My goal with this source sheet was not to debate the existence of Trans people or gender variance. We exist, that is simply factual.
A topic much more interesting to me is the Divinity within gender variance and Trans people. In what ways do Trans people reflect the Divine? How can we reimagine/reinterpret previously weaponized Torah to instead uplift, protect, and welcome Transgender/Gender Variant Jews?
All of these questions were ones I wrestled with in the creation of this source sheet. Hopefully, you'll emerge with questions of your own; either way, thank you for joining me in this work.
(כז) וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃
(27) And God created humankind in the divine image, creating it in the image of God— creating them male and female.
"The Midrash, classical Jewish exegesis, adds that the [first human] being formed in G-d's likeness, was an androgynous, an inter-sexed, person . . . Hence, our tradition teaches that all bodies and genders are created in G-d's image, whether we identify as men, women, inter-sex, or something else." (Rabbi Elliot Kukla, Reform Devises Sex-Change Blessings)
אמר רבי אמי אברהם ושרה טומטמין היו
Rabbi Ami said: Abraham and Sarah were originally tumtums
(א) אַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס יֵשׁ בּוֹ דְּרָכִים שָׁוֶה לַאֲנָשִׁים, וְיֵשׁ בּוֹ דְּרָכִים שָׁוֶה לַנָּשִׁים, וְיֵשׁ בּוֹ דְּרָכִים שָׁוֶה לַאֲנָשִׁים וְנָשִׁים, וְיֵשׁ בּוֹ דְּרָכִים אֵינוֹ שָׁוֶה לֹא לַאֲנָשִׁים וְלֹא לַנָּשִׁים:
(1) The androgynus is in some ways like men, and in other ways like women. In other ways he is like men and women, and in others he is like neither men nor women.
We see here:
- The recognition of (at least two) genders outside of the Male/Female binary: tumtum and androgynus.
- Androgynus are like men and women
- But they are also - in other ways - completely unlike men or women
Why is this notable? Well, the gendered landscape the Bikkurim outlines for the androgynus defies easy definition. All at the same time, androgynus are like men in some ways, like women in other, like both at the same time, and unlike each in completely different ways. The act of refusing even the simple, yet binary categorization of both and neither reinforces the nature of androgynus people as outside of that binary.
כֵּיצַד שָׁוֶה לַאֲנָשִׁים וְלַנָּשִׁים: חַיָּבִים עַל מַכָּתוֹ וְעַל קִלְלָתוֹ כַּאֲנָשִׁים וְכַנָּשִׁים, וְהַהוֹרְגוֹ שׁוֹגֵג גּוֹלֶה וּמֵזִיד נֶהֱרַג כַּאֲנָשִׁים וְנָשִׁים, וְיוֹשֶׁבֶת עָלָיו דָּם טָמֵא וְדָם טָהוֹר כַּאֲנָשִׁים וְכַנָּשִׁים, וְחוֹלֵק בְּקָדְשֵׁי קֳדָשִׁים כַּאֲנָשִׁים וְכַנָּשִׁים, וְנוֹחֵל לְכָל הַנְּחָלוֹת כַּאֲנָשִׁים וְכַנָּשִׁים, וְאִם אָמַר "הֲרֵינִי נָזִיר שֶׁזֶּה אִישׁ וְאִשָּׁה" הֲרֵי זֶה נָזִיר:
In what ways is he like both men and women? One who strikes him or curses him is liable, as in the case of men and women; one who unwittingly kills him must go into exile, and if on purpose, then [the slayer] receives the death penalty, as is the case of men and women. His mother must [at his birth] bring an offering, as in the case of men and women. He may eat holy things that are eaten outside of the Temple; and he many inherit any inheritance, as in the case of men and women. And if he said, "I will be a nazirite if he is a man and a woman", he is a nazirite.
(ה) כֵּיצַד אֵינוֹ שָׁוֶה לֹא לַאֲנָשִׁים וְלֹא לַנָּשִׁים: אֵין חַיָּבִים לֹא עַל מַכָּתוֹ וְלֹא עַל קִלְלָתוֹ לֹא כַּאֲנָשִׁים וְלֹא כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ נֶעֱרָךְ לֹא כַּאֲנָשִׁים וְלֹא כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאִם אָמַר "הֲרֵינִי נָזִיר שֶׁזֶּה לֹא אִישׁ וְלֹא אִשָּׁה" אֵינוֹ נָזִיר. 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:
(5) And in what is he different from both men and women? One does not burn terumah if it came into contact with his discharge, Neither is he liable for entering the temple while impure, unlike men or women. He must not be sold as a Hebrew slave, unlike men or women. He cannot be evaluated, unlike men or women. If one says: “I will be a nazirite, if he is neither a man nor a woman,” then he becomes a nazirite. Rabbi Yose says: the hermaphrodite is a unique creature, and the sages could not decide about him. But this is not so with a tumtum (one of doubtful), for sometimes he is a man and sometimes he is a woman.
