Cohn, Jacob. The Royal Table - VWC: Faculty/Staff Web

CHAPTER VII.
AGRICULTURAL PROHIBITIONS: KILAYIM, ORLAH,
CHADASH, TERUMAH AND MA'ASER
great system of restraint of appetites which the
Torah enjoined concerns itself not only with animal foods.
Even the strictest of vegetarians does not escape the juris-
diction of the dietary laws, for an intricate system of regulations
governs man's use of the vegetable world. Though
God may have created the plants to serve as man's food,
he may not devour them in the same manner as the beasts
do. A certain etiquette from which moral lessons may be
derived must be practiced with everything in Nature
even with the bread from which we draw our daily sus-
tenance.
It is forbidden to cross-breed all manner of plants,
(kilayim, D*K?3), whether it be two kinds of herbs, herbs
with trees, or grains with the grape-vine. 1
Just what con-
stitutes cross-breeding is a very vast and involved subject,
and somewhat beyond the scope of our discussion. Suffice
it to mention that any violation of these laws of planting
carries with it the penalty of stripes. 2 The law, however,
allows the fruit of such cross-breeding to be used, except
in the case of grains crossed with grapes, where not only
may the resultant product not be eaten, but no pleasure
1
Lev. XIX 19; Deut. XXH 9; Kiddushin 39a; Yad, Kilayim I,
1, 5; V. 1. Y. D. 295-6-7.
3 Yad ibid.; Y. D. ibid. See Peri Chadash to Y. D. for dissenting
opinions on this matter.
Ill