Androgynos part of Gender and Judaism
In Jewish tradition, the term androgynos (אַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס in Hebrew, 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 gender of the individual and the legal ramifications that result based on potential gender classifications. In traditionally observant Judaism, gender plays a central role in legal obligations.Early references in Jewish literature
Though not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the Hebrew Bible itself, the idea of the androgynos is brought up in Genesis Rabbah, a Jewish commentary on the Bible written sometime between 300CE and 500CE. The commentator asserts that Adam, in the story of Creation, was created by God as an androgynos. It continues to say that later, when Eve was fashioned from his rib, God separated out the sexes, assigning Adam as male and Eve as female. 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 commentator Rashi is one notable example of a personality who adopted this approach.Gender reassignment surgery
There is a contemporary debate between modern halachic (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.
Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg (1915–2006), author of the book Tzitz 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.
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