Polyester reference in Leviticus (?)

[andersr915]

So, recently, my brother had brought to my attention a claim made, saying The Bible condemns the wearing of clothes made of polyesther. I was skeptical due to all of the false sources out there, so I took to the pages of both books and blogs and did some research.

From what I can gather, the claim comes from the verse in Leviticus 19:19 where in which GOD commands the people of Israel to not mix different kinds of seed in the feild, nor breed two different kinds of cattle (if im not mistaken), nor sew clothes of mixed fabrics of linen and wool. Obviously, in application to the rules of the New Covenant and how the fulfillment of the law by Our LORD drastically changes some of the Levitical practices, such as divorce, so I took it with a grain of salt and kept reading on.

I suppose i could have denied the claim simply on Jesus’s teaching of “is life not more than food drink and clothing?”, but even that can have exceptions depending on how its taken, as in you shouldn’t wear clothes with satanic imagery yet wear a cross necklace over it. In examining polyesther, maybe I’m missing something, but the claim sort of falls apart here in that, from what I’ve found, polyesther is synthetic, being made of air, water, coal, and petroleum. So, even taking into account that polyesther is mixed with other fabrics, it still doesn’t make sense because the phrasing in Leviticus specifies animal-borne fabrics, not necessarily synthetic ones. Ultimately from private interpretations of the claim that I’ve found, putting into context the conditions that the people of Israel were in and thus the Sacred Law being given by GOD unto the Israelites in such a way that it would benefit the construction of both their physical and spiritual society, some have made claims that this rule stood on the premise that it was meant to establish authority among the priesthood, if for nothing else than to just listen to them, and moreover, that linen and wool don’t exactly make for stable clothing anyway, so perhaps it was GOD authoritatively telling His people “don’t make clothes that stink!”.

As far as New Convenant Commentary according to St. Paul and the Acts of the Apostles, while I haven’t looked through yet, from what I’ve seen, there isn’t much commentary on this other than that the whole point of this Levitican code all together is an analogy to say the people shouldn’t mix with the other nations for the consequence of the people being drawn to worshipping other false gods.

Anyone have their own (name removed by moderator)ut on this? Much appreciated and God Bless!

 

[HomeschoolDad]

We are not under the Old Covenant, and Levitical laws do not apply to us. I have always understood this as a more general rule of “do not mix things together that shouldn’t be mixed, keep things pure and unadulterated, just as you keep yourselves set apart as a chosen people”.

Unless you have a lot of money to spend on the highest-quality clothing, at least a small amount of admixture is often unavoidable. But questions of quality aside, it is not a moral issue. Our Lord freed us from these laws.

 

[BartholomewB]

because the phrasing in Leviticus specifies animal-borne fabrics,

A pedantic detail: wool comes from animals but linen doesn’t. It comes from flax, which is a plant.

As @HomeschoolDad already pointed out, we as Christians are exempt from the Mosaic Law. It’s explained in Acts 15.

 

[TK421]

There’s different ideas out there as to what was to be gained from some of these various laws. As early as the 2nd century (in the Epistle of Barnabas) there was the notion that different forbidden animals, for example, represented different sorts of people. Rabbits represented promiscuity, pigs represented excess, etc. There have been many similar theories put forward about it over the centuries.

In any case, the laws in Leviticus are no longer applicable.

Peace.

 

[Beryllos]

It’s spelled polyester. Ester is a chemical name. Esther is a person’s name. These should not be mixed.

 

[ThomasMT]

If I recall correctly, Challoner’s footnotes indicate that this mixing of fabric was symbolic of mixing Mosaic traditions and practices with those of the heathen cultures, which was forbidden.

 

[JerryZ]

Excellent exegesis, I concur with your conclusions. Who would have thought that someone would want to apply Leviticus to polyester.
Next someone will claim that we must return to the oil lamp and forego LED illumination.
Good job.

Peace!

 

[meltzerboy2]

According to Orthodox Judaism, it’s only linen that should not be mixed with other fabrics, not polyester or any other fabric. You can mix polyester with everything except linen, wool with everything except linen, silk with everything except linen, and so on.

Why this is I don’t know. I’ve heard that it is somehow related to the order and organization of the universe, but why linen in particular?

 

[White_Tree]

The rule still applies, but you need to understand it. The relevant portion of the verse is:

…neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. – Leviticus 19:19 (cf. Deut. 22:11)

To understand the rule, you need to look into what linen and wool are.

