Introduction to Kilayim
The word “kilayim” means mixture, either a mixture of seeds, plants, cross-bred animals or even cross-yoked animals. The Torah twice prohibits kilayim.
Leviticus 19:19
You shall not let your cattle mate with a different kind (kilayim); you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed (kilayim); you shall not put on cloth from a mixture of two kinds of material (kilayim shatnez).
Deuteronomy 22:9-11
You shall not sow your vineyard with a second kind of seed (kilayim), else the crop – from the seed you have sown – and the yield of the vineyard may not be used. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear cloth combining wool and linen (shatnez).
The rabbis interpreted “You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed” to mean that planting two different kinds of seed in a field was forbidden and that grafting one type of plant onto another was also forbidden. “You shall not sow your vineyard with a second kind of seed” meant that one could not plant either grains or vegetables in a vineyard.
Planting two different kinds of seeds in one field is only prohibited if the seeds are mixed up together. If they are planted separately and there is a divider, one can plant two different kinds of seed in one field.
In total there are four types of kilayim: 1) kilayim of the vineyard; 2) kilayim of mixed seeds in a field—this prohibition includes a prohibition of grafting together different trees; 3) cross-breeding animals; 4) yoking two different types of animals together. Our tractate will discuss all four different types.
Good luck learning Tractate Kilayim!
Wheat and zunin do not constitute kilayim one with the other.
Barley and oats, spelt and rye, or beans and sapir (a type of, or purkdan and tofah (two similar types of, or white beans and kidney beans, do not constitute kilayim one with the other.
Our mishnah teaches that if two types of seeds, either grains or beans, are very similar to one another then they are not “kilayim” and one can plant a field with both of them mixed. Kilayim is prohibited only in cases of two distinct species of seed; if the two are almost interchangeable, then there is no prohibition. The mishnah therefore lists pairs of seeds that are not kilayim with each other. Since the mishnah’s meaning is quite simple, I have refrained from commenting below.
One problem in interpreting and translating this mishnah is that it is difficult to identify many of the species mentioned. Albeck provides various Latin terms, and all commentators attempt to identify the species, but some of their meanings have probably been lost. To avoid this problem, I have transliterated some of the terms rather than translate them. Thus “zunin” instead of “Cephalaria Syriaca” or “sapir” instead of “Vicia Narbonensis.” I realize that this may disappoint the hard-core botanists among you, but I can’t write these Latin terms and pretend I know what they are. The most important thing to know is that in each pair, the two species are very similar. So while I might not know what “zunin” is, I know it is similar to wheat.