Elia Gil-Munzo – Year 11

Ki Tetsei 

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tetsei, is greatly focused on fairness and equal treatment. It outlines the do’s and don’ts in wartime and everyday life, and how to live ‘ethically’. It states rules on marriage, appropriate clothing materials, measurements and divorce.

What I find particularly interesting are the regulations around not mixing species of plants when farming כלאיים/Kil’ayim, nor wearing different materials שעטנז/Sha’atnez, specifically wool and linen. It poses the question, “is mixing materials unethical?”. Is it wrong of me to wear wool, and to wear linen? Personally, I’m not sure. I would never consciously choose to eat egg and chicken in the same meal so is this instance any different? Much to my own embarrassment, I have done it before – wearing a woollen jumper and leather shoes would have never seemed problematic to me on the surface, however with more consideration I can’t help but feel a bit ‘off’ about it.

Wearing any animal product as clothing is considered to be unethical. Much like the meat industry in which animals are exploited and poorly treated in order to produce food for the masses. So are we wrong in choosing to wear these two animal-made fabrics together or at all? I think we could be. Habits such as passively making choices about food or clothing because it’s convenient or cheap are some of our worst traits – so do we change this in order to benefit animals?

In theory, changing our habits is simple. Eating less meat or none at all and refusing to buy clothing made from animal materials doesn’t sound hard. But is it hypocritical of us to not consider all the factors that may add up to our clothing being unethical? Perhaps the sweat shops involved or the underpaid employees who sold it to you should be considered or the small businesses struggling because of large corporations and their superficially low prices. But at what point does a low price justify our ignorance or the suffering that allowed for our products to be so cheap?

According to our religious obligations, we should deliberate all factors. However, modern day life doesn’t always accommodate this. Granted, our consciousness may be worsted but that’s often the case when choosing something cheap, over something ethical. Living in a climate that places such importance on time and money efficient options, we are somewhat wired to see a low price and jump at it… but I think we should reconsider.

There are movements and companies throughout the globe begging consumers to think about the journey an item of food or clothing took to wind up in front of them. 75,300,000 vegans consciously make the choice every day to stop their contribution to the meat industry and its injustices – if they can avoid animal products daily, I can avoid unethical purchases.

I will strive to carefully consider what I’m putting on my body, in my body and spending my hard-earned money on! Though I will be far from perfect in all my decisions, some steps toward change are better than none.

Judaism asks us to challenge ourselves to consider all the factors that lead to a product landing in your hands, before you eat it, wear it, or purchase it.