Wool comes from sheep, and linen comes from flax. So the law is a reference to Cain and Abel. As it states in the Zohar:

Cain’s sacrifice was flax [the fruit of the earth]; the sacrifice of Abel was wool [the firstlings of his sheep]. One sacrifice is not like the other. – Zohar, Kedoshim, 119

So to understand the meaning of this verse in Leviticus, you first need to understand the meaning of Cain and Abel. Abel (הבל) means “vapor” or “futility.” He represents the soul, or the consciousness, which has emptiness as its fundamental characteristic. Cain (קין) means “to posses” and he was a tiller of the ground, or the earth (Gen 4:2). Cain is the mind, which occupies itself with the physical world, seeking satisfaction and completion from the external world (tilling the earth), and trapped in the delusion of its own possessions (“my” money, “my” job, “my” body, “my” thoughts, “my” race, “my” culture, etc.).

The sheep are the fruits of the soul (or alternatively, souls themselves), hence Abel was a keeper of sheep (Gen 4:2), as was David (1 Sam 16:11), Moses (Ex 3:1), and Jesus (John 10:11). Obviously this is not referring to physical sheep. Rather, God’s predilection for shepherds merely indicates that He favors those who prioritize matters of the spirit.

God accepts Abel’s (spiritual/sheep) offering, but not Cain’s, because Cain offered the “fruit of the ground” (Gen 4:3), that is, what the mind had tilled from the earth, or the physical world, which is of no use to God.

Cain then kills Abel, showing how the mind, laden with sin, chokes out the soul.

The mind has a place and a function, and it should be used for that function. The spirit similarly has a place and a function. But to mix the sinning mind with the matters of the spirit pollutes the activity of that spirit and can cause it to die.

So to not mix linen (flax) with wool (sheep/spirit) means do not mix Cain with your Abel!

It has nothing to do with the physical fabrics you wear. Feel free to enjoy your polyester.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

The rule still applies, but you need to understand it.

Incorrect. The rules of Leviticus (and the similar stuff in Deuteronomy, etc.) do NOT, repeat NOT, apply to Catholics.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, Catholics are under the New Covenant. The only part of the Old Covenant that we still follow are the Ten Commandments (which are moral laws).

You can do whatever creative Scripture analyses you want, but those are not Church teaching. They would seem to be your own personal opinion since you did not provide a source. Catholics don’t make up their own interpretations of Scripture.

Fr. Grondin, one of Catholic Answers’ official apologists, notes that even Jewish rabbis aren’t sure what the purpose of this law against mixed fabrics was, and that in any event as it is not a moral law, it doesn’t apply to Christians.

Why Is There a Commandment Against Mixed Fabrics? | Catholic Answers Q&A

 

[White_Tree]

you did not provide a source

The source is the Zohar, a collection of rabbinic commentary, which I cited. I didn’t quote the full passage, but if you want to read it, here you go:

More: “She seeks wool, and flax,” to do vengeance against one who mingles them together. But when does [holiness] hover upon them - at the time when [the act] is done with its perfection, as it is written, “and works willingly with her hands” (Mishlei 31:13). And with Tzitzit, we have established there [the Sha’atnez] is done with perfection and so does nothing. But when [the act] is not found to be perfect, then he who comes to join together draws upon himself a spirit he should not have.

Who proves this matter? Cain and Abel prove, as one came from one direction and the second came from another direction. For this reason, you should not mingle them, since the sacrifices of Cain were made distant from before the sacrifice of Abel.

Therefore, “neither shall a garment mingled of linen and wool come upon you.” The words, “upon you,” are unspecified. [It is telling you also] not to allow another spirit to rule over you. A person needs to show deeds that are proper and appropriate. When doing this act, there will hover over him a Holy Spirit, a supernal Spirit that will sanctify him. He who seeks purity will be sanctified, as it is written: “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy: for I am Hashem” (Vayikra 20:7).

It is written, “but of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil…” If Adam introduced death in this world for this matter, then how much more so is it for the one who exhibits an inappropriate act. An ox and donkey will prove this. On the side [of holiness] it is referred to as an ox; from that Side [of defilement], it is called donkey. Hence, the verse says, “You shall not plow with an ox and an donkey together” (Devarim 22:10). Do not mix them, because it causes the Other Side to assemble to cause evil in the world. He who parts them increases peace in the world. This is true here also, for he who parts them in the said manner - as has been said, so that the crosswise (Heb. shti va’erev), the spun (Heb. tavuy) and the woven (Heb. nuz) do not come together, [as they form the letters of Sha’atnez] - that person multiplies peace for himself and all the world.

