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 Shabbat Parashat Eikev| 5764Moreshet ShaulFrom the works of Hagaon Harav Shaul Yisraeli zt”l - Kilayim - Part III - Kilei Zeraim in Chutz La’aretz - From Eretz Hemdah II,1,2
Kilei zeraim (sowing a field with seeds of different species) does not apply in chutz la’aretz. This is the unanimous opinion of the gemara (Kiddushin 39a). It is true that in the Yerushalmi, R. Yochanan is cited as saying that kilei zeraim applies in chutz la’aretz from the Torah, because it is connected to the prohibition of sha’atnez (combining fibers from different species in clothing). However, we accept the opinion of the Talmud Bavli in this matter (Rambam 1:1).
The source to exclude kilei zeraim in chutz la’aretz is the word “sadcha” (your field), which implies the field that is specifically for you, which is only in Eretz Yisrael. But Rashi says that this drasha (the derivation from the Torah) applies only to kilei hakerem (mixed sowing specifically in a vineyard). Tosafot agrees with Rashi that the drasha is for kilei hakerem and explains that no pasuk is necessary for regular kilei zeraim, because one simply applies the rule that land-based commandments do not apply in chutz la’aretz (Kiddushin 37a). Only in regard to kilei hakerem, which has some unique stringencies, was there a thought that it might also apply in chutz la’aretz. Rashi’s reasoning is probably somewhat different. We have seen in the past that he understands that whoever holds from the prohibition of kilei harkava (grafting) from the Torah must also hold that there is no prohibition of kilei zeraim from the Torah. According to that opinion, which is evident from the gemara (ibid.), the pasuk could not possibly be referring to kilei zeraim, which the Torah doesn’t refer to at all.
The P’nei Yehoshua explains that the drasha is needed for kilei zeraim, because I would have thought that it applied in chutz la’aretz because of the connection the Torah made between it and cross-breeding. Cross-breeding is, in fact, forbidden from the Torah in chutz la’aretz, as is grafting, based on its connection to cross-breeding. It comes out that grafting and mixed sowing, both of whose prohibitions are derived from the same pasuk as cross-breeding, are different in this way. Grafting is connected to cross-breeding and is forbidden in chutz la’aretz, whereas mixed sowing is, in the final analysis, not connected to grafting and is permitted in chutz la’aretz, as learned from the word sadcha. The logic is apparently as follows. Grafting is not found explicitly in the pasuk and is derived by comparing the agricultural element of the pasuk to the concept of cross-breeding and deriving a new prohibition from it. As it is, by the nature of its derivation, so closely linked to cross-breeding, it is logical that grafting applies everywhere that cross-breeding applies.
Not only is their no Torah prohibition on kilei zeraim in chutz la’aretz, but there isn’t even a rabbinic one. Only by kilei hakerem, which, as we mentioned, is particularly strict, did the Rabbis initiate a rabbinic prohibition in chutz la’aretz to go along with the Torah prohibition in Eretz Yisrael.
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