Yerushalmi Kilayim 9:1 ירושלמי כלאים ט׳:א׳

MISHNAH: Only wool and linen are forbidden as kilaim¹This chapter deals with ša‘aṭnēz(Lev. 19:19, Deut. 22:11) defined as mixing of linen and wool.. Only wool and linen can become impure by mold disease²Lev. 13:47–59. Wool and linen are the only textiles mentioned there but leather is under the same rules.. Only wool and linen are worn by priests for their service in the temple³The materials decribed in Ex. 28:5 are interpreted to be gold, wool died dark blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen. Gold was used only for the garments of the High Priest.. If one mixed camel wool and sheep wool, if most is camel wool it is permitted, if most is sheep wool it is forbidden, half and half is forbidden⁴Since the prohibition is biblical, in case of doubt the prohibition prevails.. The same applies if hemp⁵Latin cannabis, also cannabum; Greek κάνναβις, κάνναβος. and linen are mixed.
Raw silk and kalak silk are not subject to kilaim but are forbidden because of the bad impression²⁹Since raw silk looks like flax and kalak silk (cf. Note 33) like wool.. Mattresses and pillows are not subject to kilaim but one’s skin should not touch them. There is no provisional kilaim³⁰One may not wear kilaim even temporarily as explained in the next sentence.. One may not wear kilaim over ten other garments³¹In this case one does not need the kilaim garment as such and derives no bodily comfort from it. Since customs officials are dishonest and charge more than the legal amounts, one does not have to be honest with them, cf. Demay 2:3., not even to trick the customs.

HALAKHAH: “Only [wool and linen] are forbidden as kilaim”. It is written (Deut. 22:11): “Do not wear ša‘aṭnez, wool and linen together.”⁷In Sifry Deut. 232, the text is somewhat more complete: “I would say one is only forbidden to wear it; from where do we know that one may not cover oneself with it (in a blanket)?” I would say one is only forbidden to wear it; the verse says (Lev. 19:19): “It shall not come on you.” If it shall not come on you I would say one may not carry a chest on his back⁸A peddler’s chest full of textiles to peddle to Gentiles.; the verse says “do not wear.” Since a garment is specifically useful to the body, [included are] only things useful to the body. Why was it said that “it shall not come on you?” Rebbi Niḥa bar Sava⁹A Galilean Amora of the fifth generation, student of R. Jonah. Since R. Zeïra was R. Joḥanan’s student, it is clear that the second name in the list must be “R. Jonah”. In the Babylonian tradition, this is a Tannaïtic statement (Tosephta Kilaim 5:13)., Rebbi Joḥanan in the name of Rebbi Zeïra, if there was a large piece of cloth, in a part of which was kilaim and that part was lying on the ground, one cannot cover himself with the other part. I would say, it includes even sea flax¹⁰Shell silk, also called “byssus”, from threads, excreted by shells under water, which harden when exposed to air, used already in antiquity., even hemp; the verse says “wool and linen”; just as wool cannot have an epithet so nothing else can have an epithet. From where that [wool] has no epithet? Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, it is written (2K. 3:4) “Mesha‘, the king of Moab, was a nôqēd;” what is a nôqēd? A shepherd! “He delivered to the king of Israel 100’000 lambs and 100’000 wool rams.” Only ram’s wool is called “wool”¹¹All others carry the name of the animal from which they come as an epithet..

“Only wool and linen can become impure by mold disease,” for it is written (Lev. 13:47) “on woolen cloth or on linen cloth.” I could think they can become impure whether dyed or natural; the verse says “woolen cloth or linen cloth.” Just as linen is in its natural state so wool must also be in its natural state¹²Sifra Paršat Nega‘im 13(3–4). It seems that the name of פשתים was used only for undyed linen cloth; dyed cloth had other names.. I might exclude what was dyed by humans but not what was dyed by nature; the verse says (Lev. 13:48): “For the linen and for the wool¹³The implied definite article restricts this to what is certainly called linen and woolen cloth, not, תכלת, ארגמן, תולעת שני, etc. The Babli (Bekhorot 17a) quotes a baraita using the same verse to exclude wool from kilaim of sheep and goats.”, just as linen is white so wool has to be white.

We have stated two rules and they do not resemble one another. We have stated: Only wool and linen are forbidden as kilaim, whether dyed or white. We have stated: Only wool and linen can become impure by mold disease, but only white. Rebbi Jonah from Bostra asked before Rebbi Mana: There, you say “whether dyed or white”, but here you say “but only white”? He said to him, there is a difference because the verse repeated twice “wool, wool”; just as linen is in its natural state so also wool must be in its natural state.

