Well-researched and a lovely article by Mark Sameth. A very rational, logical and intelligent interpretation.
35
If God were to exist, being 'no gender/race/religion assignment' seems the right call.
36
The arguments advanced here from the Hebrew Bible are highly dubious. While the consonants in Gen 3:12 do read "he," the use of the masculine pronoun to refer to women is the norm in the Pentateuch as a whole (the Masoretic reading tradition corrects this word to "she" in every case). The word that might be read "her tent" in Gen 24:16 (although the vowels and the reading tradition correct it to a masculine form) occurs also in Gen 12:8, 13:3, and 35:21; the verbs in these verses are all masculine, leaving little doubt that the characters were understood as male. The word 'omen, used about Mordecai in Esther 2:7 and about the kings in Isaiah 49:23, can refer to a nurse, but can also be used more generally to refer to a guardian of children (the Isaiah verse uses a more specific word meaning "nurse" in the next phrase--"princesses will be your nursing mothers"--making it unlikely that the author is depicting both men and women as nursing mothers). There is no evidence that the name of God was pronounced backward and meant "He/She." Even reading the word in reverse does not produce these pronouns; another consonant (aleph) is required for both words.
Although masculine language is used when referring to God in the Hebrew Bible, there are examples of feminine imagery applied to God--God is depicted as a midwife in Psalm 22:9 (verse 10 in Hebrew) and as a laboring mother in Isaiah 42:14. These examples would have been a more appropriate place to start a discussion like this.
Although masculine language is used when referring to God in the Hebrew Bible, there are examples of feminine imagery applied to God--God is depicted as a midwife in Psalm 22:9 (verse 10 in Hebrew) and as a laboring mother in Isaiah 42:14. These examples would have been a more appropriate place to start a discussion like this.
89
Rabbi Sameth:
thank you for your column.
may the heralds proclaim your words far and wide.
and may all of the earth's many and varied tribes recall that we have two ears for a purpose.
peace
22
Dear Rabbi,
I to am saddened when religion is used to justify bigotry, which is why I am a staunch supporter of the separation between Church & State.However, like all men of the cloth you justify your arguments by relating to the archaic scriptures. more so , you point out that what would appear to be typo’s were in reality purposely presented that way ,so as not to separate the genders. Truth be told, they were probably typo’s, written by delusional men whose base of knowledge were limited to a circumference of 50 miles.
Science & evolution has demonstrated the complexity of the human being, we are so complex that no two humans are exactly alike, & there are billions of us.Therefore it’s conceivable for there to be humans who are born with female desires in a male anatomy & visa versa, & there are millions of humans that feel that way. Unfortunately,norms are determined by the majority,& the minority is often scorned.
I to am saddened when religion is used to justify bigotry, which is why I am a staunch supporter of the separation between Church & State.However, like all men of the cloth you justify your arguments by relating to the archaic scriptures. more so , you point out that what would appear to be typo’s were in reality purposely presented that way ,so as not to separate the genders. Truth be told, they were probably typo’s, written by delusional men whose base of knowledge were limited to a circumference of 50 miles.
Science & evolution has demonstrated the complexity of the human being, we are so complex that no two humans are exactly alike, & there are billions of us.Therefore it’s conceivable for there to be humans who are born with female desires in a male anatomy & visa versa, & there are millions of humans that feel that way. Unfortunately,norms are determined by the majority,& the minority is often scorned.
25
Their culture ranged from Egypt to Southern Europe and on to Babylon and even India. They gave the west the first truly literate culture. They educated both sexes. Your description of my ancestors verges on bigotry, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Shabbat Shalom
15
"These aren’t typos."
Obviously true; but they could easily be "mis-scribes:.
But more to the point--Yahweh was not a biological, let alone a human being.
Humans reproduce sexually--despite the Christian story of parthenogenesis.
So they come sexed--with reproductive equipment--male, female or both (like the offspring of Hermes x Aphrodite).
Sex-play (orgasmic play) is another matter. Homosexuals have the reproductive-sex equipment of one sex, but the sex-play orientation typical of the other. Bi-sexuals are like sex-play hermaphrodites.
Yahweh was not human--so neither male, female nor hermaphrodite. So neither "he" nor "she". IT is most apt, like ET--who knows how ETs reproduced?
IT was not a sexual reproducer, but not an asexual reproducer either--IT had no cells for mitosis, no DNA, not even a body.
IT was most like a virus--at least according to the Christian parthenogenesis story. To reproduce IT needed a less borderline, more completely biological--alive--host to infect.
Of course IT was conceived as father-like because the culture was paternalistic. And IT was a creator--so a producer--thus like a re-producer.
The Greeks solved all these problems by making their supernaturals sexual beings--both as reproduction and certainly as play--covering the entire spectrum of sexplay temptation.
Obviously true; but they could easily be "mis-scribes:.
But more to the point--Yahweh was not a biological, let alone a human being.
Humans reproduce sexually--despite the Christian story of parthenogenesis.
So they come sexed--with reproductive equipment--male, female or both (like the offspring of Hermes x Aphrodite).
