Brainstorm descriptions of the human body or references to the body that you have encountered in Jewish text, teaching, and experience.
- What stands out to you from that brainstorm?
- How might the ways we have encountered ideas of the human body in Judaism affect our relationship with Judaism? With our own body, or the bodies of others? With children entrusted to our care?
Created Human
(27) And God created the human in God's image, in the image of God, God created the human; male and female God created them.
(5) God called the light Day, and the darkness God called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.
How might Genesis 1:5 invite us to read Genesis 1:27?
Terms for Gender Diversity in Classical Jewish Texts
by Rabbi Elliot Kukla, 2006
Zachar: This term is derived from the word for a pointy sword and refers to a phallus. It is usually translated as “male” in English.
Nekevah: This term is derived from the word for a crevice and probably refers to a vaginal opening. It is usually translated as “female” in English.
Androgynos: A person who has both “male” and “female” sexual characteristics. 149 references in Mishna and Talmud (1st-8th Centuries CE); 350 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes (2nd -16th Centuries CE).
Tumtum: A person whose sexual characteristics are indeterminate or obscured. 181 references in Mishna and Talmud; 335 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes.
Ay’lonit: A person who is identified as “female” at birth but develops “male” characteristics at puberty and is infertile. 80 references in Mishna and Talmud; 40 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes.
Saris: A person who is identified as “male” at birth but develops “female” characteristics as puberty and/or is lacking a penis. A saris can be “naturally” a saris (saris hamah), or become one through human intervention (saris adam). 156 references in mishna and Talmud; 379 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes.
Having a Body
§ The Gemara cites a related baraita (a teaching outside the orders of the Mishnah): The Sages taught that thirteen matters of praise were stated with regard to a meal of bread eaten in the morning: It protects the diner from the heat, and from the cold, and from the winds, and from the harmful spirits; and it makes the simple wise, and one who consumes it will be victorious in judgment, he will merit to learn Torah and to teach it, and his statements are heard, and his study will remain in his possession.
(א) הוֹאִיל וֶהֱיוֹת הַגּוּף בָּרִיא וְשָׁלֵם מִדַּרְכֵי הַשֵּׁם הוּא. שֶׁהֲרֵי אִי אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיָּבִין אוֹ יֵדַע דָּבָר מִידִיעַת הַבּוֹרֵא וְהוּא חוֹלֶה. לְפִיכָךְ צָרִיךְ לְהַרְחִיק אָדָם עַצְמוֹ מִדְּבָרִים הַמְאַבְּדִין אֶת הַגּוּף. וּלְהַנְהִיג עַצְמוֹ בִּדְבָרִים הַמַּבְרִין וְהַמַּחֲלִימִים. וְאֵלּוּ הֵן: לְעוֹלָם לֹא יֹאכַל אָדָם אֶלָּא כְּשֶׁהוּא רָעֵב. וְלֹא יִשְׁתֶּה אֶלָּא כְּשֶׁהוּא צָמֵא. וְאַל יַשְׁהֵא נְקָבָיו אֲפִלּוּ רֶגַע אֶחָד. אֶלָּא כָּל זְמַן שֶׁצָּרִיךְ לְהַשְׁתִּין אוֹ לְהָסֵךְ אֶת רַגְלָיו יַעֲמֹד מִיָּד:
(1) Seeing that the maintenance of the body in a healthy and sound condition is a God-chosen way . . . it is impossible that one should understand or know any of the divine knowledge concerning the Creator when one is sick, it is necessary for a person to distance themself from things that destroy the body, and accustom themself in things that are healthful and life-imparting. These are: never shall a person partake food save when hungry, nor drink save when thirsty; they shall not defer elimination even one minute, but the moment they feel the need to evacuate urine or feces they must rise immediately.
The deep holy spirit of Judaism strives to unite the life of activity and the life of transcendence. This spirit is the soulful power that generates Jewish law and its minutiae. It provides a living kernel for Talmudic logic, expanding its borders in the this-worldly environs of Jewish law and Talmudic reasoning.
Orot Hatorah 8:3
Dr. Folk Schlessinger was Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook’s physician in his last days.
Close to the last Tisha B’Av of Rav Kook’s life, when he was very ill, he consulted Dr. Schlessinger about fasting on Tisha B’Av. Rav Kook told him, “My evil inclination is telling me to fast, while my good inclination is telling me not to fast.”
Malachim Kivnei Adam
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook
Asher Yatzar
(א) בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱלקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר יָצַר אֶת הָאָדָם בְּחָכְמָה וּבָרָא בו נְקָבִים נְקָבִים חֲלוּלִים חֲלוּלִים. גָּלוּי וְיָדוּעַ לִפְנֵי כִסֵּא כְבודֶךָ שֶׁאִם יִפָּתֵחַ אֶחָד מֵהֶם או יִסָּתֵם אֶחָד מֵהֶם אִי אֶפְשַׁר לְהִתְקַיֵּם וְלַעֲמוד לְפָנֶיךָ אֲפִילוּ שָׁעָה אֶחָת: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי רופֵא כָל בָּשר וּמַפְלִיא לַעֲשות:
(1) Blessed are You, God, our God, sovereign of the universe, who formed humans with wisdom and created within him openings openings and cavities cavities. It is obvious in the presence of your glorious throne that if one of them were ruptured, or if one of them were blocked, it would be impossible to exist and stand in your presence.
Blessed are You, God, who heals all flesh and performs wonders.
Add three new ideas or reminded ideas our study so far has added to your experience of ways people in our tradition have thought about the human body through a Jewish lens.
Adulting in Relationship with Children
(9) But take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, so that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes and so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live. And make them known to your children and to your children’s children: (10) The day you stood before Adonai your God at Horeb, when Adonai said to Me, “Gather the people to Me that I may let them hear My words, in order that they may learn to revere Me as long as they live on earth, and may so teach their children.”
L’dor va-dor na-geed gad’lekh-ha ul’netz-akh netz-akh-eem ke’dooshat’kha nak’deesh v’sheev-cha-kha El-o-hei-nu mee-pee-nu lo ya-moosh lay’o-lam va-ed.
To all generations we will declare Your greatness, and for all eternity proclaim Your holiness. Your praise, O God, shall never depart form our lips.
Our relationship with our own body and the way we understand our body and bodies within a Jewish context informs the ways we guide our children in their relationships with their bodies.
Choose which topic within a Jewish context most interests you to explore today with other parents and adults who are significant in the lives of children:
- Sexuality and Consent (sexual)
- Body Image
- Boundaries and Consent (non-sexual)
- Healthy Eating
In small groups, raise the questions you have related to the topic you chose and raising or guiding children. Please make a list of your group's questions, and then rank them in order or priority. What question is the most pressing for the group?
If you discover that your questions overlap a bit with another topic, that's perfectly okay.
What if our bodies really are the outermost expression of our souls? What if this piece of universe that we've been given to call home, this place where we experience love and joy and grief, really is holy? When someone dies, we accompany their body from death to the grave, honoring the finite for temporarily holding the infinite. What might it look like, feel like, and sound like to honor bodies that way in life? What might it look like, feel like, and sound like to reach out with the outermost expression of our own soul to touch the outermost expression of the soul of another? What might that change for us? What might that change for our children? What might that change for the world?