¹⁴This refers to the priestly garments mentioned in the Mishnah. A parallel is in Babli Yoma 71b. Rebbi Zeïra said: It is written (Lev. 16:4) “He shall wear a garment of holy bad,” growing singly¹⁵Since בד can mean (1) single strand, connected with Hebrew בדד, Arabic بدّ “to separate”, or (2) linen cloth. It is not explicit in the text that the garments of the High priest for the service of the Day of Atonement have to be of white linen. The meaning (2) of בד is established in this paragraph. In Sifra Aḥare 1(3) בד is taken to mean “double cloth”.. But wool also grows in single strands¹⁶Nothing here proves that בד means linen cloth, not woolen cloth; this shows that the modern acceptation of בד “cloth (of any kind)” was current in the times of the Yerushalmi.. It is explained in tradition (Ez. 44:17): “There should be no wool on them when they officiate inside the inner doors¹⁷In order to make the point clear, the verse is slightly misquoted, “inner doors” instead of “the gates of the inner courtyard”. Since the courtyard reserved for the priests had no gates, the sentence is taken as referring to the ṭriqsin cubit (Chapter 8, Note 93)..” Therefore, on the outside wool may be on them. From where that they may wear kilaim? As it says (Ex. 39:28): “The cap of byssus, the hat-turbans of byssus, the cloth trousers of spun byssus, and the belt of spun byssus, blue, purple, and crimson¹⁸One has to prove that “blue, purple, and crimson” mentioned in the description of the priestly garments and the gobelins of the Tabernacle always refers to blue, purple, and crimson wool..” And it is written (Ez. 44:18): “Linen turbans shall be on their heads, linen trousers shall be on their hips, they shall not belt with sweat.” You infer “byssus” from “byssus”, “byssus” from “turbans”, “turbans” from “turbans”.¹⁹This proves that שש means “linen cloth”. שש is defined by its use as material for the priests’ turbans, which are described as made of linen by Ezechiel. [The Babli (Note 14) interprets שש to mean “spun six-fold”; this is not known to the Yerushalmi.] Just as crimson is made from a living being, so the rest is made from a living being²⁰Since the red color of crimson is made from insects [Sifra Meẓora‘ (14)], so the material of the series in which crimson appears should be of animal origin. {In Hebrew, the terms חיים and דוח חיים only apply to animals, never to plants.} Therefore, it should be some kind of wool. The next sentence then refers back to the discussion that only sheep’s wool and linen do not need a qualifier in their descriptions.. Just as wool cannot have an epithet so linen cannot have an epithet.

Rebbi Jonah, Ulla bar Ismael in the name of Rebbi Eleazar: Blended wool and flax are forbidden. What can one do? One adds more than a pound of camel’s hair and makes it insignificant²¹It is a general principle in Jewish law that one may not neutralize a prohibited substance by mixing it with a large quantity of permitted material. R. Eleazar notes that the Mishnah here decrees a remarkable exception in that wool and flax blended before spinning can be made acceptable by using for every pound of kilaim somewhat more than a pound of neutral material. This does not apply to woolen or linen threads which together in one garment always constitute kilaim.. Abba bar Rav Huna in the name of Rebbi Jeremiah²²He is Rav Jeremiah in the Babli. Since R. Jeremiah already was an authority in Babylonia before the title “Rav” was introduced, the title “Rebbi” is more correct.: Blended wool and flax are neutral. Rav said, they are forbidden in mixture. Do they disagree? Rav speaks about the case when he made the material itself into a garment, Rebbi Jeremiah speaks about the case where he wants to mix it with other things.

Rebbi Hillel ben Rebbi Vales²⁴Cf. Chapter 1, note 30. Probably Rebbi (Jehudah Nesia) suspected the garment to contain the very expensive Egyptian byssus, used to make transparent garments. The denars here are the worthless money of the military anarchy. had a garment worth 30’000 denar, (he gave it to Rebbi who) found kilaim in it and burnt it. Rebbi Mana had a garment worth 30’000 denar²⁵Shrouds for the dead may contain kilaim, cf. Mishnah 4 and Halakhah 4.
Reading of the Rome ms:רִבִּי מָנָא הָיָה לוֹ בֶגֶד בִּשְׁלֹשִׁים רִיבּוֹא דֵינָר וּמָצָא בוֹ כִלְאַיִם וִיהָבֵיהּ לְרִבִּי חִייָה בַּר אָדָא אָמַר לֵיהּ זְבָנִית לְמִית וְקִייֵם עֲלוֹי עַד קָרְחָייָה. “Rebbi Mana had a garment worth 30’000 denar in which he found kilaim. He gave it to Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Ada and told him that he had bought it for the dead. He kept it until it got threadbare (probably to sit on it).”. He gave it to Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Ada and told him that he had bought it for the dead. He kept it until he was wrapped in it²⁶When he had died.. Rebbi Ḥaggai said, Rebbi Samuel bar Isaac brought a garment from the cleaner; there were on it ten threads and he rubbed them off²⁷The threads might be kilaim. Even though they were only clinging to the garment, were not sown on or otherwise permanently affixed and never could be legal kilaim, he insisted of removing all potential kilaim.. Rebbi Ḥaggai said, Rebbi Samuel bar Isaac commanded his house not to put a bale of wool next to a bale of flax because of the fibers²⁸The fibers that might be blown from one bale to the next. Latin fibra,ae, “fiber, filament”, but also cf. Note 153..

