The Channel 2 network recently received an unusual complaint: A viewer of the reality show "Big Brother" claimed that her feelings were hurt when a participant was shown putting on tefillin, small boxes containing Torah verses worn by observant Jews during weekday prayer. For the viewer, the problem was that this participant, Michael Elroy, is transgender — a man who was born a woman and changed his gender. Even though Judaism does not forbid women from putting on tefillin, most of the Orthodox public holds that this deed is reserved for men only. And so, according to the complainant, Channel 2 “enabled a woman to ridicule Jewish values and the holy books.”

The station's franchisee, Keshet, which broadcasts the program, fully backed Elroy. “He was born female but in the course of his life made a sex change and today he’s a man,” the company stated to the network in response to the complaint. “Therefore, how he relates to himself is how we relate to him, and how we expect society to relate to him.”

Openness and liberalism allowed the media to cast a transgender person on one of the most watched television shows in Israel and to bravely stand behind the decision (even if it might also involve a measure of commercial cynicism). On the other hand, for some viewers, a line was crossed.

“A sex change has no legal validity,” determined a rabbi on the Yeshiva website in response to a commenter who wondered about Judaism’s view of transgender people.