#gender identity in judaism

[emperorsfoot]

I've mentioned this in some of my posts before, but, because Barney's Jewish identity is equally as important to him as his gender identity, I thought I would share some information on how gender and gender identity are viewed in Judaism.

Disclaimer: Judaism is broken up into different sects just like any other religion, so not all of these beliefs will be universal across all Jewish communities.

The Talmud acknowledges and describes 8 genders

Zachar, male/AMAB/Cisgender Man

Nekevah, female/AFAB/Cisgender Woman

Androgynos, having both male and female characteristics/non-binary/gender fluid/gender non-conforming

Tumtum, lacking sexual characteristics/non-binary/gender fluid/gender non-conforming

Aylonit hamah, identified female at birth but later developing male characteristics naturally

Aylonit adam, identified female at birth but later developing male characteristics through human intervention

Saris hamah, identified male at birth but later developing female characteristics naturally

Saris adam, identified male at birth and later developing female characteristics through human intervention

You might find a lot of sources that will say there are only 6 genders in the Talmud. That is because aylonit hamah and aylonit adam, and saris hamah and saris adam are often lumped together (respectively).

Please enjoy these links with more information!

My Jewish Learning

Religious Action Center

Keshet - Gender Diversity in Sacred Texts

Reform Judaism

And please enjoy this video of an interview with Rabbi Kukla of the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center:

Disclaimer 2: This post is being made for the Dead End: Paranormal Park fandom. A show who's main character is a Jewish trans-man. The purpose of this post is to educate any non-Jews in the fandom if any of them are interested in being educated, or incorporating Barney's Jewish identity and culture into their fan works. I am not interested in debating gender, religion, or my own religious/cultural or gender identities with anyone. People trying to start discourse on this post will be blocked.

I am, however, always happy to answer questions if it is within my knowledge and experience to give an answer. I am not a Rabbi. I am simply a queer Jewish person who enjoys cartoons and fandom.

#dead end paranormal park #Barney #de: pp #de:pp #de pp #depp #dead end #paranormal park #judaism #gender identity #gender identity in judaism #queer judaism #trans #trans masc #trans man #I hope this helps someone #Youtube

[justmelookingbackatme]

The first time I looked in the mirror and felt at peace with what I saw was on Yom Kippur, in 2021.

Before then, the mirror wasn't usually painful, but it felt like looking at a photograph of someone else. The connection between myself and the reflection was never there, not until that Yom Kippur.

What to wear to services has been a long running debate in my family, ever since I renounced dresses as a child. For a long time, my mother still bought me formal outfits that were feminine, if not a dress or skirt. I tolerated those, though I never liked them much either.

I didn't wear a dress to my Bar Mitzvah, though I know she wanted me to.

I didn't wear a suit to my Bat Mitzvah either, but I would have, had I known that was a possibility.

This was the first service I can remember being comfortable in my own skin.

Throughout the year, I had been collecting hand-me-downs from my parents; mother and father. I had my father's old blue button down shirt hanging up in my closet. I found it when I was getting dressed that morning, and put it on.

Good, but somehow incomplete.

I knocked on my father's door and told him I wanted to learn how to tie a tie.

He nodded and handed me one from his closet. We stood together in front of the mirror as he undid his own tie and started the process again, slowly. I followed the best I could through each loop and twist, mesmerized by how the necktie wove itself around. When I finished, it wasn't bad for a first attempt. The knot was clumsy, sure, but I didn't care if it wasn't perfect.

It was me.

I spent the day praying and fasting, and I was comfortable, and I was me.

