Q&A: The Prohibition of Cross-Dressing in a Play or Film
The Prohibition of Cross-Dressing in a Play or Film
Question
Have a good week, Rabbi,
Is there a prohibition of cross-dressing in the context of a play or film in which the actor/actress has to wear clothes of the opposite sex?
Best regards,
Answer
No. This is not a normal manner of dress, but merely acting. The halakhic decisors wrote similarly regarding a man dressing up as a woman on Purim. From the standpoint of the reasons for the prohibition as well (sexual impropriety or idolatry), they do not apply here. And if you say that we do not derive law from the reason for a verse, one can say that this is a defining parameter and not a reason (as usual). In any case, it seems obvious to me that it is permitted.
Discussion on Answer
Rabbi Shilat cites in the name of Rabbi Gershon Nadel dwelling in the sukkah as an example: “You shall dwell” means that what is required of us is to live in the sukkah as one lives at home (with all the implications of exemption for one who is distressed, casual eating, and so on). But that is not the reason for the commandment, only its defining parameter. The reason for the commandment is to remember that the Holy One, blessed be He, settled the children of Israel in sukkot.
Of course, in many cases the line is thin, but as is known, in a place where the reason is clear, the Rosh wrote that we do derive law from the reason for the verse (there the defining parameter and the reason are identical). Beyond that, Maimonides places these laws in the laws of idolatry, and that has implications (that this is considered among its ancillary prohibitions). That is, he understood this to be the defining parameter of the prohibition and not (only) its reason.
The Rabbi has a good distinction between “the reason for the verse” and “a defining parameter”!