Let’s get back to a traditional view on Gender
Aka “The Talmud says it, that settles it”
An equality rainbow sticker on a lamp post
Cramming 13.8 billion years into 6 days…
I’ve never been someone who thought that Genesis was an actual historic account of how we came into existence. It’s a beautiful poem, sure – the vision of our Creator forming the cosmos and delighting in its goodness stands in contrast to the other dominant creation stories at the time that claimed that our creation was a bi-product of some violent struggle between gods (e.g. the Enuma Elish)
In Christian circles you will often hear the words of Genesis 1:27 quoted in relation to discussions about gender – to save you the google, here is the passage:
“So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” - Genesis 1:27 (NRSV)
The argument being made here is that only two genders are present in God’s creation. We’ll come back to this, but first let’s take a look at the how the early Jewish people considered gender.
The eight genders in the Talmud
I recently discovered that the Talmud - the initially oral and then written version of the Jewish law - actually described 8 distinct genders. These are:
Zachar - male.
Nekevah - female.
Androgynos - having both male and female characteristics.
Tumtum - lacking sexual characteristics.
Aylonit hamah - identified female at birth but later naturally developing male characteristics.
Aylonit adam - identified female at birth but later developing male characteristics through human intervention.
Saris hamah - identified male at birth but later naturally developing female characteristics.
Saris adam - identified male at birth and later developing female characteristics through human intervention.
Source: The Eight Genders in the Talmud | My Jewish Learning
What I find interesting is that there does not appear to be any discussion as to legitimacy or existence of these non-binary genders – it’s taken as read that they exist. Most of the references appear in relation to which of the various laws applied to non-binary, or specifically non-male members of the community.
The Talmud contains 283 different references to “androgynos” people alone, 32 times being in the Mishna (Traditions). An example of this is shown in the Mishna of Chagigah (loosely translated as the “Traditions for Festivals”)
“All are obligated on the three pilgrimage festivals to appear in the Temple and sacrifice an offering, except for a deaf-mute, an imbecile, and a minor; and a tumtum, an androgynos, women, and slaves who are not emancipated; and the lame, the blind, the sick, and the old, and one who is unable to ascend to Jerusalem on his own legs”. - Chagigah 1:1, Mishnah Chagigah 1:1 (sefaria.org)
Other references discuss whether Androgynos people can marry (yes), whether they are obligated to obey all commandments like a man (yes), whether they share inheritance like sons (no), whether they can partake in sacrifices like men (no) etc.
So what about Gensis 1:27 then?
I mention all this because the Genesis poem was written at a time when the Talmud (and the recognition of non-binary Genders therein) was being formed. These all come out of the same time, peoples and stories… so it’s unlikely that the writer of Genesis was not aware of this. In fact the Talmud also contains passages from Rabbis who argue that the first human was non-binary, having either both male and female sexual characteristics, or faces, or as having a male and female side which God then separated as creation was formed. Bereishit Rabbah 8:1 (sefaria.org)
Interestingly our use of the term “rib” for the origin of Eve comes from the word “Sela” which actually means “side” or “flank” – of the 42 times this word appears within Hebrew scripture the only time we translate as rib is in the context of Eve.
“Male and female, he created them”
Noting the above it could be argued that the use of Male and Female in this verse, offers not a binary choice but reflects either ends of a spectrum. Reading a bit higher up in this chapter we read that:
God separates day and night – but this does not deny the existence of dawn and dusk, sunrise and sunset… all the shades that live in the space between the two?
God separates the land from water – but what about estuaries and marshland that blend from dry to wet?
God separates the land animals from those of the sea, but what about amphibious creatures and penguins and seals?
Similarly, when we refer to God as the Alpha and Omega, we do not consider Them to be just there at the beginning and end, but in every part of existence.
These concepts don’t talk to all of reality in black and white opposites, but invite us to consider the beauty of the spaces in between. Ultimately if the genesis poem set out to describe every aspect of the world it would read like a biology text book rather than the dance of joy that celebrates our creation in all of its beautiful diversity.
So yes, God created us male and female… but he also created us everything else in between, each one in Their own image and each one called into existence with God’s loving breath in their lungs.