#found this in my drafts and it's honestly good so. posting it #gender shit #also judaism shit #not enough judiasm shit on this blog #i like it when i think about the connection between my gender and my jewish identity bc they are connected #and that's very sexy of me

[torahtot]

ok ive had enough of queering judaism. can we start judaizing queerness now. or something

#like. it feels like so much of this queering judaism shtus just layers an american/secular queer identity over judaism #which i guess is fine for certain communities. but it's only going to push you away from orthodoxy #and if as queer jews we already feel like our queerness makes us into secularized outsiders in our own communities #how does this help? is trying to get our communities to embrace an essentially secular american iteration of queer identity supposed to mak #us feel LESS like outsiders? it's not quite doing it for me #we need a queerness that comes from within judaism that is essentially jewish #ive seen a couple of articles recently from ppl talking abt how word/concept of butch doesnt exist in their language & culture #but they use it anyway #& like. i love being butch. it's important to me ill never give it up #& i am american too. but my whole identity as a butch he/him lesbian is exclusively secular american it came from the outsifr #which is definitely due in large part to the fact that my Gender Problems were really tied up w orthodox jewish gender roles #so naturally to get out of that i'd pull on something not jewish. but i wish there was another option? idk if that's possible #or how it would look #maybe that's why im obsessed w the idea of a butch w long curly payos.... 😦 #i forgot where i was going w this but yeah it's frustrating #this is a large part of why im wary of starting a queer Jewish club on campus bc the people who would wanna start it w mr #well no offense but they are insufferable about this #(incidentally they're also insufferable about chanukah. no surprises there) #nachi speaks #jew blogging #others have Actually written abt all this tho

[hummussexual]

Excerpt:

Fascinating. I read that besides being one of the first openly trans rabbis, you actually wrote the Jewish blessing for transition. How did that come about?

I actually wrote that blessing right before I came out as trans. So, in one sense, I wrote it for my future self. At the time, about 2005, I wrote it for a friend who was transitioning and asked for a blessing every time they take T. It was published in 2007 right after I’d come out as the first trans rabbi, and much to my surprise, it kind of went viral. It got picked up by a bunch of newspapers and I started hearing from people all over the world using this blessing. It was so popular that the Reform movement was kind of pushed into a position of supporting it more than they were perhaps ready for. I still get emails on a regular basis from people letting me know how they are using this blessing and how it changed their experience of coming out as trans. I still encounter people who are now adults who let me know that they started using this blessing when they came out as kids. It’s been really special, being part of people’s growing up in that way.

#judaism #lgbt #trans #religion and gender identity #Rabbi Elliot Kukla

[whatlieswithintheorchard]

Blessing for Questioning Gender or Sexuality

“A person does not understand statements of Torah unless [one] stumbles on them.”

-Gittin 43a

I feel my struggle without end, without an answer. I feel, at times, that I am alone. Though, I know that is NOT. true. I may not see an end, but I hope to reach it. Or, perhaps, the end I see is simply the road I walk down. I do not know how this will end, but until, or if, it ends, I know that I am, and will always be, my full and whole self.

ברוך אתה הויה ͏רוח הולעם מי שואלת חשב

English Transliteration:

B’ruche ateh Havayah, ruach ha’olam, mi shoelat khoshev

English Translation:

G’d of infinite Oneness, blessed are You, who challenges thought.

#jewish #jumblr #jewish tumblr #queer Judaism #lgbtq judaism #brachot #bracha #blessing #my identity challenges thought #questioning #gender questioning #jewish-lgbtq #jewish lgbtq #jewish lgbtq+

[themogaidragon]

Eshed (אשד)

[pt: Eshed (אשד) /end pt]

Eshed: a culturally exclusive gender that is fluid or has fluid characteristics.

Eshed is exclusive to those who are Jewish (heritage or religion) and whose gender is fluid in some way. It can be genderfluid, genderflux, or have a fluid characteristic, such as boyflux, or fluid between alignments or gender expression.

Those who are fluid in presentation or gender roles especially fit under Eshed.

Eshed was coined by Tirednowhasablog, a reformation Jew, in May of 2021. The pride flag was designed by @themogaidragon in november 2022.

