The Bible has nothing against polycotton T-shirts. Neither does it condemn lycra-Spandex combinations. But it does forbid the wearing of wool and linen jackets.

When I first started my year, I made a list of the Top Five Most Perplexing Rules in the Bible. One of them: The ban on wearing clothes made of mixed fibers. (Deuteronomy 22:11).It’s such an odd proscription, I figured there was zero chance anyone else in America was trying to follow it.

Of course, I was flat wrong.

My friend Eddy Portnoy – who teaches history at the Jewish Theological Seminary -- told me shatnez testers. Shatnez, he informed me, is the Hebrew word for mixed fibers. Specifically, wool and linen. That’s the forbidden combination, according to the Hebrew.

A tester will come to your home and inspect your shirts, pants, sweaters and suits to make sure you have no hidden mixed fibers.

I had my wardrobe tested by a shatnez expert. And he found that my wedding suit was, in fact, shatnez. I had to mothball it for the year.

Now it’s easy to chuckle at shatnez. And I did. But it also provides a fascinating entry point into a profound question: Should we ever follow completely bizarre and inexplicable traditions just because they have been followed for thousands of years? I think Zero Mostel sang a song about it in Fiddler on the Roof. Me? I don’t have no easy answers.