ויקרא כב,ה לֹא -יִהְיֶה כְלִי-גֶבֶר עַל -אִשָּׁה, וְלֹא -יִלְבַשׁ גֶבֶר שִמְלַת אִשָּׁה: כִי תוֹעֲבַת ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ, כָּׁל -עֹשֵׂה אֵׂלֶה. }פ{
22,5 A woman shall not wear that which is a man’s item, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whosoever doeth these things is an abomination to the L-RD your G-d. {P}
Commentators agree that the overall intention of this verse is to prohibit men and women from wearing items associated with the other sex. Nevertheless, due to the ambiguous nature of some of the language and the absence of any clear explanation for the prohibition, ancient, medieval, and contemporary translations and interpretations differ as to exactly what is being prohibited and why.
1. Apparel: כְלִי(keli) and שִ מְלָה(simlah)
What does כְלִי(keli, translated above as “item”), mentioned in the first part of the prohibition, mean in this context? Is it intended as the equivalent of שִמְלָה(simlah, translated above as “garment”) in the second part of the prohibition or does it refer to something else?
The noun שִמְלׇהdenotes a piece of cloth used as a cover and can refer to items that cover a person or inanimate objects, like a bed (see, e.g., Gen. 9:23; Deut. 22:17). It is also used in the plural as a general term for clothing, including men’s clothing (Gen. 37:34; Exod. 19:10; Josh. 7:6). In this case, since it is used with the verb לבשׁ, “to wear, put on,” the term שִמְלׇהrefers to a cloak, mantle, wrap, or other garments that a woman wear. And thus, the latter part of the verse is easy to understand: a man must not wear women’s clothing.
The former part of the verse is more difficult. In contrast to שִמְלׇה, the term כְלִיhas a wide range of meanings, including, but not limited to: various types of containers, baggage, tools, weapons, armor, furnishings and other household objects, apparel, jewelry, ornamental objects, and general personal property.
In fact, the plural of כְלִיin Rabbinic Hebrew can denote garments (e.g., m. Shabbat 15:3, Yoma 7:5) in addition to its other usages (vessels, tools, weapons, etc.). Nevertheless, such usage is much rarer in the Bible, in which only 2 other appearances of כְלִי(Lev 13:49 ff. and Num. 21:20) out of 320 occurrences can possibly be understood as “garment,” and even these may both refer to household objects made of cloth or leather rather than apparel. Given how infrequently כְלִיis used in the Bible to denote a garment, why would the authors choose to use this term, rather than a more common term for apparel such as שִמְלׇהor מְעִיל, and thereby avoid ambiguity?
Moreover, if in this context כְלִי were intended to be understood as a garment and thus the equivalent of שִמְלׇה, wouldn’t the Chumash use the verb לבשwith it? Instead, they employ the quite different and much broader phrasing עַל לֹא־יִהְיֶה(“there shall not be upon”) in the first part of the prohibition. Given this phrasing, it seems likely that a different meaning for כְלִיwas intended, and that כְלִי and שִמְלׇה are not meant to be synonymous.
2. Man: אִיש (ish) and גֶּבֶּר (gever)
Why is the term גֶבֶר(gever) used (twice), rather than אִישׁ(ish)? Is this choice of terminology significant for how the verse is understood?
The term used most frequently for “man” in the Hebrew Bible is אִישׁ. Additionally, the most common pairing when contrasting the sexes in biblical texts is אִישׁ(ish) and אִשָה(isha): “man” and “woman” or, depending on the context, “husband” and “wife” (see, e.g., Deut 22:13).
In fact, this is the only time the term גֶבֶרis used in Deuteronomy (in contrast to אִישׁ, which appears frequently), so the choice to use גֶבֶרinstead of אִישׁin this verse is probably deliberate and bears some significance. What, then, is the distinction between a גֶבֶרand an אִישׁ ?
