Kil'ayim (prohibition)

'hybrid, mixture, diverse kinds') are the prohibitions in Jewish law which proscribe the planting of certain mixtures of seeds, grafting, the mixing of plants in vineyards, the crossbreeding of animals, the formation of a team in which different kinds of animals work together, and shatnez, or the mixing of wool with linen in garments.

The prohibitions are derived from the Torah in Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:9–11, and the Mishnah in tractate Kilʾayim, which has a Gemara in the Jerusalem Talmud, further elaborates on the applicable circumstances.

The halakha classifies the prohibitions under the following categories:[1] The 613 commandments in the Hebrew Bible forbid the wearing of shatnez – wool and linen fabrics that have been hackled together, or spun and woven together.

Likewise, "intertying" sheep wool and linen together is forbidden, the two exceptions being the məʿīl or robe of the Temple priests and the tzitzit.

Concerning tzitzit, the Chazal "Sages" of Rabbinic Judaism permit using wool and linen strings in tandem only when genuine tekhelet dye is available, whereas kabbalist sources go a step further by encouraging this practice.

[4] According to Maimonides, if a Jew had purchased an all-woolen product from a gentile and wanted to ascertain whether or not it was, indeed, pure wool – without the admixture of flax-linen, its fabric could be tested by dyeing.

[16] The first chapter of Mishnah Kil'ayim permits the growing together of certain plants, although the members of each pair belong to two different kinds.

[21] J. Feliks maintained that while the two vegetables are similar regarding their leaves, yellow flowers, and taste, they are considered diverse-kinds because of a difference in their roots.

[d] Maimonides, in his commentary on the same Mishnah, explained the word karūb as having the Judeo-Arabic connotation of כרנב, meaning either cabbage (Brassica oleracea var.

Quince (Cydonia oblonga, פרישין) is named as an exception, for if a branch taken from it were grafted onto a stump belonging to hawthorn (Crataegus azarolus, עוזררין), although they are two different species, it is permitted since they are considered related in Mishna, Kil'ayim 1:4.

[37][38] Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, uncertain about the identity of the trees mentioned in the Mishna owing to conflicting opinions, made it a rule to be stringent in all of them, prohibiting their grafting in all cases.

If, however, either za'atar (Origanum syriacum, אזוב ezov),[46] or whorled savory (Satureja thymbra, סיאה), or dyer's croton (Chrozophora tinctoria, לשישית),[47] white-leaved savory (Micromeria fruticosa, קורנית),[48] or mallows (Malva sylvestris, חילמית), grape hyacinth (Muscari commutatum, בולפסין), or saffron (Crocus spp., כרכום), Egyptian cucumber (Cucumis melo var.

chate, קישואין), calabash (דלועין‎), muskmelon (Cucumis melo, מלפפונות), or beetroot (Beta vulgaris, בורכייר)[49] The common denominator between these plants is that, in the Land of Israel during Mishnaic times, if they were seen growing in places other than in a vineyard, their owners would have been interested in their upkeep and maintenance, due to some benefit derived from these plants, such as when they are used as animal fodder, or for human consumption, or for medicinal purposes.

Their presence in a vineyard, if they are allowed to grow unmolested (מקיימין) shows willful negligence in what concerns this prohibitory law of Diverse kinds.

[50] Suppose thorn bushes, such as camelthorn (Alhagi maurorum, ההגין) and boxthorn (Lycium shawii, אטדין), grew within a vineyard.

[55][56] The reason for this prohibition, according to Maimonides, is to avoid imitating the custom of the people in olden days who would sow barley and stones of grape together, in the belief that the vineyard could only prosper in this way.

[55] The planter transgresses the biblical command from the moment grain begins to take root within a vineyard, and the grapes have reached the size of cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata).

[60][3] The practical bearing of this rabbinic edict is in respect of someone who came along and maliciously sowed Diverse seedlings in his neighbor's vineyard where there is beginning to grow nascent fruit.

The common "village dog" (Hebrew: הכלב הכופרי), said by some commentators to be the saluki, is considered a diverse kind with the fox.