פרשת אחרי מות - קדושים תשכ"ד - כלאים

"Ye shall keep My statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind..."

S.v. You shall keep my statutes: [And he cites the words of Rashi above]. But our Rabbis only mentioned that the reason is hidden and that the evil inclination and the idolaters question them about the wearing of shatnez (clothes made from linen and wool together), and not about forbidden mixtures of animals. And the intention about them is not that there be any decree of the King of the kings of kings in any place without a reason, since 'every word of God is pure' (see Proverbs 30:5). Rather, statutes are decrees of a king who imprints it with his authority without revealing their purpose to the people; such that the people do not benefit from them but rather question them in their hearts. Yet they accept them out of fear of the monarchy. So too, the statutes of the Holy One, blessed be He, are secrets that He has in the Torah that the people do not benefit from, according to their thoughts. But all [of His laws] have a correct reason and a perfect purpose. And the reason for forbidden mixtures is that God created species in the world - in all of those with spirits, in plants and in animate beings - and gave them the ability to reproduce, such that the species survive with them forever, so long as He, may He be blessed, wants the world to exist. So He commanded that they be able to produce according to their species, and that they never ever change; as it is stated about all of them, "according to its species" (Genesis 1). And this is the reason that we breed animals one with the other; for the continuation of the species - just as men have conjugal relations with women in order to be fruitful and multiply. And one who crosses two species together, changes and denies [God's] act of creation, as if he is thinking that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not perfect His world completely, and he wants to help with His creation of the world [by] adding creatures to it. [Moreover,] species of animals will not give birth when one specie is crossed with another. And even those that are close enough in nature so as to give birth - such as mules [that are born from crossing horses and mules]; their seed will be excised, as [the resultant mixed-breeds] will not give birth. And behold, on account of these two things, the act of mixing species has already been rejected and abandoned. And the fruits of plants that have been mixed from two species also do not grow afterwards; such that both of the reasons mentioned exist in their prohibition. And this is the reason for "you shall not seed forbidden mixtures" - which is grafting, according to the opinion of our Rabbis. And it also prohibited planting forbidden mixtures; because when they derive sustenance one from the other, it changes their nature, as well as their form. And it is as if each seed is grafted from two species. And the prohibition of plowing with an ox and a donkey is because it is the way of all those that work the land to bring the pair from the same barn, such that they would come to mixing [them].

(10) In accordance with this excellent principle (the principle of shame, about which Rambam spoke at length and which is, according to his opinion, one of the reasons for the prohibition of sexual relations with relatives) which we ought strictly to follow, our Sages teach us that we ought not to look at beasts or birds in the moment of their copulation. According to my opinion, this is the reason why the cross-breeding of cattle is prohibited (Lev. 19:19). It is a fact that animals of different species do not copulate together, unless by force. It is well known that the low class of breeders of mules are regularly engaged in this work. Our Law objected to it that any Israelite should degrade himself by doing these things, which require so much vulgarity and indecency, and doing that which religion forbids us even to mention, how much more to witness or to practise, except when necessary. Crossbreeding, however, is not necessary. I think that the prohibition to bring together two species in any kind of work, as included in the words, "Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together" (Deut. 22:10), is only a preventive against the intercourse of two species. For if it were allowed to join such together in any work, we might sometimes also cause their intercourse. That this is the reason of the commandment is proved by the fact that it applies to other animals besides ox and ass: "It is prohibited to plow not only with ox and ass together, but with any two kinds. But Scripture mentions as an instance that which is of regular occurrence." (Mishnah Bava Kamma 5:7)

(5) We have explained in our large work that it is prohibited to round the corners of the head, and to mar the corners of the beard, because it was the custom of idolatrous priests. For the same reason, the wearing of garments made of linen and wool is prohibited: the heathen priests adorned themselves with garments containing vegetable and animal material, whilst they held in their hand a seal made of a mineral. This you find written in their books...

(10) Another belief which was very common in those days, and survived the Sabeans, is this: When a tree is grafted into another in the time of a certain conjunction of sun and moon, and is fumigated with certain substances whilst a formula is uttered, that tree will produce a thing that will be found exceedingly useful. More general than anything mentioned by the heathen writers was the ceremony of grafting an olive branch upon a citron tree, as described in the beginning of the Nabatean Agriculture. I am of opinion that the Book of Medicines which Hezekiah put away (B: T. Pes. 56a) was undoubtedly of this kind. They also said that when one species is grafted upon another, the branch which is to be grafted must be in the hand of a beautiful damsel, whilst a male person has disgraceful and unnatural sexual intercourse with her; during that intercourse the woman grafts the branch into the tree. There is no doubt that this ceremony was general, and that nobody refused to perform it, especially as the pleasure of love was added to the (supposed) future results of the grafting. The Law, therefore, prohibits us to mix different species together, i.e., to graft one tree into another, because we, must keep away from the opinions of idolaters and the abominations of their unnatural sexual intercourse. In order to guard against the grafting of trees, we are forbidden to sow any two kinds of seed together or near each other. When you study the traditional explanation of this precept, you will find that the prohibition of grafting, the principal element in this commandment, holds good for all countries, and is punishable by forty stripes: but the sowing of seeds one near the other is only prohibited in Palestine. In the Nabatean Agriculture it is further distinctly stated that it was the custom of the people in those days to sow barley and stones of grapes together, in the belief that the vineyard could only prosper in this way. Therefore the Law prohibits us to use seed that has grown in a vineyard, and commands us to bum both the barley and the produce of the vineyard. For the practices of the heathen, which they considered as of a magic and talismanic character, even if not containing any idolatrous element, are prohibited, as we have stated above (p. 334) in reference to the dictum of our Sages, "We must not hang upon a tree the fœtus of an animal belonging to the Sanctuary." The Law prohibits all heathen customs, called by our Sages "the ways of the Amorite," because they are connected with idolatry. On considering the customs of the heathen in their worship, you will find that in certain kinds of worship they turn toward stars, in others to the two great luminaries; frequently they choose the rise of signs in the Zodiac for sowing and fumigating; and as to the circuits made by those who plant or sow, some complete five circles, corresponding to the five planets, with the exclusion of the two luminaries: others go seven times round, according to the number of the planets, when including sun and moon. They believe that all these practices are magic charms of great efficiency in agriculture. Thus those practices lead to the worship of stars: and therefore all practices of those nations have been prohibited, in the words, "Ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation which I cast out before you" (Lev. 20:23). Those practices which were more general and common, or were distinctly connected with idolatry, are particularly pointed out as prohibited; e.g., eating the fruit of a tree during the first three years, intermixing of species and the mixed species sown in a vineyard. I am surprised as the dictum of Rabbi Joshiyah, which has been adopted as legally binding, in reference to the mixed seed in a vineyard, viz., that the law is only transgressed when wheat, barley, and the stone of a grape are sown simultaneously. He must undoubtedly have seen the source of that kind of the ways of the Amorite. It must now be clear to you, and no room can be left for any doubt, that the prohibition of wearing garments of wool and linen, of using the fruit of a tree in the first three years, and of mixing divers species, are directed against idolatry, and that the prohibition against adopting heathen manners serves to remove anything which leads to idolatry, as has been shown by us.

(2) לפני ה' תטהרו, absolute forgiveness, rehabilitation, can occur only in the presence of the Lord, which in turn can be achieved only by personal confession of one’s sin and one’s absolute undertaking not to commit such sins again in similar circumstances. The verse is introduced here to remind us that only the Lord Himself is aware of the sincerity of one’s teshuvah, one’s repentance.

And you shall confess your transgressions before the Lord, and shall be clean.