With many thanks to Isaac Treuherz for all his help with sources and editing
... אָמַר רַבִּי יִרְמְיָה בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, אַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס בְּרָאוֹ, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בְּרָאָם. ...
... Said R’ Yirmiyah ben Elazar: When the Holy Blessed One created the first human, God created them [as] an androgynus, as it is said, “created them male and female.” (Genesis 1:27) ...
אמר 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 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.
The Midrash, classical Jewish exegesis, adds that the [first human] being formed in G-d's likeness, was an androgynous, an inter-sex 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
- What does God think of sex? Of gender?*
- What was the original human's experience of gender? Did it involve transition between genders? Was gender binary?
- How has that developed? Is your experience of gender and contemporary society's understanding of it different?
- Adam, Chava ("Eve" in English), Avraham, and Sarah all have their sexes changed by God. How does this transition go for them? What place does outside influence have on individual identities?
*I am using sex to refer to biology and gender to refer to identity
Chapter 4 of Mishna Bikkurim is an excellent next place to look for early Jewish understandings of intersex conditions and their influence on gender
(א) וַיְהִ֗י כְּכַלֹּתוֹ֙ לְדַבֵּ֣ר אֶל־שָׁא֔וּל וְנֶ֙פֶשׁ֙ יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן נִקְשְׁרָ֖ה בְּנֶ֣פֶשׁ דָּוִ֑ד ויאהבו [וַיֶּאֱהָבֵ֥הוּ] יְהוֹנָתָ֖ן כְּנַפְשֽׁוֹ׃ (ב) וַיִּקָּחֵ֥הוּ שָׁא֖וּל בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֑וּא וְלֹ֣א נְתָנ֔וֹ לָשׁ֖וּב בֵּ֥ית אָבִֽיו׃ (ג) וַיִּכְרֹ֧ת יְהוֹנָתָ֛ן וְדָוִ֖ד בְּרִ֑ית בְּאַהֲבָת֥וֹ אֹת֖וֹ כְּנַפְשֽׁוֹ׃ (ד) וַיִּתְפַּשֵּׁ֣ט יְהוֹנָתָ֗ן אֶֽת־הַמְּעִיל֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָלָ֔יו וַֽיִּתְּנֵ֖הוּ לְדָוִ֑ד וּמַדָּ֕יו וְעַד־חַרְבּ֥וֹ וְעַד־קַשְׁתּ֖וֹ וְעַד־חֲגֹרֽוֹ׃
(שמואל ב א:כה) אֵ֚יךְ נָפְל֣וּ גִבֹּרִ֔ים בְּת֖וֹךְ הַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן עַל־בָּמוֹתֶ֖יךָ חָלָֽל׃ (כו) צַר־לִ֣י עָלֶ֗יךָ אָחִי֙ יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן נָעַ֥מְתָּ לִּ֖י מְאֹ֑ד נִפְלְאַ֤תָה אַהֲבָֽתְךָ֙ לִ֔י מֵאַהֲבַ֖ת נָשִֽׁים׃ (כז) אֵ֚יךְ נָפְל֣וּ גִבּוֹרִ֔ים וַיֹּאבְד֖וּ כְּלֵ֥י מִלְחָמָֽה׃ (פ)
(1) When [David] finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan’s soul became bound up with the soul of David; Jonathan loved David as himself. (2) Saul took him [into his service] that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.— (3) Jonathan and David made a pact, because [Jonathan] loved him as himself. (4) Jonathan took off the cloak and tunic he was wearing and gave them to David, together with his sword, bow, and belt.
(II Samuel 1:25) How have the mighty fallen In the thick of battle— Jonathan, slain on your heights! (26) I grieve for you, My brother Jonathan, You were most dear to me. Your love was wonderful to me More than the love of women. (27) How have the mighty fallen, The weapons of war perished!
(30) And Jephthah made the following vow to the LORD: “If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, (31) then whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me on my safe return from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’s and shall be offered by me as a burnt offering.” (32) Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites and attacked them, and the LORD delivered them into his hands. (33) He utterly routed them—from Aroer as far as Minnith, twenty towns—all the way to Abel-cheramim. So the Ammonites submitted to the Israelites. (34) When Jephthah arrived at his home in Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him, with timbrel and dance! She was an only child; he had no other son or daughter. (35) On seeing her, he rent his clothes and said, “Alas, daughter! You have brought me low; you have become my troubler! For I have uttered a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract.” (36) “Father,” she said, “you have uttered a vow to the LORD; do to me as you have vowed, seeing that the LORD has vindicated you against your enemies, the Ammonites.” (37) She further said to her father, “Let this be done for me: let me be for two months, and I will go with my companions and lament upon the hills and there bewail my virginity.” (38) “Go,” he replied. He let her go for two months, and she and her companions went and bewailed her virginity upon the hills. (39) After two months’ time, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She had never known a man. So it became a custom in Israel (40) for the daughters of Israel to go every year, for four days in the year, and chant dirges for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
(Note that Jephthah's daughter at the beginning of the text is a "virgin" but after her two months on the hills with her female companions, she is described not as a virgin but rather as "not having known a man" -- we know these are separate concepts for the Tanach from, e.g., Genesis 24:16.)
