Shatnez
Encyclopedia
Shatnez is the prohibition in Jewish law
derived from the Torah
that prohibits the wearing of a fabric containing both wool
and linen
(linsey-woolsey
); this forbidden mixture is referred to in Judaism
as shatnez. The relevant parts of the Torah (Leviticus
19:19 and Deuteronomy
22:5, 22:9–11) prohibit an individual from wearing wool and linen fabrics in one garment, the interbreeding of different species of animals, and the planting together of different kinds of seeds (collectively known as kilayim).
' Hebrew Dictionary cites suggestions that derive it from Phoenicio-Semitic origins, and others that suggest Coptic
origin, finding neither convincing. The Septuagint translates the term as κίβδηλον, meaning "adulterated".
In the Mishnah
the word is interpreted as being the acrostic
of three words— שע "combing", טוה "spinning", נז "twisting".
The Modern Hebrew word means "mixture".
, state that the prohibition was a case of the general law (Leviticus 20:23) against imitating Canaan
ite customs. Maimonides wrote that: "the heathen priest
s adorned themselves with garments containing vegetable and animal materials, while they held in their hand a seal of mineral. This you will find written in their books". Classical Kabbalah
regarded such combinations as a defiance of God
, because according to them God had given each species individuality.
According to modern biblical scholars
, the rules against mixtures are survivals of ancient magical taboo
s, and that mixtures were considered to be holy and/or were forfeited to a sanctuary. According to textual scholars
the rules against mixtures derive from the Holiness Code
, predating the Priestly Code
that forms the rest of Leviticus, and were only later extended by the Deuteronomist
to include a prohibition against Transvestitism. It may also be observed that linen is a product of a riverine agricultural economy, such as that of the Nile Valley, while wool is a product of a desert, pastoral economy, such as that of the Hebrew tribes. Mixing the two together symbolically mixes Egypt and the Hebrews, and also violates a more general aversion to the mixing of categories found in the Leviticus holiness code, as suggested by anthropologists such as Mary Douglas
.
made with a mixture of wool compressed together with linen is forbidden. Silk
, which resembled wool, and hemp
, which resembled linen, were formerly forbidden for appearance's sake, but were later permitted in combination with either wool or linen, because we now know how to distinguish them. Hempen thread was thus manufactured and permitted for use in sewing woolen clothing.
On the other hand, the god regarded only sheep's wool as wool, the finest being that of lambs and rams; they exclude camel
s' hair, the fur of hare
s, and the wool of goat
s. If any of the excluded wools is mixed with sheep's wool, or spun with it into thread, the character of the material is determined by the proportion of each. If the greater part of it is sheep's wool, it is reckoned as wool; if the contrary, it is not wool and may be mixed again with linen.
maintains that Shatnez was permitted in the case of the priest
's girdle, in which fine white linen was interwoven with purple, blue, and scarlet material. According to the Rabbis, the purple, blue, and scarlet was made from wool and interwoven with the fine linen. Karaite Judaism
maintains that the purple, blue, and scarlet materials must also have been made of linen, since the Torah prohibits wearing garments made from combinations of wool and linen. The Torah does not state what materials the purple, blue and scarlet threads were made from.
The phrase they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat, from the Book of Ezekiel
, is interpreted in the Talmud to mean they shall not gird themselves around the bent of the body, where sweat effuses most. Rabbi Judah haNasi
was of the opinion that the girdle of the ordinary priest was of shatnez, but Rebbi Eleazar says it was of fine linen. The Talmud states that the high priest wore a linen girdle on Yom Kippur
and a girdle of shatnez on all other days.
Cushions, pillows, and tapestry with which the bare body is not in touch do not come under the prohibition, and lying on shatnez is technically permitted. However, Classical Rabbinical commentators feared that some part of a shatnez fabric might fold over and touch part of the body; hence they went to the extreme of declaring that even if only the lowest of ten couch-covers is of shatnez one may not lie on them.
There were special experts employed to detect shatnez; a linen admixture can be detected during the process of dyeing cloth, as wool absorbs dye more readily than linen does. Wool can be distinguished from linen by four tests—feeling, burning, tasting, and smelling; linen burns in a flame, while wool singes and creates an unpleasant odor. Linen thread has a gummy consistency if chewed, due to its pectin content; a quality only found in bast fibers.
Observance of the laws concerning shatnez became neglected in the sixteenth century; and the Council of Four Lands
found it necessary to enact (1607) a Takkanah ("decree") against shatnez, especially warning women not to sew woolen trails to linen dresses, nor to sew a velvet strip in front of the dress, as velvet had a linen back.
