Shaaetnez - that’s one of the mitzvos in this week’s parshah. We can’t wear wool and linen together. “Lo silbash shaatnez, tzmemer u’phistim yachdav” (Deuteronomy 22:11). But what is the rationale behind this mitzvah?
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch suggests that linen - which derives from plants - represents vegetative life while wool - which derives from animals - represents animal life. Vegetables “eat” and reproduce. Animals do that as well and, in addition, they move and think.
In animals, “wool” and “linen” are together. They move and think for the sake of eating and reproducing. We shouldn’t mimic them. In human beings, tzemer and phishtim should not be yachdav. We should think and move primarily for higher ends. In Rav Hirsch’s words:
“[I]n man, the animal element…is not to be closely connected with the urges of the stomach and of sexual life. … Not downwards toward vegetative sensuality but rather upward…is the animal element in him to ennoble itself in accomplishing purposes that are holy to G-d.”
“Man is a pyramid,” writes Rav Hirsch. “In man the vegetative is to be subordinate to the animal, and the animal to the human - to the understanding, distinguishing, and self-deciding will of man - and by this to G-d and His holy will.”
If a person wears shaatnez, he symbolically proclaims that his animal abilities should be closely tied to his vegetative abilities rather than his specifically human abilities. But if he lives his life in this fashion, he is - according to Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar’s explanation of the word “shaatnez” (Kilayim 9:8) - “detached from his true connection and brings it about that his Father in Heaven, who rests above him, detaches Himself from him” (naluz u’meiliz hu es aviv shebashamayim alav).
Thus, the Torah prohibits wearing wool and linen together.
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) - head of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, Germany for over 35 years - was a prolific writer whose ideas, passion, and brilliance helped save German Jewry from the onslaught of modernity.
Elliot Resnick, PhD, is the host of “The Elliot Resnick Show” and the editor of “The Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch Dictionary.”