1) I do not fully understand what "kiwi sowing" is, but since the Torah states, "You shall not sow Kil'ayim in your field" (Vayikra 19:19), this would suggest that the prohibition applies only when sewing Kil'ayim in soil in the field.

2) In fact, the Tosefta (Kil'ayim 1:9) states, "If one sows Kil'ayim over the aqueduct (Amas ha'Mayim) one is exempt." The Talmud Yerushalmi at the end of the first chapter of Maseches Kil'ayim also states, "Rebbi Shimon ben Lakish agrees that if one sows kilayim above the sea, or over the water canal, on rocks or on infertile land, one is exempt."

3) "Mema'et" refers to someone whose field had been sown with a mixture of produce (for instance, wheat and barley, Chitah u'Se'orah) which is forbidden. If, for instance, there were 24 Kav of wheat in the field and 12 Kav of barley, then what he must do is uproot more than 11 Kav of barley so that there is now less than 1 Kav of barley in the field. If there are more than 24 times of one species than the other species, this means that the lesser species is "Batel" in the main species. So if there are 24 Kav of wheat and less than 1 Kav of barley, we say that the barley is not noticeable among the wheat and it is as if there is no barley, since it is such an insignificant amount.

4) The Halachos of Kil'ayim for fruit trees are different from that of produce (for instance, wheat and barley). The Rambam (Hilchos Kil'ayim 1:6) writes that it is permitted to sow seeds of produce and seeds of trees together. One may also mix seeds of trees and plant them together. The only prohibition of Kil'ayim for trees is "Harkavah," grafting branches of different species of trees together.

5) The Chazon Ish in Dinei Kil'ayim (printed at the end of the Chazon Ish, Hilchos Kil'ayim, page 166, Halachah 32), writes that one may plant one kind of tree next to a different kind, or plant a tree next to a vine, and this is not considered Kil'ayim. One may also sow any sorts of seeds next to trees.

6) Another comment about the distance required between two types of species: The Mishnah in Maseches Shabbos (84b) states that one may sow 5 different types of seeds in a plant bed of 6 X 6 Tefachim (slightly less than 60 X 60 centimeters). The origin of this Mishnah is in fact a Mishnah in Maseches Kil'ayim 3:1. The Bartenura writes there that generally speaking one requires a distance of one and a half Tefachim between one species and its neighbor, in order that one species should not derive nourishment from the other.

Kol Tuv,

Dovid Bloom

Joseph, many thanks for telling me about kiwi.

1) Before discussing Kil'ayim, I want to raise a different Halachic point which I think is not so well-known. This is about the Berachah of Shehecheyanu.

Does one say the blessing of Shehecheyanu the first time in the year that one eats Kiwi fruit?

The reason that I think this may be a question is because in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 225), the first Bi'ur Halachah in the chapter cites the Sefer Halachos Ketanos who says that on fruit that has been formed by grafting two different species one does not say Shehecheyanu, because when this fruit was produced the first time, it was done so against the Mitzvah of the Creator.

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2) Rav Moshe Feinstein zt"l, in Igros Moshe Orach Chaim 2:58 (DH Aval, in the end of the responsum), explains further that if a fruit was created in a forbidden way, it may be that it is not appropriate to bless Hash-m that He has enabled us to see this fruit, because this looks as if one is blessing Hash-m that we have merited seeing that there are people who transgressed the Torah. Rav Moshe writes that it may be that since the Berachah of Shehecheyanu is said because we are happy that we can enjoy this fruit, since the fruit came about through a prohibition it is not fitting to make a Berachah on this.

3) It should be added that the Halachah is that even though it is forbidden to graft two different species of trees, nevertheless if they have already been grafted it is permitted to eat the fruit. However, even though the result of the forbidden grafting is permitted to eat, according to the Halachos Ketanos and Igros Moshe, one should not say the special Berachah of Shehechyanu to express our joy on the fruit since it would have been better if the fruit had never been made.

4) Many Halachic authorities agree with the Halachos Ketanos.

5) I looked around in the Halachic literature, and while there is a lot of discussion about the Berachah of Shehecheyanu on other grafted fruits, I could not find that anyone raised the question concerning kiwi. There is dsicussion about whether kiwi is available in the fruit stores all year round. If it is, then one does not say Shehecheyanu because it is not a new fruit. Nobody seems to raise the question about grafting, and I think it may not be so wel- known, at least here in Eretz Yisrael, that kiwi is a fruit created originally by grafting.

6) With regard to Kil'ayim:

When we talk about grafting, we usually refer to grafting the branches of two different species of trees. According to the Rambam, the only prohibiton of Kil'ayim with trees is to graft the branches.

Everyone agrees that one may not sow together the seeds of two different species (with the exception of tree seeds according to the Rambam).

There are some authorities who disagree with the Rambam. The Shach (on Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 295:2) writes that in Eretz Yisrael one may not sow together seeds of trees and other seeds.

Yasher Ko'ach,

Ketivah v'Chatimah Tovah,

Dovid Bloom