לא יהיה כלי גבר על האשה ולא ילבש גבר שמלת אשה כי תועבת ה ‘ כל עושה אלה
Nowadays, many people tend to dress up on Purim. Obviously, there is no Mitsva or even Minhag to do so. It is just a popular practice that was accepted in many Jewish communities (although many Hakhamim like the Shela haQadosh rejected it completely!), especially with children. However, we must know, and inform others who do not know, about the prohibition of cross-dressing, or the use of clothing or items designed for the opposite sex, which is an explicit prohibition of Tora, (Deuteronomy 22: 5): “A woman should not wear men’s clothing, nor should a man wear women’s clothes …”. When a man dresses (or disguises) “to look like a woman”, wearing a skirt or a wig, or wearing makeup, etc., or when a woman is dressed in men’s clothes to look like a man, they are transgressing this Biblical commandment. This prohibition also applies during Purim. Rabbi Obadia Yosef z “l was very strict on this point and clarified that cross-dressing is forbidden even when one disguises as the other gender “just for fun”.
