Deuteronômio 22:5 Comentário: Rashi, Chizkuni, Ibn Ezra & Rashbam

לא יהיה כלי גבר על אשה THE APPAREL OF A MAN SHALL NOT BE ON A WOMAN — so that she look like a man, in order to consort with men, for this can only be for the purpose of adultery (unchastity) (cf. Sifrei Devarim 226:1; Nazir 59a).

לא יהיה כלי גבר על אשה, “a woman must not wear men’s clothing;” it is an act of disgrace and sexual provocation;”Having taken note of this law, Yael, the Kenite woman who killed Sisera, the general who had commanded the army of the Canaanite King Jabin of Chatzor, did not use weapons used by male soldiers, such as arrows or a sword when doing so, but took a tent pin. (Judges, 4,21) This paragraph has been written immediately after those dealing with women and warfare, in order to remind us that warfare is something reserved for men, not women. When men go out to war they are likely to encounter situations making promiscuity a great temptation. They are therefore warned not to add to such temptation by dressing up as women. (Ibn Ezra)

The passage dealing with the attire of a man is juxtaposed to the passages dealing with going out to war, because Woman was created to rear children, and if she were instead to go out among the men to war, she would eventually become involved in debauchery. For the same reason a man may not dress himself…, because otherwise a man who does not yet have a full beard could mix with women, and he could fornicate with them, without the matter becoming widely known. This passage shows us that the Israelite custom, like that of most cultures, was that men’s clothing was distinctive from women’s clothing — they were not the same. Some commentators understand this passage to be an allusion to unnatural sexual intercourse. Although there is no need for such an interpretation here, God surely detests anyone who alters God ’s design.

ולא ילבש גבר שמלת אשה NEITHER SHALL A MAN PUT ON A WOMAN’S GARMENT in order to go and stay unnoticed amongst women. Another explanation of the second part of the text is: it implies that a man should not remove the hair of the genitals and the hair beneath the arm-pit (Nazir 59a).

כי תועבת FOR [ALL THAT DO SO ARE] AN ABOMINATION [UNTO THE LORD THY GOD] — This implies that the Torah forbids only the wearing of a garb that leads to abomination (unchastity) (cf. Sifrei Devarim 226:1).