InJewish tradition, the termandrogynos (אַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס inHebrew, translation "intersex") refers to someone who possesses both male and female sexual characteristics. Due to the ambiguous nature of the individual's sex,Rabbinic literature discusses the sex of the individual and the legal ramifications that result based on potential sex classifications. In traditionally observant Judaism, sex plays a central role in legal obligations.[1]
During the development of the embryo into afetus, a specific process occurs that determines the physiological properties of the fetus. In other words, there is a point in time where the fetus exists without male or female genitalia. Eventually, due to the release ofhormones in one part of the fetus and the recognition of these hormones in another, the fetus either develops male genitalia or female genitalia. This process occurs roughly a month and a half after conception, and occurs completely separately from genetic sex. Genetic sex is determined solely by the presence or absence of the Ychromosome (presence = male, absence = female).
Because these two factors (hormone release and genetic existence of a Y chromosome) combine to determine sex, it is possible (though rare) for a mix-up to occur. This situation can arise in a number of different ways. One possibility is that a genetic male does not produce (or alternatively, produces but does not detect) testosterone. Because the fetus does not sense testosterone, it reacts by forming female genitalia in addition to the already-present male genitalia. A second way this can happen is iftestosterone, which is normally produced exclusively in thetesticles, is produced in another area of the body, a genetic female recognizes it and generates male genitalia, along with the already-present female genitalia.[citation needed]
As explained above, the Jewishandrogynos refers specifically to an individual who outwardly appears to have both male and female genitals. A similar though distinct category exists, called atumtum (טומטום in Hebrew, meaning "hidden").Maimonides explains that atumtum is an individual "in whom neither masculine or feminine [genitalia] are discernible."[2] In this way, it is the opposite of the androgynos—where the androgynos has both sets of genitals, thetumtum's genitals cannot be clearly seen. Importantly, Jewish tradition does not view atumtum in the same way as anandrogynos. While the identity of anandrogynos is acknowledged to be ambiguous, atumtum is declared to have a specific sex that is merely hidden externally. Nonetheless, legal authorities within Judaism have continued to debate the status of thetumtum in much the same way as they have debated the status of theandrogynos.[3]
This is mentioned in the Jewish midrash, the idea of theandrogynos is brought up inGenesis Rabbah, a Jewish commentary on the Bible written sometime between 300CE and 500CE. The commentator asserts thatAdam, in thestory of Creation, was created by God as anandrogynos. It continues to say that later, whenEve was fashioned from his rib, God separated out the sexes, assigning Adam as male and Eve as female.[4] While there are commentators who disagree with this approach of Genesis Rabbah, the explanation has become a well-known and respected theory within Jewish Biblical interpretation. The widely studied commentatorRashi is one notable example of a personality who adopted this approach.[5]
The nature of theandrogynos is a topic first expanded upon explicitly in theMishna, where debate arises as to the individual's classification as either male or female. TheTalmud discusses it primarily in two places, in TractateBikkurim[6] and in TractateYevamot.[7] One opinion in Tractate Bikkurim indicates that theandrogynos has elements of the male, elements of the female, elements of both, and elements of neither.[8] The other opinion insists that the androgynos is its own sex—a category unto itself.[9] Yevamot conducts a much lengthier analysis, where a variety of different approaches are considered in light of the opinions established in Bikkurim. In these discussions, the Talmudic personalities delineate four theoretical categories into which the androgynos may fall:
Jewish law has specificlegal obligations that differ for men and women, and thus gender becomes an exceedingly important aspect of one's identity.
When determining the legal gender ofandrogynos individuals, a minority of Jewish law decisors, "posek", classifyandrogynos individuals as completely male. Therefore,androgynos individuals would be obligated by law in the same way as men.[10] However, the majority of Talmudic commentators and Jewish law decisors do not assignandrogynos individuals a fixed "sex", and instead leave them in a status of doubtful identity.[10] Because of theandrogynos person's uncertain identity, they can be classified differently in varying cases—sometimes male, sometimes female, sometimes both male and female, and other times neither. The legal ramifications of such an attitude forces the individual to adhere to Jewish law asboth a male and female.[11] According to this classification, in cases where the law differs for men and women,androgynos individuals must adhere to the stricter option. For example, time-bound positivemitzvot (commandments) that men are obligated to keep and women are exempted,androgynos individuals must keep the obligation. Those who classify anandrogynos individual as definitively both male and female would agree with this principle, though practice may differ in certain cases.[9] The difference between classifying anandrogynos individual as only male or as a doubtful identity would manifest itself in a case where performing a commandment would also require a blessing in conjunction. According to those who maintain that anandrogynos has an uncertain sex, the individual would not recite the blessing. This is because the only men may recite this blessing, and if the individual isn't a man, they would be reciting the blessing in vain. However, according to the opinions who maintain that the individual is fully male, then they would recite the blessing as any other male would.
There is a contemporary debate between modernhalachic (Jewish Law) decisors surrounding the appropriate course of action for someone who presents both sexual characteristics.Rabbi Moishe Sternbuch (1926–) writes that an individual with ambiguous genitalia should always undergo surgery to become male. The one exception to this rule is if the individual has evident female genitalia who also has extra external structures. Nonetheless, it is universally agreed within Orthodox Judaism that a person with a clear phenotypical gender may not voluntarily undergosex reassignment surgery.[12]
RabbiEliezer Waldenberg (1915–2006), author of the bookTzitz Eliezer, contends that generally, gender is solely dependent on external anatomy. And thus, even if one has the internal characteristics or chromosomal conformation of one sex yet exhibits the genitalia of the other sex, their sex follows their external anatomy. In a case of true androgyny, i.e. where the individual has both male and female genitalia, the person should be turned male. According to Rabbi Waldenberg, because men are obligated to perform more commandments than women, becoming male allows the person to perform more mitzvot than they would be able to do if they were female. In contrast to Rabbi Moishe Sternbuch, Rabbi Waldenberg also permits an androgynous individual who would be truly female following surgery (determined by medical scans/genetic tests) to undergo surgery to become externally female.[13]