Observant Jews in current times also follow the laws of shatnez, and newly purchased garments are checked by experts to ensure that there are no forbidden admixtures. In addition to the above mentioned methods, modern day shatnez experts employ the use of microscopy
to determine textile content.
In most cases, garments that do not comply can be made compliant by removing the sections containing linen. There exist some companies that label compliant products with "shatnez-free" tags.
, forbid the wearing of garments made with linen and wool (and fibers from any plant and/or any animal) at once under any circumstances. It is forbidden even for one to touch the other. Unlike Talmudic Jews Karaites do not make their tzitzit
(fringes or tassels) out of shatnez.
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
derived from the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
that prohibits the wearing of a fabric containing both wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
and linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
(linsey-woolsey
Linsey-woolsey
Linsey-woolsey is a coarse twill or plain-woven fabric woven with a linen warp and a woollen weft. Similar fabrics woven with a cotton warp and woollen weft in Colonial America were also called linsey-woolsey or wincey. The name derives form a combination of linen and woollen...
); this forbidden mixture is referred to in Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
as shatnez. The relevant parts of the Torah (Leviticus
Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
19:19 and Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
22:5, 22:9–11) prohibit an individual from wearing wool and linen fabrics in one garment, the interbreeding of different species of animals, and the planting together of different kinds of seeds (collectively known as kilayim).
Etymology
The word is not of Hebrew origin, and its etymology is obscure. Wilhelm GeseniusWilhelm Gesenius
Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius was a German orientalist and Biblical critic.-Biography:He was born at Nordhausen...
' Hebrew Dictionary cites suggestions that derive it from Phoenicio-Semitic origins, and others that suggest Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
origin, finding neither convincing. The Septuagint translates the term as κίβδηλον, meaning "adulterated".
In the Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
the word is interpreted as being the acrostic
Acrostic
An acrostic is a poem or other form of writing in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message. As a form of constrained writing, an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval. A famous...
of three words— שע "combing", טוה "spinning", נז "twisting".
The Modern Hebrew word means "mixture".
Interpretation
Early writers, like MaimonidesMaimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
, state that the prohibition was a case of the general law (Leviticus 20:23) against imitating Canaan
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
ite customs. Maimonides wrote that: "the heathen priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s adorned themselves with garments containing vegetable and animal materials, while they held in their hand a seal of mineral. This you will find written in their books". Classical Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
regarded such combinations as a defiance of God
Yahweh
Yahweh is the name of God in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jews and Christians.The word Yahweh is a modern scholarly convention for the Hebrew , transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH and known as the Tetragrammaton, for which the original pronunciation is unknown...
, because according to them God had given each species individuality.
According to modern biblical scholars
Biblical criticism
Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of Biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work...
, the rules against mixtures are survivals of ancient magical taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
s, and that mixtures were considered to be holy and/or were forfeited to a sanctuary. According to textual scholars
Textual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...
the rules against mixtures derive from the Holiness Code
Holiness code
The Holiness Code is a term used in biblical criticism to refer to Leviticus 17-26, and is so called due to its highly repeated use of the word Holy. It has no special traditional religious significance and traditional Jews and Christians do not regard it as having any distinction from any other...
, predating the Priestly Code
Priestly Code
The Priestly Code is the name given, by academia, to the body of laws expressed in the Torah which do not form part of the Holiness Code, the Covenant Code, the Ritual Decalogue, or the Ethical Decalogue. The Priestly Code constitutes the majority of Leviticus, as well as some of the laws...
that forms the rest of Leviticus, and were only later extended by the Deuteronomist
Deuteronomist
The Deuteronomist, or simply D, is one of the sources underlying the Hebrew bible . It is found in the book of Deuteronomy, in the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings and also in the book of Jeremiah...
to include a prohibition against Transvestitism. It may also be observed that linen is a product of a riverine agricultural economy, such as that of the Nile Valley, while wool is a product of a desert, pastoral economy, such as that of the Hebrew tribes. Mixing the two together symbolically mixes Egypt and the Hebrews, and also violates a more general aversion to the mixing of categories found in the Leviticus holiness code, as suggested by anthropologists such as Mary Douglas
Mary Douglas
Dame Mary Douglas, DBE, FBA was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism....
.
