2. Question: Why can you not fulfill the mitzvah of esrog with an esrog/lemon hybrid. But there is still a mitzvah of not eating a mother and child on the same day for a deer/sheep hybrid, according to the Magen Avraham? Both are mitzvos if a mixture invalidates a mitzvah why does one mitzvah still apply, and the other doesn’t?
Background:
A. The Magen Avraham holds the reason why a hybrid esrog does not work is because it’s not an esrog. If that’s the case then the same should be true about a hybrid animal, it’s not an animal so you shouldn’t transgress the prohibition of slaughtering a mother and child on the same day since the child shouldn’t be considered a real animal.
B. The Maharam Shik begins his answer by saying there is a difference between a mitzvah the Torah commands you to do and something which the Torah prohibited.
Answer: If the Torah tells you to perform a mitzvah with a certain item like an esrog it has to clearly be that item without any mixture, therefore you need a full-fledged esrog not a hybrid. But when the Torah prohibits something then if that something is there in any shape or form in a substantive way then it’s prohibited therefore even a hybrid is a problem for slaughtering a mother and it’s child in the same day.