What is the definition of 'Chukim'?
Rashi: They are decrees of Hashem which have no reason. 1
Ramban and Rashbam: 'Chukim' refers to laws of nature that Hashem initiated with the creation - whereby every individual species remains separate. 2
Ramban: There is no such thing as a decree without a reason - All the Mitzvos were given to purify us, and when Chazal said that the Yeitzer ha'Ra and the nations of the world query us about the Chukim, they meant that Hashem did not reveal the reason, and, since there is no visible benefit in observing them, we carry them out purely because Hashem commanded them to.
This conforms to the Gemara in Kidushin, 39a. See Torah Temimah, note 130 & 131, and refer to 19:19:5.1:1 & 2 and notes for further elaboration.
Which Mitzvos is the Torah referring to as 'Chukim'?
Rashi and Ramban: The three Mitzvos contained in this Pasuk exclusively. 1
Seforno: All the Mitzvos from here until the end of the Parshah. 2
Why does the Torah refer to the current Mitzvos as 'Chukim'?
Seforno: Because most of the issues - issues that affect their daily lives - clash with the laws of nature that Hashem placed in the world at the creation. 1
Seforno: Incorporating pasturing, tilling the land, clothes, Arayos, food and drink, foretelling the future and Shifchah Charufah - Refer to 19:20:5:1*.
See also Oznayim la'Torah.
Which kind of animals are included in "Behemt'cha Lo Sarbi'a Kil'ayim "?
What is the meaning of "Lo Sarbi'a Kil'ayim"?
Yerushalmi Kil'ayim, 8:2: It means 'Do not crossbreed - but there is no prohibition against placing a male animal beside a female one of the same species.
Why did the Torah find it necessary to add the (otherwise superfluous) word "Behemt'cha Lo Sarbi'a Kil'ayim"?
Bava Metzi'a, 91a: Because we would otherwise have thought that it is even forbidden to hold one of one's animals whilst it is mating with its own species. 1
See Toah Temimah, note 135.
What do K'lai Beheimah and K'lai Sadeh incorporate?
Yerushalmi Kil'ayim, 1:1: They incorporate mixing any two species of animals and planting 1 any two different species of grain. 2
And this incorporates weeding and covering the seeds wih earth ? to enhance their growth. See Torah Temimah, note 140.
Yerushalmi (Ibid.): We learn from K'lai Begadim - "Lo Silbash Sha'atnez, Tzemer u'Pishtim", in Ki Seitzei, Devarim, 22:11 that it does not extend to mating a black ox with a white one, or to planting two species of wheat or of barley.
What are the implications of "Sadcha Lo Sizra Kil'ayim"?
Kidushin, 39a: It implies that K'lai Zera'im does not apply in Chutz la'Aretz.
May one benefit from Kil'ayim that grew in one's field?
Moshav Zekenim: Kil'ai Zera'im is forbidden to plant, but Mutar be'Hana'ah, whereas K'lai ha'Kerem is also Asur be'Hana'ah.
Why does the Torah juxtapose 'K'lai Sadeh to K'lai Beheimah?
Kidushin, 39a: To teach us that, just as one may not crossbreed two species of animals, so too, may one not graft 1 two species in the field, and just as K'lai Beheimah applies both in Eretz Yisrael and in Chutz la'Aretz, 2 so too, does K'lai Sadeh.
Chulin, 115a: To teach us that the product of K'lai Zera'im, like that of K'lai Beheimah, is Mutar be'Hana'ah. 3
Mo'ed Katan, 2b: In order to Darshen 'Kil'ayim Sadcha Lo' - a prohibition against even retaining Kil'ayim in one's field - even if the seeds grew by themselves
Kidushin, 39a: This does not extend to planting seeds in a vineyard. Refer to 19:19:1.1:1.
See Torah Temimah, note 138.
Refer to Torah Temimah, note 139.
Why does the Torah forbid Kil'ayim of animals and crops?
Ramban #1 and Rashbam: In order not to mix the breeds and the species 1 that Hashem separated 2 when He created the world. 3
Ramban #2: The reason regarding K'lai Beheimah is because a product of interbreeding is incapable of breeding further, and the same applies to a plant that is produced by mixing two kinds of seeds. 4
Ramban: And in order not to interfere with the work of the celestial superpowers that control them. Refer also to 19:19:1:2. Sifra: The Isur therefore extends to grafting a fruit tree in a non-fruit-bearing tree or vice-versa.
