaches: “As soon as a woman becomes pregnant, her blood [the menses] becomes muddy and turns into milk.” Julius Preuss, in Biblical and Talmudic Medicine (translated by Fred Rosner), explains this as the transformation of maternal blood into the life‑giving nourishment of milk.

Later, in the story of Joseph, the Torah says: “And they took Joseph’s coat, and they slaughtered a kid [young goat], and they dipped the coat in the blood” (Genesis 37:31). Rashi comments: “They slaughtered a kid — its blood resembles that of a human.”

Put together, the picture is striking:

  • The mother’s blood becomes milk to feed her child.
  • The blood of a young goat resembles human blood.

Is this not a beautiful hint that goat’s milk, more than other animal milk, is uniquely close to human milk — and therefore the “second best” option after breast milk itself?