Cain’s sacrifice was flax; the sacrifice of Abel was wool. One sacrifice is not like the other. The secret of this matter is that Cain was a mixture, an inappropriate mix, from the Other Side, not the species of Adam and Eve. And his sacrifice came from that side. Abel was of the same species as Adam and Eve. In the bowels of Eve were joined these two opposite aspects, and because they were joined together, no benefit came to the world, and they were lost.

Until this day, that aspect still exists. One who exhibits himself performing an act of joining this union awakens these sides together. He may get hurt and cause to hover over him an inappropriate spirit. Yisrael need to awaken upon them a saintly spirit in order to be holy, so that they will be in peace in this world and the World to Come. – Zohar, Kedoshim, 115-120

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Catholics do not accept “rabbinic commentary” as an authority. It should not be presented to the OP like it’s an answer to his question.

But understood properly, it is a moral law, and we would ignore it at our peril.

No, it is not a moral law for Catholics. Please stop giving the OP misinformation; this is a Catholic Answers forum, and we are supposed to provide correct Catholic teaching here, not the opinion of some rabbi unless it is a “Non-Catholic Religions” forum discussion, which this is not.

Posts such as the ones you are making only muddy the waters and make Catholics think they are committing sin when they’re not, or that we follow Jewish rabbinical teachings when we don’t. Such posts are imprudent to make when the OP is genuinely looking for the right answer rather than to have a discussion about what rabbis think of some Scripture passage.

 

[BartholomewB]

The source is the Zohar, a collection of rabbinic commentary, which I cited.

To describe the Zohar as “a collection of rabbinic commentary” is somewhat misleading. That might give the reader the impression that is an authoritative compilation of the work of many rabbis, of the same kind as the Mishnah and the Talmud, whereas it is, in fact, something quite different. As far as can be ascertained, it is the work of a single author, Moses de Leon, a Spanish kabbalist, written between 1280 and 1300. It was, historically, a very important work in the development of the Jewish school of mysticism known as the Kabbalah, but no more than that.

 

[neophyte]

So, recently, my brother had brought to my attention a claim made, saying The Bible condemns the wearing of clothes made of polyesther.

It does not. It says that the Jews were not to do it. The prohibition on mixed fabrics is not part of the universal Moral Law; it’s a part of the Mosaic Law, which is not and never was binding on anyone but the Jews.

 

[1ke]

So, recently, my brother had brought to my attention a claim made, saying The Bible condemns the wearing of clothes made of polyesther

That would be quite something, since it did not exist then.

phrasing in Leviticus

What escapes your brother is the understanding of what he is reading. Leviticus contains not only divine law, but also ceremonial and civil law of the Jews. These structures served their time and place. They are not divine law.

And we are not bound by the merely ecclesial laws or civil laws of ancient Israel.

 

[o_mlly]

…neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. – Leviticus 19:19 (cf. Deut. 22:11)

Just to be safe, I always wear a 100% cotton T-shirt under my polyester.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

Polyester may be in bad taste, but it’s not forbidden in the Bible

 

[Irishmom2]

Safe from what?

 

[KMC]

As mentioned earlier in the thread, Catholics are under the New Covenant. The only part of the Old Covenant that we still follow are the Ten Commandments (which are moral laws).

This is correct. The Old Law was for a specific group of people, the Jews, for a specific time (before Christ) Why? Because the Jewish people had a nasty habit of worshiping false gods! Much like when you can’t trust your kids, you give them extra, temporary rules, God did the same thing. Ex: When my kids were young, I required them to hold my hand when crossing the street…now that rule no longer exists. It was for a specific group of people (my kids) for a specific time (when they were young).
The Old Law does not apply to Christians. The Moral Law applied, not because its part of the Old Law, but because its part of the natural moral law which applies to everyone, everywhere, for all time.

 

[Gorgias]

This is correct. The Old Law was for a specific group of people, the Jews, for a specific time (before Christ) Why? Because the Jewish people had a nasty habit of worshiping false gods!

To be fair, folks today worship “false gods”, too – we just give them nicknames like “Baltimore Ravens” or “LA Lakers”, or “the Kardashians”…