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The prohibition on wearing clothes made from a mixture of wool and linen is called shatnez (שעטנז). According to the Torah, Deuteronomy 22:11: "Do not wear shatnez, wool and linen together." Like many of the laws that make up the Taryag Mitvot - a list of 613 rules with which all observant Jews attempt to live in accordance - shatnez is chukim, laws for which no reason is given. Other chukim include the laws banning the consumption by Jews of pork, shellfish and other non-kosher animals.

There have been several attempts to explain the law, notably that of Maimonides (a 12th and 13th C rabbi) who believed that it resulted from an ancient law against imitating the customs of the Canaanites and modern claims that it originated during the days when the Jews wandered in the desert following their escape from Egyptian slavery which state that wool's water-absorbing properties when combined with linen's water-resistant properties could lead to excess perspiration - undesirable for anyone attempting to survive with little water.

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15y ago

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