Gender Fluidity in the Jewish Tradition

(1) God said: Let us make Adam in our image, in our shape: R' Yirmiyah ben Elazar said, when the Eternal created Adam initially, he was created as both genders; thus is it written, "male and female did God create them." R' Shmuel bar Nachman said, when the Eternal created Adam initially, God created him with two faces, one on each side, and [when God made Chavah,] God split him along the middle, forming two backs. They challenged him: but it is written, "And God took one of his ribs!" He said to them, ["mitzalosav" doesn't mean rib, it means] one of his sides, similar to that which is said, "and to the 'tzela' of the Tent," which is translated "the side of the Tent."

(1) An androginus is similar to men in some ways and to women in other ways, in some ways to both and in some ways to neither.

(2) In what ways are they similar to men? Like men, they are considered unclean through semen; required to perform yibum (to marry the widow of a childless brother) like men; dress and cut their hair like men; marry others and are not married off like men; and are obliged to perform all the commandments in the Torah like men.

(3) How are they similar to women? They impart ritual impurity through a red discharge like women, may not be secluded with men like women, if a brother dies childless, they do not marry the widow, they do not receive a portion of an inheritance, and they do not eat the sacrifices of the highest degree of sanctity (in the case of a kohein). After giving birth, their mother counts the number of unclean days that one does for a female. They may not serve as witnesses, and if they have a disqualifying sexual relationship, they may no longer eat terumah.

(4) How are they like both men and women? A person is liable for striking or cursing them. If they are killed, the accidental manslaughterer is exiled and the intentional murderer is executed. After giving birth, their mother brings a sacrifice, they may eat sanctified things that can be eaten outside of Jerusalem, and they inherit as a sole heir.

(5) How are they like neither men nor women? Terumah is not burned from impurity because of their discharge, nor does their discharge make them liable if they should enter the Temple. They cannot be indentured as a Hebrew servant and they cannot be valued like a man or a woman. If a person says, “I am a nazir," as they are neither a man nor a woman," they are not a nazir. Rabbi Yosi says an androginus is a unique creation, but the Sages say they are either a man or a woman but just don’t know which. A tumtum is not this way – some are men and some are women.

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: For what reason were our ancestors initially infertile? ... Rabbi Ami said: Abraham and Sarah were originally tumtumin, people whose sexual organs are concealed and not functional, as it is stated: “Look to the rock from where you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from where you were dug” (Isaiah 51:1), and it is written in the next verse: “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you” (Isaiah 51:2), which indicates that sexual organs were fashioned for them, signified by the words hewn and dug, over the course of time.

(12) Did I conceive all this people, did I bear them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them at your breast as a nurse carries an infant,’ to the land that You have promised on oath to their ancestors?

We learned in a mishna: One whose wife was pregnant and he said: May it be God’s will that my wife will give birth to a male child, it is a vain prayer. Is a prayer in that case ineffective? Rav Yosef raises an objection: It is stated: “And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dina” (Genesis 30:21). What is meant by the addition of the word: Afterwards? Rav said: After Leah passed judgment on herself and said: Twelve tribes are destined to descend from Jacob, six came from me and four from the maidservants, that is ten, and if this fetus is male, my sister Rachel will not even be the equivalent of one the maidservants; immediately the fetus was transformed into a daughter, as it is stated: And she called her name Dina; meaning she named her after her judgment [din]. The Gemara rejects this concerning prayer: One does not mention miraculous acts to teach general conduct.

(12) A androginus may not be alone with women, but if they do seclude, there is no punishment [lit. lashes] because they have doubtful status [and there may not have been a transgression]. A man is permitted to be alone with an androginus or tumtum.