(27) And God created man in God's image, in the image of God, God created him; male and female God created them.
(א) ויאמר אלקים נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו. רבי יוחנן פתח: (תהלים קלט): אחור וקדם צרתני וגו' אמר רבי יוחנן: אם זכה אדם, אוכל שני עולמות, שנאמר: אחור וקדם צרתני, ואם לאו הוא בא ליתן דין וחשבון, שנאמר (שם): ותשת עלי כפכה. אמר רבי ירמיה בן אלעזר: בשעה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא את אדם הראשון, אנדרוגינוס בראו, הדא הוא דכתיב: זכר ונקבה בראם. אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמן: בשעה שברא הקב"ה את אדם הראשון, דיו פרצופים בראו ונסרו ועשאו גביים, גב לכאן וגב לכאן. איתיבון ליה, והכתיב: ויקח אחת מצלעותיו?! אמר להון: מתרין סטרוהי, היך מה דאת אמר: (שמות כו): ולצלע המשכן, דמתרגמינן ולסטר משכנא וגו'.
(1) ... Said R’ Yirmiyah ben Elazar: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created him [as] an androgyne/androginos, as it is said, “male and female He created them”. Said R’ Shmuel bar Nachmani: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created [for] him a double-face/di-prosopon/ du-par’tsufin, and sawed him and made him backs, a back here and a back [t]here, as it is said, “Back/achor and before/qedem You formed me” [Ps 139:5]. They objected to him: But it says, “He took one of his ribs/ts’la`ot . . . ” [Gn 2:21]! He said to them: [It means] “[one] of his sides/sit’rohi”, just as you would say, “And for the side/tsela` of the Tabernacle/ mishkan” [Ex 26:20], which they translate [in Aramaic] “for the side/seter”.
Adroginos - a hermaphrodite with male and female organs
Other human categories:
Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics:
Aylonit - *A woman who is congenitally barren *unable to give birth due to a defect in her reproductive system *Term, according to Talmud, derives from 'ayil zachar' male ram (unable to give birth or because she has the nature of a male). (p. 90)
Tumtum - someone with hidden or underdeveloped genitalia
Saris - feminine man (incapable of reproducing)
(א) אדדוגינוס יש בו דרכים שוה לאנשים ויש בו דרכים שוה לנשים ויש בו דרכים שוה לאנשים ונשים ויש בו דרכים אינו שוה לא לאנישם ולא לנשים:
(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.
Dr. David Teutsch:
"Understanding Transgender Issues in Jewish Ethics"
"While the talmudic rabbis did not now about chromosomes or hormones, they certainly understood that sex and gender are independent variables, and they made it licit for people to be true to themselves in regard to gender expression."
(ה) לא יהיה כלי גבר על אשה. שתהא דומה לאיש כדי שתלך בין האנשים, שאין זו אלא לשם ניאוף:
(5) לא יהיה כלי גבר על אשה THE APPAREL OF A MAN SHALL NOT BE ON A WOMAN — so that she look like a man, in order to go out amongst the people, for this can only be for the purpose of adultery (unchastity) (cf. Siphre; Nazir 59a).
Rabbi Chaim Cohen: "Dose of Halacha"
Friday, 22 February 2013
Let’s Dress Up
Transgender Terminology: National Center for Transgender Equality
Transgender: A term for people whose gender identity, expression or behavior is different from those typically associated with their assigned sex at birth. Transgender is a broad term and is good for non-transgender people to use.
Transgender Man: A term for a transgender individual who currently identifies as a man.
Transgender Woman: A term for a transgender individual who currently identifies as a woman.
Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz - Committee On Jewish Law and Standards, 2003
"Status of Transexuals" (Yore De'ah 336)
Conclusions
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Only those who have undergone full SRS (including phallosplasty/vaginoplasty) are to be consid- ered as having changed their sex status, and recognized so by Jewish Law
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A person who has undergone partial SRS is not deemed to have changed their sex status.
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A brit or hatafat dam brit is not required for one who has had a phalloplasty.
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A get is not necessary if one spouse undergoes SRS since the qiddushin are automatically annulled.
However in the case of an MTF person a get should be given before the SRS is completed.
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Recognition by the civil authorities of the new sex status is required in order to marry a person who has undergone SRS. This will prevent us from performing same sex marriages according to civil
law.
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A new name should be given to the person with a new sexual status by means of a me shebarach.
"It would seem that the people undergoing the long process of SRS as stated in the Standards Of Care,46 are doing so because they are suffering from gender dysphoria, and SRS is treating the patient with gender dysphoria. Their pain and anguish is great and there is no doubt that they are suffering. This has led them to undergo the long and difficult procedures outlined in the standards of care. For them SRS is being done for the patient’s betterment and health, and therefore would be permissible, just as it would be permissible to help treat a physical ailment.47 We have permitted other procedures for mental ailments and have said that the mental illness is to be treated in the same way as a physical one.48 Therefore SRS may be permissible and the prohibition against castration can be overridden in this case.
The same would apply to the question of causing harm to oneself by undergoing an operation.
Hormonal treatment would also be permitted and would not transgress the prohibition of wearing the garments of the other sex or changing that which was created,49 since it is a case of for the good of the patient, and ,50 there are no restrictions on what type of medicine may be used to heal a person.