Kil'ayim (prohibition)
Prohibitions of certain types of forbidden mixtures in Jewish law
Kil'ayim (or Klayim; Hebrew: כִּלְאַיִם, romanized: kilʾayim, lit. 'hybrid, mixture, diverse kinds') are the prohibitions in Jewish law which proscribe the planting of certain mixtures of seeds, grafting, the mixing of plants in vineyards, the crossbreeding of animals, the formation of a team in which different kinds of animals work together, and shatnez, or the mixing of wool with linen in garments.
The prohibitions are derived from the Torah in Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:9–11, and the Mishnah in tractate Kilʾayim, which has a Gemara in the Jerusalem Talmud, further elaborates on the applicable circumstances.
Prohibitions
The Torah (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:9–11) lists several different examples of mixtures that are prohibited as mixed species.
The halakha classifies the prohibitions under the following categories:
interbreeding of animals of different species
planting mixed seeds
grafting of different species of trees
shatnez - mixing wool and linen in garments
planting grain or seed crops in a vineyard
ploughing or doing other work with two different species of animal.
Permitted and forbidden instances
In fabrics
The 613 commandments in the Hebrew Bible forbid the wearing of shatnez – wool and linen fabrics that have been hackled together, or spun and woven together. Likewise, "intertying" sheep wool and linen together is forbidden, the two exceptions being the məʿīl or robe of the Temple priests and the tzitzit. Concerning tzitzit, the Chazal "Sages" of Rabbinic Judaism permit using wool and linen strings in tandem only when genuine tekhelet dye is available, whereas kabbalist sources go a step further by encouraging this practice. The Torah forbids only wool and linen to be worn together. Camel hair, cashmere wool, yak fiber, and the like are not prohibited from being worn with linen.
According to Maimonides, if a Jew had purchased an all-woolen product from a gentile and wanted to ascertain whether or not it was, indeed, pure wool – without the admixture of flax-linen, its fabric could be tested by dyeing.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6406474. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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