“Raw silk and silk noil”. Raw silk is μέταξα³²Greek “raw silk”, early Latin form mataxa. The Babli, Šabbat 20b translates כלך by either μέταξα or שירא פרנדא, i. e. sera “silk” (Syriac, Aramaic), پَرَنْد (parand, Arabic firind) “silk” (Persian, Arabic). Also compare sera with Latin sericum “Chinese stuff, silk.”. Kalak silk is imperial ‘gbyn³³The Rome ms. here has אככין, the mss. in Mishnah Šabbat 2:1 have אנבין. R. Simson and R. Isaac Simponti read אצבין. In Šabbat, Maimonides explains כלך by “silk”; the expression there is usually taken to mean “silk noil”. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel explains that the current trade name in the Eastern Mediterranean was kalka, cf. Greek κάλχη, ἥ “murex, purple dye”. The reading אגבין is possibly a contraction from ארגון “purple”; the determination of כלך as “imperial purple” parallels κάλχη. The Yerushalmi seems to define כלך as purple silk (E. G.).. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel said, I went around among all sea-faring men and they told me that it was called kalka.

“But they are forbidden because of the bad impression.” Rav said that everything forbidden because of a bad impression is forbidden even in the most private room³⁴In Babli Šabbat 64b, 146b, Beẓah9a, Avodah Zarah 12a this is accepted practice while it is rejected in the Yerushalmi, cf. Roš Šabbat 22:9.. A baraita contradicts Rav: “One should not make a visible fringe of linen dyed with soot, but for mattresses and pillows it is permitted.³⁵Since linen usually is bleached, not dyed, this will look like wool. Nevertheless, such decorations are permitted in the bedroom and only forbidden where others may see them and suspect the owner of wearing kilaim.” A baraita contradicts Rav: “If one’s coins were strewn before an idol he should not bow down to collect them lest he look as if he was prostrating himself before the idol. But if it occurred at a hidden place it is permitted.³⁶This and the following baraita are found also in Tosephta Avodah Zarah 6:4,6 and Babli Avodah Zarah12a. Instead of “if it occurred at a hidden place it is permitted”, these Babylonian sources read: “If it cannot be seen it is permitted.” This is reinterpreted in the Babli to mean: “If he can arrange it so that he will not be seen bowing down to (or kissing) the idol, it is permitted,” for example by collecting the coins kneeling with his back to the idol. Such a reinterpretation is impossible in the Yerushalmi’s version.” A baraita contradicts Rav: “In a fortified place one should not put his face on gargoyles in the form of faces lest he look as if he was kissing an idol. But if it occurred at a hidden place it is permitted.” A Mishnah contradicts Rav: “One does not slaughter into a pit in the ground but he may dig a pit in his house so that the blood may be collected there. In public, he should not do it so as not to imitate the sectarians.³⁷Ḥulin 2:9, Babli 41a. It is not known to which sect the Mishnah refers. The Babli does not count the Mishnah as contradicting Rav.” A baraita contradicts Rav: “Once he arrived at the outermost courtyard he may spread them out in the sun but not where it is generally visible.³⁸Babli Šabbat 146b, speaking of a man whose clothes got wet on the Sabbath who might be suspected of having washed them that day. In the version of the Babli, Rebbi Eliezer and Rebbi Simeon prohibit spreading out any clothes at all.” A baraita contradicts Rav: “One does not pour water on the Sabbath into a sewage pipe covered the length of four cubits.³⁹A similar text in Mishnah Eruvin 8:10, a baraita permitting to pour the water in wintertime Babli Eruvin 88b; a parallel text Eruvin 8:10 (fol. 25b). The situation referred to is a sewage pipe leading away from a courtyard. The water poured out in the courtyard will run into the pipe and flow away into the public domain. While no Sabbath prohibition has been violated by pouring out water in one’s own private courtyard, the water flowing in the pipe will give the impression that it was poured into the public domain, a desecration of the Sabbath. The rabbinic prohibition of pouring water does not apply if either the pipe is covered all the way or if the pipe was carrying water before anything was poured out into the courtyard.” We have stated on this: If water was flowing in it it is permitted, in the winter it is permitted. If aquaeduct pipes spout it is forbidden. Bar Qappara stated that if it occurred at a hidden place it is permitted⁴⁰Against the opinion of Rav. This statement is not in the Babli.. All these statements contradict Rav and he cannot explain them.

