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Shaatnez

20 Jun 2006

[m., pl. generally not used]; mixture of wool and linen, a combination prohibited by the Torah. This is one of the Laws of the Torah known as “Chukim,” “Decrees,” for which there is no obvious rational explanation, but which are obeyed nevertheless, simply because they are the “decrees of the King;” namely, HaShem, G-d Himself.

This is not to say that there is no reason for the decree; merely, that the explanation is not obvious, as opposed to the Law that says, for example, that “one who steals an object from another, is obligated to return it.” Although, on a deeper level, it may be true that all of the Laws of the Torah are decrees, that must be obeyed, whether we understand them or not. It is just that some appeal to our logic and some are above it.