In Kabbalic belief, the son of Abram, Isaac, was born with the soul of a woman, but the body of a man. After the binding of Isaac, his soul transitioned to one of a male, to grant Abram (now Abraham) descendants. This is an interpretation that shares a similar concept to genderfluidity. The idea of gilgul ha-neshamot, or "the cycling of souls," is described as a situation where a male soul can change to a female soul, similar to the story of Isaac, and vice versa. Eshed is taken from Hebrew and means "cascade" or "waterfall," referring to how fluid genders can be chaotic, or flow freely.

#culture #cultural gender #cultural identity #eshed #אשד #genderfluid #IDIN #jewblr #jewish term #jewish #judaism #ethnicity #bipoc

[hebrewbyinbal]

Click the link to watch my newest lesson teaching a word that will help make the use of pronouns and genders easier to navigate! https://youtu.be/stTVTHwbo1A

#jewish hebrew jew israel education books learn israeli judaism #gender identity #pronouns #Youtube

[rw7771]

God and Man As Male and Female: Implications for Gender Identity - Focus on the Family

#gender identity #focus on the family #female #male #sexuality #homosexuality #christianity #messianic judaism #website #lgbtqplus #lgbt+ #lgbtq #gay #lesbian #bisexual #asexual #trangender #transgender #cisgender

[inconvenientobservations]

Comply Or Get Destroyed

USA. Ivan Provorov, who plays for Philadelphia Flyers, got international attention when he didn’t want to wear a rainbow warm up jersey at a LGBTQ Pride Night game against the Anaheim Ducks this week. He wanted, as a Russian Orthodox, “to stay true to myself and my religion.” The media and the alphabet people were outraged and demands were made that Provorov should get cancelled, have to pay…

View On WordPress

#Buddhism #Christianity #Democracy #Hinduism #Identity #Gender & Race #Islam #Judaism #LGBT+ #Media #Russia #Sport #The Catholic Church #USA

[magnetothemagnificent]

Some things you need to know if you really want to be an ally to Jews:

-There is no such thing as a "Semitic people", and if there was, only Jews would be considered "Semitic people", since "antisemitism" was coined specifically as an alternative to the word Judenhasse, which means "Jew-hatred", and specifically to refer to Jews. If "Semites" was a legitimate identity, the only "Semites" would be Jews. People from the Levant who are not Jewish are not "Semitic", and are still very much capable of being antisemitic. In linguistic sense, "Semitic" only refers to a language family, not a cultural identity.

-"Goy" is not a slur. It means "nation", it's literally a word that means "non-Jewish person."

-Only Jews get to define what is and isn't antisemitic. If Jews are saying that something is antisemitic, listen to them.

-Jews are not White People Lite. There are Jews of every skin colour, and even light-skinned Jews can still be subject to racialized antisemitism. Listen to Jews when they say they experience racialized antisemitism.

-Judaism isn't just a religion. It's an ethnoreligion, a tribe, and a peoplehood. There are non-religious Jews. There are atheist Jews. And all Jews experience antisemitism.

-Judaism is a closed practice. Yes, we allow conversion, but it is a long and difficult process, and we do not allow prosletizing. It's like a locked gate where getting the key is extremely difficult.

-Judaism is not Christianity-Lite. Judaism came first, it is an ancient identity and peoplehood independent from Christianity. Christianity appropriated and butchered elements of Judaism.

-There are Jews of every sexuality and gender identity, and we have a long history of gender diversity and non-heteronormative sexuality. Include LGBTQ Jews in your activism.

-The Holocaust isn't your metaphor or comparison tool.

-Antisemitism has been around for thousands of years and it's still extremely prevalent and rising today.

-The Jewish community is a diverse, multi-faceted community. There are so many ways to be Jewish and so many ways to express one's Jewish identity. No two Jews are the same, but we are united by our shared history, heritage, and identity.

Thank you for taking the steps to being a true ally to Jewish people.

