Over a dozen rabbis called Thursday for a religious school in central Israel to force an 8-year-old transgender student into a female-only classroom, defying the wishes of both the boy’s parents and the Education Ministry. The child, who is in third grade at a national-religious school in the central city of Givat Shmuel, was born a female but today identifies as male. Religious schools separate classes by gender starting in fourth grade and both the school and Education Ministry have supported him being placed in class with other boys next year. But in a letter addressed to the Education Ministry body that administers national religious schools, 17 rabbis, including several leading figures from the national-religious community, argued that “fantasies do not change reality.”