Beyond the Male & Female Binary

(27) And God created man in God's image, in the image of God, God created him; male and female He created them.

(27) And God created the adam in God's own image, in the image of God, God created him; male through female God created them.

(2) male and female God created them. And when they were created, God blessed them and called them adam.—

Our Rabbis taught: Who is a saris chamah? Any person who is twenty years of age and has not produced two hairs. And even if he produced them afterwards he is deemed to be a saris in all respects. And these are his characteristics: he has no beard, his hair is lank, and his skin is smooth.

... R. Simeon b. Eleazar said: he whose voice is abnormal so that one cannot distinguish whether it is that of a man or of a woman.

What woman is deemed aylonit? Any woman who is twenty years of age and has not produced two hairs. And even if she produces them afterward she is deemed aylonit in all respects. And these are her characteristics: she has no breasts and suffers pain during copulation. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: one who has no mons veneris like other women. R. Simeon b. Eleazar said: one whose voice is deep so that one cannot distinguish whether it is that of a man or of a woman.

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: For what reason were our forefathers initially infertile? Because the Holy One, Blessed be He, desires the prayers of the righteous... 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

(1) An Androginus (a hermaphrodite, who has both male and female reproductive organs) 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 is s/he similar to men? Like a man, s/he is considered unclean through secretions; is required to perform yibbum (levirate marriage) like a man; dresses and cuts hair like a man; marries others and is not married off, like a man; and is obliged to perform all the commandments in the Torah, like a man.

(3) In what ways is he like women? He causes impurity with red discharge like women; and he must not be secluded with men, like women; and he doesn't make his brother's wife liable for yibbum (levirate marriage), like women; and he does not share [in the inheritance] with the sons, like women; and he cannot eat most holy sacrifices, like women. At his birth his mother counts the blood of her impurity like [they do when they give birth to a] girl; and he is disqualified from being a witness, like women. If he had illicit intercourse, he is disqualified from eating terumah, like women.