Note 142 — II. OUR DUTIES. (continued 4)

E.g., “Neither shall there come upon thee a garment of two kinds of stuff mingled together.” Such mixture is called ‏שעטנז‎, and applies only to the mixture of wool and linen (Deut. xxii. 11). Another commandment belonging to this category is this: “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together” (ibid. 10). Ibn Ezra, in his Commentary on the Pentateuch (ad locum), suggests the following reason for this commandment, “The Almighty has mercy upon all His creatures; the strength of the ass being inferior to that of the ox, an unfair demand would be made upon the strength of the former when drawing the ploughshares together with the latter.” ↑