From the fact that the Torah writes "le'Mineihu" by each of them in Bereishis 1:12, 21& 25. See Ramban and Rashbam who elaborate.
Ramban and Moshav Zekenim: Someone who does so creates the impression that he is making up for a deficiency in Hashem's Creation. And the Torah confines Kilai Begadim to wool and linen, since they are the two most common species from which one manufactures clothes. Rashbam - because the one is from animals whilst the other grows from the ground. I told the heretics that it is the way to dye woolen garments, and not to dye linen, and the Torah was adamant about two appearances and they agreed with me.
And Hashem created all living creatures with the express intention that they continue to produce offspring and fill the world (See Yeshayah, 45:18) and Bereishis, 1:12. The Torah forbids working with different species together, since it is common to keep animals together in one pen bound by the same yoke, and they will come to breed together.
Why does the Torah add the (otherwise superfluous) word "u'Beged Kil'ayim Sha'atnez"?
Rashi: Because we would otherwise have thought that wearing a combination of shearings of wool and bundles of flax is prohibited.
Why does the Torah add the (otherwise superfluous) word "u'Beged Kil'ayim Sha'atnez"?
Rashi: Because we would otherwise have thought that wearing shearings of wool and bundles of flax is prohibited.
What is the meaning of "Sha'atnez"?
What is the root of the word 'Sha'atnez'?
Rashi #1, Ramban and Targum Yonasan (in Ki Seitzei): It is the acronym (Notrikun) of 'Shu'a' (joined), 'Tavuy' (spun) and 'Nuz' (pressed and hardened).' 1 In fact "Nuz" incorporates felt, 2 even though it is not a Beged.
This incorporates 'Levadim' - garments made of pressed wool that has not been spun or woven, since it falls under the category of Sha'atnez'.See Torah Temimah, note 145. See also Torah Temimah, note 144, who elaborates on the issue of 'Notrikun'.
According to the Ramban, the Torah only incorporates non-garments that are 'Shu'a, Tavuy and Nuz', whereas felt - which is only 'Nuz' is only Asur mi'de'Rabbanan and is included in the prohibition by way of an Asmachta. See Ramban, who elaborates in great detail. The Ramban has the support of the Sifra, which specifically precludes felts because they are3 not Shu'a Tavuy and Nuz.
What are the implications of "Lo Ya'aleh alecha"?
Beitzah, 14b: It permits lying on Sha'atnez - "Alecha", ve'Lo 'Tachtecha'. 1
Yevamos, 4b: It forbids even placing Sha'atnez upon oneself (such as a blanket), even though the Hana'ah is minimal compared to wearing. 2
Beitzah (Ibid.): Which is only Asur mi'de'Rabbanan.
Yevamos (Ibid.): About which the Torah writes in Ki Seitzei Devarim, 22:11 "Lo Silbash Sha'atnez".
Why does the Torah prohibit Sha'atnez:
Ramban #3 (citing the Rambam): Because there were priests who indulged in sorcery, who made a point of wearing garments of wool and linen whilst worshipping their Avodah-Zarah and the demons.
Pirkei d'R. Eliezer (chap. 21), and partially in Moshav Zekenim (citing R. Eliezer of Garmaiza): Because Hevel offered sheep with their wool, and Kayin offered flax, as a result of which Kayin killed Hevel. Hashem therefore decreed that we should not wear them together.
Why does the Torah insert K'lai Beheimah here?
Ibn Ezra and Moshav Zekenim: Since man is holy and is not permitted to behave wrongly towards his fellow-man, he is also not permitted to behave wrongly towards the animals by changing the species of animals that Hashem created.
What are the connotations of "Sadcha Lo Sizra Kil'ayim"?
Moshav Zekenim: We hold like R. Yashiyah that the Torah forbids only when one plants grape-seeds together with wheat and barley (or two other different species) 1 , but in any case what grows is forbidden. Even if the fence (between a vineyard and a corn-field) fell, they are forbidden! (Bava Basra 2a)
This is unlike Tosfos (Menachos 15b DH 've'Asru'), who says that the Halachah follows R. Yashiyah, even though S'tam Mishnayos (that forbid Hana'ah even when they were not seeded together) are unlike him.