Definition of shatnez material
In the Torah, one is prohibited from wearing shatnez only after it has been carded, woven, and twisted, but the rabbis prohibit it if it has been subjected to any one of these operations. Hence feltFelt
Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing woollen fibres. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can be of any colour, and made into any shape or size....
made with a mixture of wool compressed together with linen is forbidden. Silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
, which resembled wool, and hemp
Hemp
Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
, which resembled linen, were formerly forbidden for appearance's sake, but were later permitted in combination with either wool or linen, because we now know how to distinguish them. Hempen thread was thus manufactured and permitted for use in sewing woolen clothing.
On the other hand, the god regarded only sheep's wool as wool, the finest being that of lambs and rams; they exclude camel
Camel
A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
s' hair, the fur of hare
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
s, and the wool of goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s. If any of the excluded wools is mixed with sheep's wool, or spun with it into thread, the character of the material is determined by the proportion of each. If the greater part of it is sheep's wool, it is reckoned as wool; if the contrary, it is not wool and may be mixed again with linen.
The priest's girdle
Rabbinic JudaismRabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Talmud...
maintains that Shatnez was permitted in the case of the priest
Kohen
A Kohen is the Hebrew word for priest. Jewish Kohens are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron....
's girdle, in which fine white linen was interwoven with purple, blue, and scarlet material. According to the Rabbis, the purple, blue, and scarlet was made from wool and interwoven with the fine linen. Karaite Judaism
Karaite Judaism
Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme legal authority in Halakhah, as well as in theology...
maintains that the purple, blue, and scarlet materials must also have been made of linen, since the Torah prohibits wearing garments made from combinations of wool and linen. The Torah does not state what materials the purple, blue and scarlet threads were made from.
The phrase they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat, from the Book of Ezekiel
Book of Ezekiel
The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and preceding the Book of the Twelve....
, is interpreted in the Talmud to mean they shall not gird themselves around the bent of the body, where sweat effuses most. Rabbi Judah haNasi
Judah haNasi
Judah the Prince, or Judah I, also known as Rebbi or Rabbeinu HaKadosh , was a 2nd-century CE rabbi and chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah. He was a key leader of the Jewish community during the Roman occupation of Judea . He was of the Davidic line, the royal line of King David, hence the...
was of the opinion that the girdle of the ordinary priest was of shatnez, but Rebbi Eleazar says it was of fine linen. The Talmud states that the high priest wore a linen girdle on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
and a girdle of shatnez on all other days.
Contact with shatnez
The Talmud argues that a woolen garment may be worn over a linen garment, or vice versa, but they may not be knotted or sewed together. Shatnez is prohibited only when worn as an ordinary garment, for the protection or benefit of the body, or for its warmth, but not if carried on the back as a burden or as merchandise. Felt soles with heels are also permitted, because they are stiff and do not warm the feet. In later times rabbis liberalised the law, and, for example, permitted shatnez to be used in stiff hats.Cushions, pillows, and tapestry with which the bare body is not in touch do not come under the prohibition, and lying on shatnez is technically permitted. However, Classical Rabbinical commentators feared that some part of a shatnez fabric might fold over and touch part of the body; hence they went to the extreme of declaring that even if only the lowest of ten couch-covers is of shatnez one may not lie on them.
Observance and Enforcement of the shatnez law
Observance of the laws concerning shatnez became neglected in the sixteenth century; and the Council of Four Lands
Council of Four Lands
The Council of Four Lands in Lublin, Poland was the central body of Jewish authority in Poland from 1580 to 1764. Seventy delegates from local kehillot met to discuss taxation and other issues important to the Jewish community...
found it necessary to enact (1607) a Takkanah ("decree") against shatnez, especially warning women not to sew woolen trails to linen dresses, nor to sew a velvet strip in front of the dress, as velvet had a linen back.
Observant Jews in current times also follow the laws of shatnez, and newly purchased garments are checked by experts to ensure that there are no forbidden admixtures. In addition to the above mentioned methods, modern day shatnez experts employ the use of microscopy
Microscopy
Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye...
to determine textile content.
In most cases, garments that do not comply can be made compliant by removing the sections containing linen. There exist some companies that label compliant products with "shatnez-free" tags.
Karaites and Shatnez
Karaite Jews, who do not recognize the TalmudTalmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, forbid the wearing of garments made with linen and wool (and fibers from any plant and/or any animal) at once under any circumstances. It is forbidden even for one to touch the other. Unlike Talmudic Jews Karaites do not make their tzitzit
Tzitzit
The Hebrew noun tzitzit is the name for specially knotted ritual fringes worn by observant Jews. Tzitzit are attached to the four corners of the tallit and tallit katan.-Etymology:The word may derive from the semitic root N-TZ-H...
(fringes or tassels) out of shatnez.