Kilayim 9:8
Does it matter what鈥檚 in your clothes?
讗讬谉 讗住讜专 诪砖讜诐 讻诇讗讬诐 讗诇讗 讟讜讜讬 讜讗专讜讙 砖谞讗诪专 (讚讘专讬诐 讻讘) 诇讗 转诇讘砖 砖注讟谞讝 讚讘专 砖讛讜讗 砖讜注 讟讜讜讬 讜谞讜讝 专砖讘”讗 讗讜诪专 谞诇讜讝 讜诪诇讬讝 讛讜讗 讗转 讗讘讬讜 砖讘砖诪讬诐 注诇讬讜:
No clothing is forbidden as 鈥�kilayim鈥� unless [the linen and wool threads] are spun or woven together. For the Torah says (Deut. 22:11), 鈥淵ou shall not wear shatnez”: this means a substance which is shuah (combed), tavui (spun), or nuz (woven). Rabbi Shimon says [that the word shatnez means]: he is naloz, estranged, and he estranges his Father in heaven against him.
Comments:
Kilayim refers to forbidden mixtures. The Torah prohibits sowing different crops together; sewing wool and linen together; yoking different types of animals to a plough together; and breeding different species together. The synonym shatnez is obscure, making it ripe for wordplay. The Rabbis read it as an acronym, yielding a strict legal reading: any of the three weaving processes makes the cloth banned. Rabbi Shimon discerns a moral hint in the word shatnez, that ignoring the Torah鈥檚 dictate causes a rupture in the covenant between God and Israel.
Questions for discussion:
- Do some clothes have the power to estrange people from each other and from God?
- Should we care today where and how our clothes are made?
- What might be a modern form of shatnez?
