The second of this week’s double Torah portion is Parashat Kedoshim – a parasha full of mitzvot.
The Torah writes, “You will observe My laws; you will not mate your animal into another species, you will not plant your field with mixed seed; and a garment that is a mixture of combined fibers will not be upon you.” In this verse, the Torah records the prohibition of wearing sha’atnez – a mixture of wool and linen combined within one garment.
Rabbenu Chizkiyahu ben Manoach, in his commentary Chizkuni, presents two messages that can be derived from the mitzvah of sha’atnez. In his first explanation, Chizkuni suggests that sha’atnez is one of a category of commandments – including not interbreeding animals or certain plant species – and is connected to the mitzvah that immediately precedes it – to love one’s fellow.
Chizkuni writes,
Immediately after the Torah commands us to be holy and to not do violence to our fellow, it commands us, similarly, to not do violence to animals or other things in a way that changes in them G-d’s handiwork. Just like Hashem commanded in the act of creation that each species should produce its own species, thus Hashem commands us not to mix up the species.
Through this comment, Chizkuni shares his understanding that the prohibition of sha’atnez reinforces the idea that Hashem created the world with a plan for its perpetuation and that humans should contain themselves to live and let live within that world. A person should not destroy another without cause and a person should not corrupt the existence of species through reproduction which Hashem, in His infinite wisdom, created.
According to Chizkuni, both categories of mitzvot – loving one’s fellow and not harming him and not to mix up animal and plant species – teach us humility. Each of these commandments require humans to limit their power: to harm a fellow human and to harm the Divinely-created natural order. This self-restraint is a form of humility – it requires us to consider our place in the world and to act according to the directive of the Almighty.
While we do not often encounter situations that require us to consider the mitzvot of interbreeding animals and plants, we do encounter the opportunity to adhere to the mitzvah of sha’atnez. By checking our clothes for admixtures of wool and linen and/or by having them checked by a professional sha’atnez inspector, we remind ourselves that the Almighty, in His infinite wisdom, created the world with a plan which includes the existence of distinct species through reproduction. We furthermore reinforce the idea that Hashem created us to live within that system and not to destroy it. Through the mitzvah of sha’atnez, we practice humility.
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