והעליתיהו עולה.
- ...הוי"ו במקום או ופירש "והיה לה' הקדש [...] או העליתיהו עולה" [...] ויפה פי'
- וכן נראה מהפסוק כי לא המיתה שאמר "ואבכה על נפשי" לאות כי לא המיתה אך "לא ידעה איש" כמו שאמר "והיא לא ידעה איש"
- ומה שאמר גם כן ויעש לה את נדרו אשר נדר ולא אמר ויעלה עולה לאות
- כי פרושה היתה וזהו את נדרו אשר נדר והיה להשם
כך נראה לפי פשטי הפסוקים ...
Shall be offered by me as an offering
- ... "Or" and "And" are indicated by the same word in Hebrew, and therefore it's possible to read the verse [instead of "whatever comes out of the door of my house [...] shall be the LORD’s and shall be offered by me as a burnt offering.”] as "shall be the LORD's or it shall be offered by me as a burnt offering" ["shall be the LORD's" just meaning that no-one else can benefit from it.]
- It seems from this that Jephthah does not kill his daughter, because the verse would say "And I will weep for my life" -- rather, [she will weep] that she has not known a man [the verse in fact says "I will weep for my maidenhood" (Judges 11:37)].
- It also says, "he did to her as he had vowed to do" (Judges 11:39) -- it does not say "He offered her as a burnt offering."
- This shows us that she was celibate/separated, and this is what he had vowed -- that she should be for God.
This seems to me to be according to the plain meaning of the verses ...
- What's going on in the Samuel texts or in the Judges one? What are the possible relationships?
- How are this and the David and Jonathan texts similar? How do they differ? How do love between men and love between women, in whatever form it takes, shape the story?
- LGBTQ+ people's agency over whom they love and with whom they have sex (or don't) has often historically been taken away by others. How does that manifest for Jephthah's daughter? For David and Jonathan?
- What do the texts tell us about affection? How can love manifest?
- Radak has a solitary vision of Jephthah's daughter's life; the Judges text sees it as communal. How can our communities support Jews with nontraditional family structures, without forgetting the power of chosen solitude?
- What value is there in reading our own ideas back into texts? What danger is there?
"We are lesbian, gay, trans, and bi Jews: “You must not go about slandering your kin.” [19:16]
We are your trans, gay, bi, and lesbian siblings: “You shall not hate your brother or sister in your heart.” [19:17]
We are lesbian, gay, trans, and bi victims of gay-bashing and murder: “You may not stand by idly when your neighbor’s blood is being shed.” [19:16]
We are your bi, trans, lesbian and gay parents: “Revere your mother and your father, each one of you.” [19:3]
We are the stranger: “You must not oppress the stranger.” “You shall love the stranger as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” [19:34]
We are your bi, gay, trans, and lesbian neighbors: “You must not oppress your neighbor.” [19:13] “You must judge your neighbor justly.” [19:15] “You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.” [19:18]"
-- Rabbi Lisa Edwards of Beth Chayim Chadashim
Hillel famously took the Torah's statement "Love your neighbour as yourself" and stated it as "do not do to your neighbour what is hateful to you" (Shabbat 31a) -- since things which benefit one person might not benefit another, it is often safer to focus on avoiding harm than on creating benefit.
How can we create ways of loving everyone which do not harm others? And what specific modes of care might we explore to welcome specifically LGBT+ individuals?
Further resources:
- https://www.sefaria.org/profile/abby-c-stein for source sheets on gender and gender fluidity in Talmud, Midrash, and kabbalah
- A Rainbow Thread, by Noam Sienna - award-winning book of a collection of LGBT+ Jewish sources & experiences from the first century to 1969
- https://www.keshetuk.org/ for LGBT+ Jewish resources and networks in the UK
- http://transtorah.org/ for ritual and liturgy designed for transgender Jews, along with some very beautiful gender-focused sermons and essays
- https://svara.org/ for LGBT+ Jewish resources and residental learning programmes (Queer Talmud Camp) in the US