Q&A: Regarding the prohibition of “a man shall not wear”
Regarding the prohibition of “a man shall not wear”
Question
With God’s help,
Hello, honorable Rabbi,
A question regarding the prohibition of “a man shall not wear”: according to the norms of which public should this be determined? Religious? Secular? Non-Jewish? And from the standpoint of Jewish law, is there one accepted norm, or was this commandment given in varying measures and dependent on local custom?
I would be glad if the Rabbi would cite a source or proof for his words (and if it is based on reasoning, then at least define that reasoning clearly).
And one more thing on this matter: some have written (I don’t remember who at the moment) that the prohibition comes to block mixing between women and men. Does that rationale define the prohibition, or does it belong to the realm of the “reason for the verse,” which does not affect the Jewish law?
Answer
See Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah, sec. 156, para. 5, where it says that the matter depends on local custom (the question whether a garment is considered women’s clothing or not usually does not depend on secular, non-Jewish, or religious practice). I have no proofs, and no proofs are needed. And even if you bring proofs, they are worth roughly the same as my reasoning. These are simply the reasonings of halakhic decisors, nothing more.
Regarding preventing mixing, that is of course the reason for the verse. But as is well known, in many cases the reason for the verse is used to define the prohibition.