Why is cross-dressing for both males and females bad enough to merit its own Torah law, tucked between the regulations for lost and found goods, safe housing laws, a ban on mixing plants and fabrics, and why virginity is a violent virtue - all in a single chapter?
The verse is odd, with many interpretations over the ages - a wide range of reads that interpret the problem as a threat of idolatry, the temptation of adultery, or just general homo-trans-phobic approaches, in line with the patriarchal reality within which these well documented cultural customs were challenged:
לֹא־יִהְיֶ֤ה כְלִי־גֶ֙בֶר֙ עַל־אִשָּׁ֔ה וְלֹא־יִלְבַּ֥שׁ גֶּ֖בֶר שִׂמְלַ֣ת אִשָּׁ֑ה כִּ֧י תוֹעֲבַ֛ת יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ כׇּל־עֹ֥שֵׂה אֵֽלֶּה׃
“A woman should not put on the apparel of a man; nor should a man wear the clothing of a woman—for whoever does these things—it is an abomination to your God.” Dv 22: 5
The text seems clear enough, but as Rabbi Elliot Kukla and Rabbi Reuben Zellman suggest in their illuminating and radically Queer reading of this problematic text,it has never been understood literally by most traditional readings. Nor should it now. Their original contemporary response was published as part of Keshet’s TransTexts: Exploring what traditional Jewish texts have to say about transgender and gender nonconforming experiences and gender in general.
“According to the classical scholars of our tradition, wearing clothes of “the wrong gender” is proscribed only when it is for the express purpose of causing harm to our relationship with our loved ones or with God.
..The prohibition is very specific: we must not misrepresent our true gender in order to cause harm...So, what does this verse mean for contemporary transgender and gender queer lives?
..In our society the penalty for expressing the fullness of a gender variant identity is often severe and can include verbal, sexual and physical abuse, employment discrimination, an inability to access education and health care, and sometimes, murder.
..Gender rigidity does not just impact transgender and gender queer people. It also harms the eight year-old boy who was suspended from school for wearing his ballet tutu to class in upstate New York, the flight attendant in Atlanta who is currently suing her employer for firing her because of her refusal to wear make-up, and the butch lesbian who was shouted at and harassed in a “women’s” restroom in a synagogue in Los Angeles. Much of this mistreatment comes from those who insist that wearing the clothes of the “other gender” is wrong “because it says so in the Bible.”
..Classical Jewish scholars do not accept such a justification for narrow-mindedness. Neither should we. Rather, we can flip mainstream understandings of our verse on their head and understand it as a positive mitzvah: a sacred obligation to present the fullness of our gender as authentically as possible. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to fulfill this mitzvah without endangering their life or livelihood, and the protection of human life always comes first in Judaism, but the Torah wants us be able to true to our selves...
Our verse on drag falls within a section in the Torah that is largely concerned with the minute details of preventing harm. The verse is nestled amongst mitzvot that guide us towards exquisite levels of empathy and gentleness towards all of creation.
..Jewish tradition asks us to safeguard each unique being created in the image of God by preventing harm. When we cover up our true souls and muffle our divine reflection under clothes that feel “wrong”, we are harming God’s creation.”
We are lucky to be living at a era when much more mix and match is possible, hybrids and fusions, bridges and fluid forms of identity that challenge the familiar binary world-views at the core of so much in our lives. Whatever was once feared to death we dare to embrace today - for life. Loud and proud - we get to talk back to this text, heads high, with respect, and much more empath and curiosity, beyond binaries and with open dignity, more joy, way less harm, and definitely way more exciting style options.
Good reminder to begin a better, wiser, kinder year.
Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections: Join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible, with daily reflections, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. January 2022-July 2025
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I think one of the aspects of many indigenous cultures---and I would guess also in the lands where the Israelites took occupancy---was the figure of the trickster: one of the drammatis personnae in the shamanic troupe. Cross dressing is really a subset of those licenses that belong to cultures in which folly is an important leven to law. And clearly Purim is our gesture towards that license.
This is a terrific post. The confusion, craziness and loss of dignity and life attributed to following the words of this text are insidious. Things are changing on the high school and college campuses where I work. Does lead to terrific fashion statements. This is so personal to me. My son Raphael, in middle school and high school, had gorgeous long dark hair with silky auburn highlights. He wore it in a long ponytail. The grief it caused him and myself and school officials ( some pro and supportive and some “concerned” for him) was endless. The bullying ended when we enrolled him in a Quaker school. Now he is middle aged and bald… so great he had that brief time of crowning hair glory.
And that was just a simple hair style choice.