A woman must not put on man’s apparel, nor shall a man wear woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord your God. – Deuteronomy 22:5
Historically, this commandment has mostly been used to reinforce the status quo around gender. It guards against the danger that women will cross-dress and usurp men’s power, or that men will cross-dress as a way to trespass in the harem. In other words, it safeguards patriarchal inheritance rights.
Fast-forward to the gender anxieties of the 20th century, when some of us have been very worried that women were trying to “wear the pants” or that men were “being castrated” by women. Back in the 1960’s I remember a lot of fuss about women and slacks; this verse was always a popular proof-text. Today it is handy for those who wish to buttress transphobic feelings with Biblical texts.
In fact, Jewish tradition has not always seen gender in a binary way. The sages of the Talmud recognized and discussed six genders:
- zachar – male
- nekevah – female
- androgynos – one having both male and female characteristics
- tumtum – one whose gender characteristics are unclear or unformed
- ay’lonit – one who is identified as female at birth but develops male characteristics and is infertile
- saris – one who is identified as male at birth but develops female characteristics and/or is lacking male genitalia
Notice that some of these categories are mutable and change over the course of a lifetime.
Some readers may think that this is a wild Reform reading of the texts. (I am certainly a Reform rabbi!) If you are interested in following up, I recommend Terms for Jewish Diversity from Classical Jewish Texts by Rabbi Elliot Kukla. He gives citations and a count of the time these terms appear in the texts. The Religious Action Center offers a readable article on the subject, Gender Diversity in Jewish Tradition.
So now, in the present day, what might we do with the commandment that seems to say “no crossdressing?”
What if we were to make a new interpretation of this verse? Try this:
Do not disguise yourself as something that you are not, unless it is necessary for the preservation of life. Do not oppress someone on account of gender, because we are all made in the image and likeness of the Holy One.
What do you think?