My Great Journey Part 8A - on the Genesis of Humanity
Introduction
In
previous posts of my blog, I have explored social/biological aspects of being
transgender, religious aspects, and the language of gender identity and sexual
orientation. In this posting I am going
to explore Biblical texts in detail, along with traditional commentaries, which
bring a very different understanding of gender, than what Western Thought and
the “Judeo/Christian/Islamic” religious leaders have taught.
I
should point out, that as a Rabbi, I use the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh. Tanakh is an acronym for Torah (the Five Books of
Moses), Nevi’im (the Books of the
Prophets) and Ketuvim
(Writings
– e.g. Psalms, Proverbs, Esther, etc).
In Judaism, we don’t refer to the “Old Testament” because we don’t
accept a New Testament. While my
exploration is Jewish in perspective, it is my hope that it will provide
meaning to anyone, transgender or not, who is grappling with religious
understandings of gender.
In this
text, I will use the original Hebrew, transliteration (the Hebrew words written
with English letters) and my own translation.
This is to make these texts accessible for all readers. I make no claim to having the definitive
translation of texts, but I strive for accuracy. Because Hebrew uses the masculine gender as
the default for male, and multiple, it gets cumbersome to write using gender
neutral language while still maintaining faith to the text.
I will
use the traditional He for God. That said, any language we use for God is
anthropomorphizing – that is we apply human characteristics to Describe God. This is because
God is infinite, transcendent and imminent, and therefore impossible to
describe in human language.
When I
cite commentaries, I will use a footnote to identify the commentary and
information about it. For general accessibility, I will use the standard
English names for Biblical books. Biblical references will look, for example,
like “Gen. 1:27” – Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27.
It is
my hope, that by bringing in some texts, with commentaries that may seem very
radical, it will provide understanding and comfort to those grappling with
these important issues.
===========================================
Origin of Humanity in Bible
Gen. 1:27
כז וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹ-ים אֶת-הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ
בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹ-ים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם:
Vayivra
El-him et ha’adam b’tzalmo; b’tzelem El-him bara oto;
zakhar
unekeiva bara otam.
God
created the Adam in His image; in the image of God he created it/him;
(a single) male and female (entity) He
created them.
The common understanding of this is that God
created males AND (or) females – in other words, a binary existence. This is not what the text states. It states
that God created a single human entity who had male and female
characteristics. When one considers that
God created humans in the image of God, this really makes sense. God has myriad
characteristics. If humans are created in God’s image, a point which is doubled
for emphasis in our verse, then we have multiple characteristics as well.
The understanding that should be derived from
this is that humans exist on a spectrum of gender and sexuality. We have multiple characteristics. Few if any people are all one or all the
other. Thus when we express a gender
that differs from our birth gender, or when we express a sexuality other than
heterosexual, we are NOT deviating from God’s creation of us. Rather we are
honoring God’s creation, by being who God created us to be.
A further understanding of this can be found
in the Midrash[1].
Genesis Rabbah 8:1[2]
אמר רבי ירמיה בן אלעזר בשעה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא את אדם
הראשון
אנדרוגינוס בראו הדא הוא
דכתיב זכר ונקבה בראם
Amar Rabbi Yirmiah ben
Elazar, b’sha’a she’bara haKadosh Barukh Hu et adam harishon, Androgynous
b’ra’o. Hada hu dikhtiv, zakhar unekeiva b’ra’am.
Rabbi Yirmiah the son of
Elazar said: when the Holy One Blessed is He created the first Adam;
God created it Androgynous
(Intersex).
Thus as it is written:
male AND female God created them.
This Midrash is
amazing. The rabbis stated that the
first Adam was an Intersex being. This
text from, almost 2000 years ago, supports the radical understanding I contend,
that humanity is NOT binary. We were created by God to have multiple
characteristics. We thus honor God’s creation by being us.
Gen 2:21-22:
כא וַיַּפֵּל ה' אֱלֹ-הִים | תַּרְדֵּמָה
עַל-הָאָדָם וַיִּישָׁן וַיִּקַּח אַחַת מִצַּלְעֹתָיו וַיִּסְגֹּר בָּשָֹר
תַּחְתֶּנָּה:
Vayapel H’ El-him tardeimah al ha’adam, vayishan, vayikah
ahat mitzal’otav, vayisgor basar tahtena.
H’ God caused sleep to fall on the Adam and he slept. And
God took one of (Adam’s) sides, and closed the flesh in its place.
כב וַיִּבֶן יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים | אֶת-הַצֵּלָע
אֲשֶׁר-לָקַח מִן-הָאָדָם לְאִשָּׁה וַיְבִאֶהָ אֶל-הָאָדָם:
Vayiven H’ El-him et hatzela asher lakah
min ha’adam l’isha, vay’vieha el ha’adam.
H’ God built the side that God took from the
Adam into a woman, and brought her to the Adam.
In these verses, we see
that God took the Intersex human, the Adam, and split it/them into two separate
people, Adam (the male part) and Hava (Eve) (the female part). God thus in this section created a binary
state, from a humanity that was non-binary. The Torah then creates the
traditional gender roles that men and women have had for millennia.
The men are the providers and rulers, the
women are the mothers and homemakers.
Both men and women are Prophets in Genesis, and both have conversations
with God.
But then it gets
interesting:
Gen 2:24
עַל-כֵּן יַעֲזָב-אִישׁ
אֶת-אָבִיו וְאֶת-אִמּוֹ וְדָבַק בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ וְהָיוּ לְבָשָֹר אֶחָד:
Al kein ya’azov ish et aviv v’et imo, v’davak b’ishto, v’hayu l’vasar ehad.
Al kein ya’azov ish et aviv v’et imo, v’davak b’ishto, v’hayu l’vasar ehad.
Thus a man shall leave his parents and cling to
his wife and they shall be as one single flesh.
So, we’ve gone from a non-binary state to a
binary state, back to a non-binary state again. Except in this case it is a
virtual state, not an actual physical state.
But why is this done?
Gen 2:18
יח וַיֹּאמֶר ה אֱלֹ-הִים לֹא-טוֹב הֱיוֹת
הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ אֶעֱשֶֹה-לּוֹ עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ:
Vayomer H’ El-him, lo tov he’yot ha’adam l’vado. E’eseh
lo ‘ezer k’negdo.
H’ God said, it is not good for the Adam to be alone. I
will create for him a helper opposite (him).
The interesting thing
is that in our verse here, God does not say, “I will create woman for man”; God
says “I will create a partner for the human.”
Thus, this section does not mandate a cis-hetero-binary existence as is
understood by society. Rather it simply states the obvious – most humans are
happier with a partner. This verse does
not define what the partner’s identity is, and nor should we.
So, in summary of this
section, God created humanity to emulate Godlike characteristics of multiple
facets. Humanity was created non-binary,
but becomes in single binary like states.
We then seek a life partner, but that partner does not need to
necessarily be a binary opposite. Thus
the story of the creation of humanity creates a sacred space for ALL humans,
irrespective of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
This exposition into the Torah of Transgender Existence will continue in future parts.
As always, I welcome comments and feedback.
Peace, Rona
[1]
The Midrash is a collection of a number of sets of works by Rabbis in Israel
and Babylonia, generally written down in the Sixth to Ninth Centuries CE
(Common Era – referred to by Christians as AD)
[2]
Midrash Rabbah is an exposition on certain Biblical texts. Genesis Rabbah explores texts in the book of Genesis.