#judaism #jumblr #how to be an ally #information #education #antisemitism

[schraubd]

In the Image of God

A recent study found that Jews are the demographic group most accepting of trans individuals in the United States.

When certain Christians assert a religious freedom right to discriminate against trans individuals -- particularly, a right to misgender them -- their argument typically proceeds something along these lines:

1. They believe every individual is created in the image of God.

2. Part of that image is the person's sex (and by extension, gender).

3. In particular, a person's sex/gender is inalterably assigned by God from conception.

4. They are forbidden from lying or falsifying God's choice.

Therefore, they say, they are religiously obligated to refer to people by their chromosomal sex, regardless of how they identify or publicly present. This religious duty, in turn, is used to press against rules and policies which require respectful treatment of trans individuals (including refraining from deliberately misgendering them, deadnaming them, and so on).

What's interesting about this framework is that a lot of it actually resonates with how I view the relationship of my Jewish faith and trans individuals -- with some crucial alterations. To wit:

1. I believe every individual is create in the image of God.

2.  Part of that image is the person's sex (and by extension, gender).

4. I am forbidden from lying or falsifying God's choice.

The major distinction, of course, comes in prong 3:

3. A person's sex/gender is not necessarily or inalterably assigned by God from conception, but rather can be part of a person's own process of discovering who they are. Where such self-discovery leads to a person to conclude they are trans, non-binary, or any other identity that departs from the sex they were assigned at birth, they are not deviating from God's plan. They are uncovering their authentic self as God has created them.

The result of this process is part of God's image. Those who refuse to accept it are not cleaving to God's image, they are rejecting it.

God's process of creation is not, in my understanding of Judaism, a set-and-forget sort of deal. It is not a matter of passively being puppeteered by a divine hand. It something we do together -- we are partners in creation. To deny the results of that partnership is, for me, a denial of God's plan and practice just as much as it is for adherents of other religious views who adhere to a more static and calcified notion of the role of the divine.

And so for me, and I suspect for many Jews, the religious freedom obligation pushes in the other direction. Many conservative states have, or are considering, laws which require (at least in certain contexts) non-recognition of trans identity. For Jews (and others) who share my religious precepts, these laws would force me to deny -- to bear false witness to -- a key attribute of how God created some of my peers. I do not believe -- and this is a deep, fundamental commitment -- that God's "image" of trans persons was for them to be locked in a body or sex or gender identity that clearly is not authentically theirs. When they find their full self, they are equally finding God's image of themselves.

Consistent with my lengthily expressed feelings on the subject, I suspect that what's good for the goose will not be good for the gander. Despite the clear parallel, liberal Jews who assert religious liberty rights to be exempted from laws seeking to enforce by state mandate a transphobic agenda will not meet with the same success enjoyed by their Christian peers.

Nonetheless, there is value in promoting this sort of framework, and in unashamedly asserting Jewish independence from hegemonic conservative Christian notions of true religiosity. It is not woven into "religion" that God's image requires rejection of trans individuals' full selves. That is a choice, an interpretation of some religions or of some who call themselves religious. Other religions, other religious persons, have a different interpretation of how to respect and dignify the facet of God that is in every one of us.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/vlsH4T2

#Judaism #religious liberty #transgender

[anamericangirl]

"Judaism recognizes eight genders." - No it doesn't. The Talmud doesn't address ANY genders because the concept of gender separate from sex didn't exist. What the Talmud describes are physical abnormalities related to sexual development-- the six 'non-binary' genders are describing what we in Current Day would recognize as intersex disorders (as well as a term for castrated men). The earliest I can find theorizing about gender identities is from 2015, proposed by a trans rabbi. Try again anon.

It's so funny how they have to make some wild interpretation of texts that aren't difficult to understand just to grasp at anything that might validate them. Like if you ignore context and what the actual words mean it makes you right somehow.

It's the same thing the gender theory people do today. They use biological abnormalities to pretend there are multiple genders and since biological abnormalities also existed in more ancient times and were observed that must mean they knew about multiple genders too lol.

