From: bnostran@lynx.dac.northeastern.edu (Solveig Throndardottir)
Subject: Re: WHY?
Organization: Northeastern University, Boston, MA. 02115, USA
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 03:14:16 GMT

Gentle Readers

Mr. Dickenson seems to be rather weak in the science of hermenutics and
so I wish to comment on his biblical exegesis.

Mr. Dickenson, pharasiac Judaism categorizes averot ("sins") into 613
varieties based upon various statements in the Torah.  Of these there
is a ban on clothing exchange which appears to be related to a mystery
religon practiced by a neighboring group.  Regardless, of these 613
laws only 7 are regarded as applying to non-jews.  The concept of law
and sin within judaism is strictly contractural.  That is, at the time
of the flood Noah and his descendents (all of mankind) entered into a
contract with God and thus became liable to the 7 Noachide laws.  The
remainder of th 613 laws were only entered into by jews at Sinai and
hence do not apply to the rest of mankind.  Now, supposing that christians
(as claimed by Paul) are "spiritual jews" it follows that they would be
succeptible to all 613 laws and not just a few choice ones.  These laws
include such things as the jewish dietary laws and the laws of family
purity.  However, Paul himself abrogated the 613 laws in the book of
Acts and later proclaimed a law of the spirt.  Thus, it stands to reason
that the various christian demoninations do not follow or in any way
enforce observance of the deutoronomic or levitic codes but rather place
a special emphasis on the 10 commands and indirectly the law of the
Noachide.  

The law explicitly violated by Paul is "It is a negative commandment to
eat or drink nothing from an offering to an idol"

"Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of
the land .. an one will call you, and you will eat of his sacrifice"
						Exodus  34:12,15

Thus, chrisitianity does not demand adherance to th 613 mitzvot of
judaism but only the law of the Noachide.  Now what is the code of 
the Noachide?  Hertz in his commentary on Genesis 9:7 lists the 7 
laws as:
	1. The establishment of courts of justice
	2. Prohibition of blasphemy
	3. Prohibition of idolatry
	4. Incest
	5. Bloodshed
	6. Robbery
	7. Eathing flesh cut from a living animal
In fact Jesus encapsulated the entirety of the law for christianity into
just two laws  "Love God ... and love your neighbor as yourself."
And, it is easy to see that following these two laws will cause the
seven Noachide laws to be obeyed.

Now, transgender phenomenae do not appear in this list and consequently it
is not a sin for non-jews to be transgendered or to express transgender
behaviour.  To assert otherwise would only apply members of semetic
religions (if you accept the theological claims of the non-jewish
senetic religions) and would still not apply to members of other
relgions such as wicans.  However there are interesting features just
in these laws.  One is the prohibition of idolatry which certainly 
would apply to several Eastern religions and arguably (by jews and
muslims at least) to christianity.  Another thing which should be noted
is that eating raw oysters, the Japanese practice of eating living
fish and the former college initiate rite of swallowing live goldfish
are all in clear violation of the code of the Noachide.

The oft cited text conscerning crossdress is Deut. 22:5 
	A woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man,
	nor shall a man put on a woman's garment.
Rabbi Neir Amsel (Ha-Ma'or, Kislev-Tevet 5733) notes that this prohibition
includes shaving of armpits and dyeing of hair by a male.  (i.e, it
probits the use of Grecian Formula to restore hair color.)  A feature of
jewish interpretation of law which is little understood by christians is
that rabbis have for millenia attempted to apply compasion to justice.
Thus, the discussion of transsexual phenomena by Bleich concludes with a
note of compassion.

Again Hertz in his commentary on the Torah notes of Deut. 22:5

An interchange of attire between man and woman would promote immodesty
and, in consequence, immorality.  This law is probably directed against
rites in Syrian heathenism, which included exchange of graments by the
sexes and led to gross impurities.  

As such, strictly speaking the law prohits the exchange of clothes 
between individuals and not the wearing of newly purgchased clothes.
Thus, technically, it would be an avera for a woman to wear her boy
friend's boxer shorts or for a man to wear his girl friend's sweat
shirt.  But, again this law only applies to jews and is not binding on
non-jews.

I also wonder whether Mr. Dickenson shows equal concern for the
laws relating to nocturnal emissions, menstral flow and being in
the same building as a corpse.  Further interesting examples are that
it is an avera (sin) to:

1)  Eat a rump roast

	"Therefore the children of Istrael do not eat the sinew of the
	thigh-vein"	(Genesis 32:33)

2)  Work on Saturdays

	"you shall do no work"  (Exodus 20:10)

3)  Strike one's parents

	"And he that strikes his father or his mother shall surely be
	put to death"		(Deutoronomy 25:3)

4)  Not to eat t'refah (e.g., bacon)

	The punishment for this is whiplashes.

5)  Eating blood

	And you shall eat no blood whatever, whether of fowel or animal.
				(Leviticus 7:26)

	The punishment for this is kareth (devine severence of existence)

6)  Eating Snails

	The punishment for this is whiplashes

7)  Wearing wool and linen at the same time

	You shall not wear a mixed material, wool and linen together
				(Deuteronomy 22:11)

8)  Shaving your head

	You shall not round off the temples of your head
				(Leviticus 19:27)

Mr. Dickenson, Jesus taught that one must remove the log in one's own
eye before he comments on the spec in another's.  You have chosen to
persecute a group of people who are sorely troubled by a problem
which they were born with.  And you appear to do this selectively
since I do not recall seeing you post on other topics such as the
ones briefly mentioned in this regretably short article.  If you wish
to engage in a protracted exegetical discussion I remain at your service.

						Barbara

Newsgroups: alt.transgendered
From: tony@morgan.demon.co.uk (Tony Kidson)