3,099. Working Two Different Species Together

Hilchos Kilayim 9:7

One who works two different species of domesticated or wild animals together when one is kosher and the other is not is liable to the penalty of lashes in any location as per Deuteronomy 22:10, “Do not plow with an ox and a donkey together.” Plowing, planting, pulling a wagon or a rock, or leading these animals together – even when done by voice (rather than action) – renders one liable to lashes, as per the word “together.” However, one who yokes them together is exempt until he pulls or leads them.

Hilchos Kilayim 9:8

The Biblical prohibition is not limited to an ox and a donkey; it applies to all combinations of species when one is kosher and the other is not. This is true of one domesticated animal with another, such as a pig with a sheep, or one wild animal with another, such as a wild deer with an elephant, or a wild animal with a domesticated animal, such as a dog with a goat, a deer with a pig, etc. In all such cases, one is liable to the penalty of lashes under Biblical law because a wild animal (chayah) is included in the general category of “animal” (beheima), as was discussed in Hilchos Maachalos Assuros. Under rabbinic law, whenever one may not mate two species, it is likewise prohibited to plow, pull or lead them together. If one worked, pulled or led two different species together, he is liable to stripes for acting rebelliously. One may not lead a land animal together with a sea creature, such as a goat with a cod, though if one did so, he is exempt.