-Everyone shares their names and pronouns
What is the Talmud? - Rabbinic debates and commentaries on the Torah from which we derive Halakha, theology, ethics etc.
But we're not rabbis? - Like Talmudic rabbis and students have done for centuries, and like the approach for projects such as #QueerDafYomi we are studying and interpreting these texts according to experiences. The Talmud belongs to all of us
by Noam Sienna in A Rainbow Thread
In this except from Tractate Yevamot (from the Babylonian Talmud), the rabbis present one midrashic understanding of why Avraham and Sarah were childless for so long, as part of a larger discussion of the barrenness of the matriarchs and patriarchs. Rav Ammi suggests, drawing on a pair of verses from Isaish 51, that Avraham and Sarah were in fact tumtumim, and Rabbi Nachman further imagines that Sarah was an aylonit. The tumtum and the aylonit, like the androginos, are Talmudic categories of sex that have no exact equivalent in English. While the androginous has both male and female sexual characteristics, the tumtum is not clearly identifiable as either male or female. The aylonit is someone assigned female at birth, but who does not show signs of (female) sexual development, and who is unable to bear children. As in other midrashim, the rabbies here show their comfort in applying their observations on the variations in sex and gender to our biblical ancestors"
(pg 40-41)
רבי אמי אברהם ושרה טומטמין היו שנאמר (ישעיהו נא, א) הביטו אל צור חוצבתם ואל מקבת בור נוקרתם וכתיב (ישעיהו נא, ב) הביטו אל אברהם אביכם ואל שרה תחוללכם
Rabbi Ami taught: "Avraham and Sarah were tumtumin, as it is stated: “Look to the rock from where you were hewn, and to the hole from the pit from where you were dug out (Isaiah 51:1), and [following that] it is said, "Look to Avraham your father, and to Sarah that bore you" (Isaiah 51:2)
Rav Naḥman taught, in the name of Rabba bar Abbuha: "Our mother Sarah was an aylonit; as it is said: “And Sarah was barren; she had no child [vlad]” (Genesis 11:30). - she did not even have a womb [beit vlad]"
We are now going to read an explanation of terms used in classical Jewish texts to refer to gender. We aren't proposing that we revive these terms, or that they are more authentic than modern gender identities. In many ways these terms, with their focus on the body are difficult for us to accept toady but they are interesting to us because these terms indicate that even classical Judaism wasn't stifled by the gender binary
This source was put together by Rabbi Elliot Kukla who was the first openly transgender person to be ordained by the Reform Movement's Hebrew Union College. He administers TransTorah.org and works at the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center
Terms for Gender Diversity in Classical Jewish Texts by Rabbi Elliot Kukla
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.
http://transtorah.org/PDFs/Classical_Jewish_Terms_for_Gender_Diversity.pdf
-What did you struggle with in this text?
-What resonated with you?
-What can you take away from this reading?
If there is time you might want look at some of these sources as examples of how the tumtum and androginous are discussed
. רַבִּי מֵאִיר אוֹמֵר: אַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס בְּרִיָּה בִּפְנֵי עַצְמָהּ הוּא וְלֹא יָכְלוּ חֲכָמִים לְהַכְרִיעַ עָלָיו אִם הוּא אִישׁ אוֹ אִשָּׁה. אֲבָל טֻמְטוּם אֵינוֹ כֵּן, פְּעָמִים שֶׁהוּא אִישׁ פְּעָמִים שֶׁהוּא אִשָּׁה:
Rabbi Yose says: the androginous is a unique creature, and the sages could not decide about them. But this is not so with a tumtum, for sometimes he is a man and sometimes she is a woman.
GEMARA: The Sages taught the following baraita: All are obligated to sound the shofar: Priests, Levites, and Israelites; converts; freed slaves; a tumtum, an androginos, and a half-slave, half-freeman.
As it is taught in a baraita: With regard to a tumtum who betrothed a woman, the betrothal is considered a betrothal, due to uncertainty, as the tumtum might be a male; and similarly, if the tumtum was betrothed by a man, the betrothal is deemed a betrothal due to uncertainty, as the tumtum might be a female.