Bikkurim 4:4-5 are - perhaps to some - surprisingly affirming. Bikkurim 4:4 adamantly affirms the innate humanity of androgynus (and by proxy - all gender variant people) and Bikkurim 4:5 insists on the gender of androgynus as real - so real that if one were to bet against them - they would lose.
ספר רזין דאורייתא, בשם הרבי ר' מיכל מזלאטשוב
אולם הכוונה, דנודע אשר יצחק נולד בנשמת נוקבא, וכמו שכתב בעל אור החיים הק', ועל ידי העקדה היה לו נשמת דכר להשפיע..... רק זאת נודע סדר הגלגולים. ולפעמים נקבה תסובב גבר כי בסבת הגלגול נשמת נקבה תבוא בזכר, כאשר י'תרעם ה'גלגל ו'יתרעש ה'חוזר לבוא בגלגול שני ושלישי. ואם נקבה אשר תסובב בגבר, ...
Sefer Razin D'Oraita, Rabbi Yechiel Michael from Zloczow (1731-1786)
It is known that when Issac was born, he was born with the soul of a female, as it is written in Or Hachaim, and through the akeidah (binding of Issac) he got a male soul that can influence (meaning, can impregnate). ... But, this is known according to the Sod (Secret/Mysticism) of reincarnation - that at times, a female would be in a male body, because in the reasons of gilgal (reincarnation) the soul of a female would come to be in a male. ...
Translation by Abby Stein
לֹא־יִהְיֶ֤ה כְלִי־גֶ֙בֶר֙ עַל־אִשָּׁ֔ה וְלֹא־יִלְבַּ֥שׁ גֶּ֖בֶר שִׂמְלַ֣ת אִשָּׁ֑ה כִּ֧י תוֹעֲבַ֛ת יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ כׇּל־עֹ֥שֵׂה אֵֽלֶּה׃ {פ}
A woman must not put on man’s apparel, nor shall a man wear woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is abhorrent to your God יהוה.
If you're anything like me, Deuteronomy 22:5 has probably been in your metaphorical Burn Book for ages. After all, its message seems terribly intolerant (and has been used as ammunition against gender-variant people for ages).
In less Trans-affirming interpretations, a biological-essentialist perspective is taken: where Man = Male and Woman = Female. With this perspective, the word "man" would be applied to Trans Women thus making the "crossdressing"/gender variance itself "abhorrent" to G-d.
However, I'm going to encourage a radical reinterpretation with a simple frameshift:
Trans women are women.
This is true, right? So, when we reread Deuteronomy 22:5 knowing that Trans women are women, an alternative understanding becomes apparent. Of course, a Trans woman having to wear men's clothing would be abhorrent. Why? Because she is not a man and to demand/force such an act would be unimaginably cruel to her.
"I realized that all forms of religion are masks that the divine wears to communicate with us. Behind all religions there’s a reality, and this reality wears whatever clothes it needs to speak to a particular people."
- Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
, The December Project: An Extraordinary Rabbi and a Skeptical Seeker Confront Life’s Greatest Mystery
Just as there is a source of Truth/Divine in all religions - which are themselves a reflection of the Divine - humans have this source of Truth as well. All people, in our complexities are reflections of the Divine in our every iteration, and we all contain an essence of that Truth.
I will leave you with the words of Joy Ladin, David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Yeshiva University (the first openly Transgender professor at an Orthodox University):
"Jewish tradition describes the Torah as a tree of life - not as a tree of some lives, or as a tree of certain aspects of our lives, or as a tree of lives that fit binary gender categories, but as a tree of life itself, supporting, connecting, and sustaining the lives of all who cling to it...In this sense, the idea that the Torah speaks to transgender lives is deeply traditional. I spent most of my life believing that I would be exiled from Jewish community - from every community - if I revealed my trans identity, but from my earliest childhood, that very community taught me that the Torah is a tree of life that includes my life, a leaf among the leaves."
- Joy Ladin,
The Soul of the Stranger