פירוש על כלאים 9:7

Introduction This mishnah teaches that there are certain items that are assumed to have mixtures of wool and linen and therefore they need to be checked before they can be worn.

The Birrus blanket or Brindisian blanket, or Dalmatian cloth, or felt shoes, may not be worn until one has examined them. Evidently, it was typical that these wool garments or shoes would be sewn using linen thread. Hence, before one wears one of these types of clothing, he must first check them to make sure they do not consist of kilayim.

Rabbi Yose says: ones that come from the coast or from lands beyond the sea, do not require examination, since the presumption with regard to them is [that they are sewn] with hemp. Rabbi Yose says that the above law does not apply to such objects if they come from the coast of Israel or from “the lands beyond the sea” a term which refers to the lands lying to the west of Israel (Greece, Rome etc.). In those lands, such items are sewn with hemp thread, to which the laws of kilayim do not apply, as we learned above in mishnah one. The suspicion is only with regard to such items that come from Israel, or from the east of Israel (Syria and Persia) or perhaps from the South (Egypt).

Felt-lined shoes are not subject to the laws of kilayim. There are two explanations for this clause. The first is that we are not concerned lest felt-lined shoes have linen mixed in with them. In other words, only if one knows that they have linen are these shoes prohibited. The second interpretation is that this shoe does have both wool and linen in it, but it doesn’t have a heel. Since it doesn’t have a heel it is not subject to the laws of kilayim.