Gender Diversity in Torah:

eileenthequeen:

(I  typed a paper on this but it was very long so here’s a condensed version. I used Artscroll for the Hebrew bits)

Despite the binary nature of the Hebrew language, biblical scribes found ways of demonstrating the gender variance and diversity of gender that exists in the lines of biblical texts. Post-biblical commentators created gender domains based on what they read in the text including androgynos, tumtum, aylonit and the saris. While these categories are largely based off of genitalia, many of these designations can help scholars understand how they correspond to modern-day understandings of gender.

• Rebecca- Rebecca is called “נער” (hereby transliterated “na’ar”), a word that refers to a young man. Biblical authors forewent the feminine form (נערה, or “na’ar’ah”), meaning young woman, in favor of referring to Rebecca as a young man. In many versions of the text, next to each occurrence of the word “na’ar” is a note in parenthesis, ״כתיב נערה״. This “kere u’ketiv”, or note of substitution, was edited into the text by the Masoretes to fix the “error” (Brodie). However, this supposed “error” occurs not once, but five times- all referring to Rebecca (Genesis 24:14,16,28,55,57), making it unlikely that it was a mistake at all. In fact, in Genesis 24:44, Abraham’s servant recounts the advice his master gave him, that whoever offers him water for his camels, “[הוא] shall be the woman whom G-d has designated for my master’s son.” The word for “he” (הוא) is used, rather than “she” (היא). Rebecca is referred to in the feminine case in all other instances. This mixing of genders may have been a purposeful attempt by the biblical authors to convey Rebecca’s gender variance.
• Dinah- Dinah is similarly referred to as a young man, “na’ar” three times (and is never referred to  as “na’ar’ah”) in her (only) reference in the Torah, in Genesis 34. 
• HaAdam (aka Adam and Eve)- Genesis 1:27 includes another interesting phrasing when it comes to gender. It reads, “G-d created the adam in G-d’s image; in the image of G-d [G-d] created him— male and female [G-d] created them” (Kukla and Zellman), The earth-creature (or Adam) is referred to first in the singular, and then in the plural- emphasizing that Adam was created as both male and female in one singular being. This did not go unnoticed by early rabbinic commentators, such as Rabbi Jeremiah ben Elazar, “When the Holy One, blessed be the One, created the first adam, [G-d] created him [an] “androgynos,” (both male and female). Adam and Eve are later cleaved in two. Some argue that Genesis 2’s account of the creation of Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs to form Eve contradicts this. It would seem from reading this passage reading the word “tzelah” as “rib” that Eve was formed from a small piece of Adam, and that the Adam creature was created primarily masculine. But the word, which is frequently translated as rib, “tzelah”, is more accurately translated “side,” as it is when referencing the sides of the tabernacle (Exodus 26:20). The creation of Eve was more like a separation of two halves, not the forming of Eve out of a small piece of Adam. This separation is emphasized again in Genesis 3:20, when Adam says “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because [הוא] had become the mother of all the living”. He uses the masculine form of the third person singular pronoun, rather than the feminine “היא”. This choice of words may have been to further emphasize the fact that Eve was a part of the original adam creature that had been referred to in the masculine sense. Adam and Eve’s androgynous nature might be most similar today to intersexuality, which often includes individuals that have features of both male- and female- assigned individuals.
• Joseph- Joseph has very feminine attributes. In Genesis 39:6, Joseph is described in a phrase used only one other time, to describe his mother; “יפה תואר ויפה מראה” or “of goodly description and goodly appearance”. Although ״תואר״ is sometimes used to refer to male beauty, “מראה” is only ever used to apply to women in the Torah (Lowin, 123). Joseph is also referred to as a “na’ar,” or young man, at age seventeen, far past the point at which he should be considered a youth. This may be an attempt to further feminize Joseph. Rabbinic commentators suggested that Joseph “behaved like a boy, penciling his eyes, curling his hair, and lifting his heel” (Hope-Lefkowitz, 89). Joseph certainly becomes more feminine in appearance after joining Egyptian society, dressing in rings, fine linens, and necklaces (Gen. 41:42). He is so unrecognizable by the time his brothers return to see him in Egypt that his brothers are confused when he reveals himself to them in Genesis 45:3. It is very likely that Joseph was dressed according to Egyptian cultural norms befitting his status, including a clean-shaven face, heavy jewelry, and dark kohl facial makeup. 
• Sarah and Abraham- Sarah’s name changes in Genesis 17 from the masculine “Sarai” meaning “my prince” to the more feminine “Sarah,” or “princess.” This name change occurs with G-d’s promise that Sarah will no longer be barren. As Rabbi Nachman points out through his commentary on the Talmud, Genesis 11:30 is not simply emphasizing Sarai’s bareness by stating it twice with, “And Sarai was barren, she had no child”. He theorizes that this double-bareness was intended to mean that “she did not even have a womb”. Other early rabbinic commentators theorized that this barrenness of Abraham and Sarah was because they were both tumtum (they had indeterminate genitals). Rabbi Ammi interprets the parallelism in Isaiah 51:1, “Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and at the hollow of the pit from which you were dug; look to Abraham your forefather and Sarah who bore you”, to mean that Abraham and Sarah had indeterminate genitals before divine intervention. Abraham’s genitals were further shaped or “hewn” through divine intervention, while Sarah’s genitals were “dug” out, and a womb was formed. In the same encounter that G-d promises he will make Sarah able to bear children, he also tells Abraham that “Sarai” will become “Sarah.” Not only is her name changed from masculine to feminine, but the “י” (with a gematria value of 10) is “halved” into two “הs” (each with a gematria value of 5). The masculine essence of Sarai’s genitals that made her an aylonit or tumtum was hewn out and given to Abram, forming Abraham and Sarah. In modern terms, Sarah might have been considered a trans woman. 
• G-d themselves- Judaism has traditionally held the idea that G-d is gender-neutral, stemming from the Genesis 1:26 statement by G-d, “Let us make Man in Our image, after Our likeness,” followed by the Genesis 1:27, “male and female he created Them,”. By creating a male-and-female creature in Their Own likeness, G-d identifies Themselves as something both masculine and feminine in nature. This plays into kabbalist mythology, where G-d is interpreted as having many faces, one of his many natures being the feminine Shekinah. In a language where the masculine takes precedence over the feminine, it is difficult to see this gender-variant nature of G-d. However, numerous times, metaphors are drawn comparing G-d to a comforting mother. In Deuteronomy 32:18, G-d is referenced as “the one who gave you birth” In Isaiah, G-d labors like a woman (Isaiah 42:14), remembers the children of Israel whom G-d “nursed” (Isaiah 49:15), and comforts her child- “Like a man whose mother consoled him, so will I console you, and in Jerusalem will you be consoled” (Artscroll, Isaiah 66:13). This gender variant nature of G-d reflects the true diversity of gender in the human expression.