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The Chief Rabbinate of Israel turned to the Sprint Company to remove slacks being sold with a label “free of shatnez” when in fact the pants contain shatnez. The tag on the pants says 100% wool. The company agreed to remove the pants and also to conduct a sample check of other products it carries marked “free of shatnez” to make sure there are no other such cases chas v’sholom.

The story begins with a person who purchased a pair of the pants but nevertheless gave them into Har Nof’s Rabbi Yaakov Gurwitz to check for shatnez because the label did not bear the name of a familiar shatnez checking agency.

After Rabbi Gurwitz detected shatnez, he notified his contacts in the Chief Rabbinate and the Kashrus Enforcement Unit became involved since the garment was marked “free of shatnez”.

The Chief Rabbinate remind consumers that even if a garment displays a label that it is free of shatnez, one must ascertain if the label bears the name and logo of a reputable shatnez testing agency.

One may reach Rabbi Yaakov Gurwitz for shatnez inquiries at [email protected]

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)