Gender in Mishnah
a snippet from the presentation I made in Jerusalem at World Pride, about the gender hierarchy in Mishnah
The Twisted Wick: Talmud Study as Spiritual Practice for Post-Modern Jews
Why study Talmud if you are a progressive Jew? Read Rabbi Elliot Rose Kukla's exploration of the topic here.
Mishnah. Order Zera'im (Seeds), Tractate Bikkurim (First Fruits), Chapter 4 Androgynos (Hermaphrodite)
mishnah 1. The androgynos is in some things like to men and in some things like to women, and in some things like both to men and to women, and in some things like neither to men nor to women.
mishnah 2. How is he like to men? He conveys uncleanness with ‘the white’ like men; he is subject to the law of levirate marriage like men; he dresses and trims his hair like men; like men he can take a wife but cannot be taken to wife; like as at the birth of men his mother continues unclean because of him in the blood of purification; like men he may not remain alone with women; like men he does not receive maintenance with the daughters; like men he may not transgress the laws ‘Ye shall not round the corners of your head, neither shalt thou mar the corners of they beard’, and ‘Thou shalt not defile thyself for the dead’; and like men he is bound by all the commandments enjoined in the Law.
mishnah 3. How is he like to women? He conveys uncleanness with ‘the red’ like women; like women he may not remain alone with men; like women he is not subject to the law of levirate marriage; like women he does not share in the inheritance with the sons; like women he may not eat of the Hallowed Things in the Temple; like women he does not bestow the right to eat of Heave-offering; like as at the birth of women his mother continues unclean because of him in the blood of uncleanness; like women he is not eligible to give any testimony enjoined in the Law; and like women if he has suffered unlawful connexion he is ineligible to eat of Heave-offering.
mishnah 4. How is he like both to men and to women? For smiting him or cursing him guilt is incurred as for smiting or for cursing men and women; if a man slew him in error he is liable to exile, and if wantonly he is put to death like as for other men and women; his mother must bring an offering because of him like as at the birth of both men and women; and he may inherit any inheritance like both men and women.
mishnah 5. How is he like neither to men nor to women? Heave-offering need not be burnt because of uncleanness of his issue nor is penalty incurred through his entering the Temple while he is unclean, unlike both men and women; he cannot be sold as a Hebrew bondservant, unlike both men and women; and his Valuation cannot be vowed, unlike both men and women. And if a man said, ‘May I be a Nazirite if this is neither a man nor a woman!’ he must be a Nazirite. R. Jose says: An androgynos is a creature by itself, and the Sages could not decide about whether it was man or woman. But it is not so with one of doubtful sex (tumtum), since such a one is at times a man and at times a woman.
Text from the Danby Mishnah.