“It is permitted for mattresses and pillows.”⁴¹Quote from the baraita in the preceding paragraph. The reasons are explained in the last paragraph of this Halakhah. That means if they are empty but if stuffed they are forbidden. When they are put on a stone bench, but on a bed they are forbidden even empty.

If somebody was walking in public and discovered that he was wearing kilaim. Two Amoraïm, one said he is forbidden⁴²He has to strip off the garment immediately., the other one said he is permitted. The one who said he is forbidden, because it is a word of the Torah. The one who said he is permitted follows what R. Zeïra said: The dignity of the public is important enough to temporarily override a prohibition⁴³In the Babli, Berakhot 19b, Megillah 3b this statement is anonymous, possibly tannaïtic, and unopposed. In the Babylonian version, the reason is self-esteem (כבוד הבריות) rather than the dignity of the public..

It was stated: One does not investigate for a dead person²⁵Shrouds for the dead may contain kilaim, cf. Mishnah 4 and Halakhah 4.
Reading of the Rome ms:רִבִּי מָנָא הָיָה לוֹ בֶגֶד בִּשְׁלֹשִׁים רִיבּוֹא דֵינָר וּמָצָא בוֹ כִלְאַיִם וִיהָבֵיהּ לְרִבִּי חִייָה בַּר אָדָא אָמַר לֵיהּ זְבָנִית לְמִית וְקִייֵם עֲלוֹי עַד קָרְחָייָה. “Rebbi Mana had a garment worth 30’000 denar in which he found kilaim. He gave it to Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Ada and told him that he had bought it for the dead. He kept it until it got threadbare (probably to sit on it).” nor in the house of study⁴⁴A place of public assembly.. Rebbi Yose was sitting and teaching where a dead body was present. He did not say anything either to those who left or to those who remained sitting⁴⁵Cf. Berakhot Halakhah 3:1 (Notes 68,69). The story is inserted here to emphasize the statement of R. Zeïra, that in the house of study one tolerates not only temporary transgression of the law of kilaim but also of the prohibition of defilement of Cohanim.. Rebbi Immi was sitting and teaching when one said to his neighbor: you are wearing kilaim. Rebbi Immi told him: strip yourself of your garment and give it to him.

It was stated: There is no provisional kilaim in the Temple⁴⁶Since the belt of the Cohen was kilaim, he was not permitted to wear priestly garb outside the Temple precinct even for a second. In the Babli, Tamid 27b, there is a dispute whether the belt of a simple priest was kilaim.. But did we not state⁴⁷Tosephta Kippurim 1:16, formulated only for the High Priest. A parallel in Babli Zebaḥim 20b is formulated for a common priest: “If he stepped outside the wall of the courtyard, if it was for any length of time …” It is explained that he stepped outside to relieve himself. Since the lavatory for priests was subterranean (Mishnah Tamid 1:1), not holy and not profane, the prohibition of kilaim does not apply there.: A Cohen who stepped outside to talk with somebody, if it was for any length of time he needs immersion, if it was for a moment he needs to wash hands and feet⁴⁸If the Cohen is forbidden to leave the Temple precinct in his priestly garment, how could the case of the baraita ever arise? The answer is that this was possible only for the High Priest on the Day of Atonement when he wore linen garments; he might not leave the precinct if he wore his “golden” garments that were all kilaim except for his hat. It is reported in Mishnah Yoma that sometimes the High Priest spoke to the king (or a visiting foreign king) during the few breaks he had on the day of Atonement.? One for the golden garments, the other for the linen garments.

(Lev. 19:19) “[Kilaim cloth] shall not come upon you.” You are permitted to spread it out under you but the Sages said one should not do it lest one thread should be over his flesh⁴⁹Sifra Qedošim Pereq 4(18), Babli Beẓah 14b. The Babli is much more restrictive and decrees that one may not sit on a kilaim carpet even if the latter is covered by ten layers of unobjectionable material..