But what they have yet to understand is that biological abnormalities aren't genders and pointing them out doesn't help their case.

#anon #answered

[peasantexchangeprogram]

also wrt to that privilege on tumblr post i also feel like ppl here r collecting marginalized identities like pokemon cards 2 use as gotchas in unrelated arguments. like i think that as a jewish person i have a final say abt my relationship 2 judaism n antisemitism and my experiences w them, and gentiles shouldnt speak over me abt what its like to experience antisemitism, what is or isnt antisemitic, what is or isnt jewish or abt relationships w judaism. but i wont like. see a post abt media literacy or what the fucking ever n go like 'um actually im jewish' or 'um actually im autistic' or whatever right. lyke i think theres a big difference between 'you, an outsider, dont get to talk over my experiences w judaism/antisemitism' and 'im jewish so everything i say about judaism. scratch that, about everything, is objectively correct and true bc im opwessed' bc ppl on here literally do that. like i saw someone reply 'op is literally black n trans' to a comment abt a discussion that was neither abt blackness nor transness? n like i get how these identities change how u experience 4 example class struggle or misogyny but saying 'ummm im literally trans' abt someone calling u a misogynist is so ??? girl. i read an article which i generally didnt agree w but he talked about how conversations in progressive spaces shifted from centering around substance to centering about identity, even in academy, where if someone is considered oppressed they are objectively correct in everything they say. which i think i agree w bc i see it in progressive circles online a LAWT. like i wouldnt defend my paper on idk. mens gendered roles in ancient greece by going 'ummm im literally gay???' which isnt far from how these lot act, at least online

also i think 'i hate straight/cis/white/etc. ppl pay me' isnt activism even tho thats what ppl on tumblr love acting like is peak praxis. its not activism. its not even a substitute 4 a personality.

#n im going 2 sleep #expect 2 see some anon hate or smth in the morning #like it does every time i voice my opinion #whatevs

[themogaidragon]

Rekani (ריקני)

[pt: Rekani (ריקני) /end pt]

Rekani (ריקני) is a Jew-exclusive gender term for the complete absence of gender. The gender may be missing, cut away, tangible but not masculine/feminine/neutral/outherine, undefinable, or the idea of gender is completely inapplicable.

The closest non-Jewish genders to this gender would be agender, gendernull, singularian, gendervoid or cryptogender.

Rekani (reh-kahh-nee) is Hebrew for "vacuous, empty, hollow". The term was coined by Tirednowhasablog in may of 2021. Pride lag designed by @themogaidragon in november 2022.

This gender isn't the same as a chaotic, negative, or anti- experience. Chaotic genders (like chaosgender) and unpredictable/complex genders (for ex confundogender or novigender) don't fit under rekani. Genders defined by being the opposite of another (like anti-boy) do not belong under Rekani either.

#rekani #ריקני #AGIN #NIN #agender #cultural identity #cultural gender #culture #gendernull #singularian #neutral #UIN #bipoc #jewish term #jewish #jewblr #judaism #ethnicity

[rw7771]

Should Gender Matter in Christianity? - Rebekah Simon-Peter Coaching and Consulting Inc.

https://rebekahsimonpeter.com/should-gender-matter-in-christianity

#website #coach #consulting #christianity #messianic judaism #gender #idenity #gender identity #homosexuality #gay #lesbian #lgbt+ #lgbtqplus #lgbtq #asexual #bisexual #transgender #cisgender #sexuality #LGBT

[thejewitches]

hi!!!!! have y’all written anything on the six jewish genders? my rabbi casually dropped that in our conversation today and didn’t expand on it and i love how y’all explain things

We haven't written about the sex identities found within Judaism. Instead, we generally recommend TransTorah, co-founded by Rabbi Elliot Kukla, the first openly transgender rabbi to be ordained in 2006.