Talmud Tuesday - Session 14

(27) And God created adam in God's image, in the image of God did God created it; male and female God created them.

(1) ... Said Rabbi Yirmiyah ben Elazar: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, God created adam as an androgynos, as it is said, “male and female God created them”. Said Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, God created adam double-faced and sawed adam and made two backs, a back here and a back there, as it is said, “Before and behind You formed me” [Ps 139:5]. They challenged him: but it is written: "And God took one of his ribs..." [Gen 2:21]. He said to them, ["mitzalosav" doesn't mean rib, it means] one of his sides, similar to that which is said, "and to the 'tzela' of the Mishkan," which is translated "the side of the Mishkan."

(1) An androgynos is in some ways like men, and in other ways like women. In other ways they are like men and women, and in others they are like neither men nor women.

(2) In what ways are they like men? They causes impurity with white discharge, like men; they dresses like men; they can take a wife but not be taken as a wife, like men. [When they is born] their mother counts the blood of purification, like men; They may not be secluded with women, like men. They is not maintained with the daughters, like men; They transgresses the law of: “You shall not round...” (Leviticus 19:2) and “You shall not defile for the dead,” (Leviticus 21:1) like men; And they must perform all the commandments of the Torah, like men.

(3) And in what ways are they like women?They causes impurity with red discharge, like women; And they must not be secluded with men, like women; And they doesn’t make their brother’s wife liable for yibbum (levirate marriage); And they does not share [in the inheritance] with the sons, like women; And they cannot eat most holy sacrifices, like women. At their birth their mother counts the blood of her impurity like [they do when they give birth to a] girl; And they are disqualified from being a witness, like women. If they had illicit intercourse, they are disqualified from eating terumah, like women.

(4) In what ways are they like both men and women? One who strikes them or curses them is liable, as in the case of men and women; One who unwittingly kills them must go into exile, and if on purpose, then [the slayer] receives the death penalty, as in the case of men and women. Their mother must [at their birth] bring an offering, as in the case of men and women. They may eat holy things that are eaten outside of the Temple; And they may inherit any inheritance, as in the case of men and women.

(5) And in what are they different from both men and women? One does not burn terumah if it came into contact with their discharge, Neither are they liable for entering the Temple while impure, unlike men or women. They must not be sold as a Hebrew slave, unlike men or women. They 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 androgynos is a unique creature, and the sages could not decide about them. But this is not so with a tumtum (one of doubtful), for sometimes they are a man and sometimes they are a woman.

(7) [If one says,] “Behold, I am a nazirite when I shall have a son,” and son is born to him, he becomes a nazirite. If the child is a daughter, or a tumtum, or an androgynos, he does not become a nazirite. If he said, “When I shall have a child,” then even if it is a daughter, or a tumtum, or an andryogynos, he becomes a nazirite.

(1) Thus said the LORD: 1 Observe what is right and do what is just; For soon My salvation shall come, And my deliverance be revealed. (2) Happy is the man who does this, The man who holds fast to it: Who keeps the sabbath and does not profane it, And stays his hand from doing any evil. (3) Let not the foreigner say, Who has attached himself to the LORD, “The LORD will keep me apart from His people”; And let not the eunuch say, “I am a withered tree.” (4) For thus said the LORD: “As for the sarisim who keep My sabbaths, Who have chosen what I desire And hold fast to My covenant— (5) I will give them, in My House And within My walls, A monument and a name Better than sons or daughters. I will give them an everlasting name Which shall not perish. (6) As for the foreigners Who attach themselves to the LORD, To minister to Him, And to love the name of the LORD, To be His servants— All who keep the sabbath and do not profane it, And who hold fast to My covenant— (7) I will bring them to My sacred mount And let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices Shall be welcome on My altar; For My House shall be called A house of prayer for all peoples.” (8) Thus declares the Lord GOD, Who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather still more to those already gathered.”