Shatnez. Not just a cool word, but a mitzvah too

Issue of Sept. 12, 2008

Recently I picked up some new suits from being checked for Shatnez (wool and linen interwoven) and came away with quite a story.

When dropping off clothes, protocol is to leave a name and phone number to be contacted when the clothes have been checked. One need not leave an address, as delivery is not part of the service. Yet two men chose to include their addresses along with the pertinent information.

When I arrived at the home of the Shatnez checker to pick up my clothing, these two suit bags had been randomly slung over the dining room chairs and a most unusual coincidence was obvious. One suit bag belonged to Dov Emerson, who lives in Cedarhurst on Grove Avenue, while the one right next to it belonged to Dov Groveman, who lives a couple of blocks away on Emerson.

What are the chances? Dov Emerson on Grove; Dov Groveman on Emerson. Uncanny as it may be, it started to make me think about why such an unlikely coincidence was brought to my attention. Perhaps this was Divinely orchestrated to inspire me to write this short essay.

In Parshat Ki Teitzei, the Torah commands us to not wear garments made of Shatnez. Shatnez is one of those mitzvot that is known as a “Chok,” a mitzvah whose reason is not apparent. After all, there’s nothing wrong with wool, and linen ain’t too bad either. So what’s the problem? Mixing them together.

If there’s one thing I learned in high school chemistry, it’s that certain chemicals will have a devastating effect when mixed together. As Rudyard Kipling wrote: “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” In a society where The Kinks sang: “Girls will be boys and boys will be girls It’s a mixed up muddled up shook up world,” it’s even more important to have clearly defined terms.

With regard to mixing wool and linen, I need not know the reason; however, I must respect the natural spiritual order Hashem placed in the world. Everything in this physical world has a parallel in the spiritual world and so we are cautioned not to interweave, graft or mix breed in the physical world, causing chaos in the spiritual world it mirrors.

An appreciation of this mitzvah may be found in the story of Kayin and Hevel. Kayin brought an offering to Hashem from the produce of the ground (linen) and brother Hevel brought from his flock (wool). Remember how that episode played out? Had Hevel offered up his offerings independently and separately from his brother’s, history would have been steered in a much more harmonious direction.

So imagine how easy it would be to mix up the clothing of two Five Towners, who dropped off their suits at the same time, both named Dov, each living a couple of blocks away from the other, on streets that mirror the other’s last name. That mixture would indeed cause quite a stir as they walked into shul wearing the other’s suit — many sizes off.

Matis Friedman is a native Woodmere resident who has been a fifth grade rebbe at HAFTR for 13 years. He prides himself on a nearly perfect streak of buying Shatnez-free suits.

* Permission was granted by both Dovs to write this story.