Six Genders in Judaism?
Question
Note: you do not have to be politically correct with me in answering this question. I saw a YouTube video on middle ground between orthodox Jews and reformed Jews. One of the reformed Jew said that there are six genders in the Torah, in an attempt to justify that Judaism should accept LGBT folk. That was not discussed in the debate. So I looked online and I found that the Talmud lists six genders (Zachar, Androgynos, Tumtum, Ay’lonit, and Saris). The Talmud is not an easy read, but I gather from this that this is more referring to the intersex and hermaphrodites.
But my question is: Do these 5 gender distinctions in the Talmud also apply to the LGBT?
Answers
In Judaism, there are really only two genders: male and female. There are, however, four other categories that are defined by our Sages. The Talmud defines an androgynous as being someone who has visible reproductive organs, that are both male and female. A tumtum is someone whose reproductive organs are covered by a thick membrane, and it is not possible to identify if they are a male or a female. An aylonit is a female who does not develop at puberty, and she is not able to become pregnant. A saris is a male, who, like an aylonit, did not develop at puberty, or they were castrated. In both cases they are incapable of impregnating a woman.
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