Judaism and Gender Identity

(27) And God created Adam in the divine image, in the image of God creating it — male and female creating them.

§ The Rabbis taught: Who is considered a saris hamah? Anyone who is twenty years old and has not yet grown two hairs. And even if he grows hairs afterward, he is still considered a saris hamah with regard to all his matters. His characteristics are as follows: Whoever does not have a beard, and his hair is lank, and his skin is smooth... Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: It is anyone whose voice is different, so that it is not evident whether it is a man or a woman.

And who is a ay'lonit? Anyone who is twenty years old and has not yet grown two hairs. Even if she grows hairs afterward, she is still considered a ay'lonit with regard to all her matters. And her characteristics are as follows: She is anyone who does not have breasts and experiences pain during intercourse. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: It is anyone whose lower abdomen is not formed like that of other women. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: It is anyone whose voice is deep, so that it is not evident from it whether she is a woman or a man.

It was stated that amora’im disagreed over the signs of a saris. Rav Huna said that one is not categorized as a saris unless all these signs are present; Rabbi Yoḥanan said: He is categorized as such even if only one of them is present. The Gemara comments: In a case when he has grown two hairs in his beard, everyone agrees that he is not considered a saris unless all the signs are present. When they disagree, it is with regard to a case when he has not grown two hairs.

(1) The Androgynos (a person with male and female organs) 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.

(2) In what ways is he like men? He causes impurity with white discharge, like men; He dresses like men; He can take a wife but not be taken as a wife, like men. He may not be secluded with women, like men. He is not maintained with the daughters, like men; He shall cut his hair like men; And he must perform all the commandments of the Torah, like men.

(3) And 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); And he does not share [in the inheritance] with the sons, like women; And he cannot eat most holy sacrifices, like women. And he is disqualified from being a witness, like women. If he had illicit intercourse, he is disqualified from eating terumah, like women.

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 from where you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from where you were dug” (Isaiah 51:1), and it is written in the next verse: “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you” (Isaiah 51:2), which indicates that sexual organs were fashioned for them, signified by the words hewn and dug, over the course of time.