From Saris to Tumtum, the Talmud fearlessly confronts Jewish legal attitudes towards a variety of embodiments
Review of Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic LiteratureMax K. StrassfeldUniversity of California Press, 2022 Bereshit 1:27 could hardly be clearer: “Male and female he created them.” Except that Eve hadn’t yet been created, which means that Adam, like God, was androgynous? Such matters understandably occupied the rabbis, then and now. There are dozens of references to eunuchs and androgynes in the Talmud, all of which productively challenge the very idea of clarity when … [Lees verder]