Sex-play (orgasmic play) is another matter. Homosexuals have the reproductive-sex equipment of one sex, but the sex-play orientation typical of the other. Bi-sexuals are like sex-play hermaphrodites.
Yahweh was not human--so neither male, female nor hermaphrodite. So neither "he" nor "she". IT is most apt, like ET--who knows how ETs reproduced?
IT was not a sexual reproducer, but not an asexual reproducer either--IT had no cells for mitosis, no DNA, not even a body.
IT was most like a virus--at least according to the Christian parthenogenesis story. To reproduce IT needed a less borderline, more completely biological--alive--host to infect.
Of course IT was conceived as father-like because the culture was paternalistic. And IT was a creator--so a producer--thus like a re-producer.
The Greeks solved all these problems by making their supernaturals sexual beings--both as reproduction and certainly as play--covering the entire spectrum of sexplay temptation.
13
Or, to paraphrase the Bard, "There are more things in heaven and earth, parishioner, than are dreamt of in your theology."
15
Funny how people start talking about hunger in the world when confronted to real issues about gender discrimination in our society. Yes, hunger is important and urgent but that's not what we are talking here about now. It's the "All Lives Matter" logic...
8
Sorry if I sound insensitive, but I am reminded of the old, old joke that I first heard back in the 60s. Concerns the little Martian who lands his space ship on the White House lawn, and is taken in to meet President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Awed by the Martian's powers of space travel, the President asks if he has passed by Heaven on his route to Earth. Martian says yes, so LBJ asks whether he's seen God. Martian again says yes. LBJ asks, what was God like? Martian says, "Well, you're not going to like this. In the first place, she's black."
23
YHWH is gender neutral but that doesn't make his commandments gender neutral nor the larger society built around that religious legal framework gender neutral. The Jewish tradition and laws are quite specific and the consequence for those who break them are quite severe, usually ending in being stoned to death. Your ability to either side step or ignore these obvious issues makes me wonder if you really are rabbi.
We live in the real world where one gender will often abuse the other to the point where such gender segregation is needed. This seems to be lost in the debate.
We live in the real world where one gender will often abuse the other to the point where such gender segregation is needed. This seems to be lost in the debate.
14
To me, asking about the gender of God (assuming he/she/whoever exists) is like asking about the gender of a mountain.
It's trying to apply a narrow definition in a logically meaningless way. Wonder of wonders, the words we use to describe human and biological structures become muddled and confused when we try to apply them to an entity of nonbiological provenance.
It's trying to apply a narrow definition in a logically meaningless way. Wonder of wonders, the words we use to describe human and biological structures become muddled and confused when we try to apply them to an entity of nonbiological provenance.
19
This is interesting, but I believe that the ancient words which he uses for argument refer to qualities necessary for survival and continuity rather than a personal physical adoption of gender. The words relate to communal ideas of power.
5
isn't it simpler to assert that god has little interest in identity politics? doesn't s/he have bigger fish to fry?
i'm certainly in favor of live and let live, and greet with compassion and respect. but calling god into the witness stand is leveling with the wrong spirit level.
it's not convincing to assert that identities are fluid because your imaginary playmate says so. god is only a concept, like race, and invoking a concept to justify a life is a really feeble defense of human dignity.
we need to focus more on people for their intrinsic qualities -- the ways in which they actually feel their condition and affect outcomes in the real world -- not for what god has to say about them.
i'm certainly in favor of live and let live, and greet with compassion and respect. but calling god into the witness stand is leveling with the wrong spirit level.
it's not convincing to assert that identities are fluid because your imaginary playmate says so. god is only a concept, like race, and invoking a concept to justify a life is a really feeble defense of human dignity.
we need to focus more on people for their intrinsic qualities -- the ways in which they actually feel their condition and affect outcomes in the real world -- not for what god has to say about them.
11
"Scientists now tell us that gender identity, like sexual orientation, exists on a spectrum."
Thanks for the scientific explanation, but please leave the bible out of it. Too many problems in the world today are based on modern interpretations of ancient books. Sometimes they support my view, sometimes they don't, but really I don't want them used for the way modern society lives. One of the things I really like about the US is separation of church and state. Let's get back to it.
Thanks for the scientific explanation, but please leave the bible out of it. Too many problems in the world today are based on modern interpretations of ancient books. Sometimes they support my view, sometimes they don't, but really I don't want them used for the way modern society lives. One of the things I really like about the US is separation of church and state. Let's get back to it.
22
Recently listening to a brief radio interview, an international public health expert mentioned that 2.6 billion people had difficult access to latrines? I believe the speaker is from a Catholic relief organization and has worked for decades in humanitarian organizations. Great progress has been made in developing countries, India and China, this is becoming a global necessity for safety and sanitation, and women are still walking miles in parts of Africa to find healthy drinking water.
'Send us prayers and music for rain' asked a friend and a colleague assigned to South Sudan, and I doubt this has anything to do with God being Transgender. When a doctor, a working nun and a friend of years came to stay in New York, I asked her for an opinion on 'The Clergyman's Daughter', a little known work by George Orwell where he brings up the matter of whether one can survive after losing one's faith. Be as it may, my friend replied this is not a 'good' God, not the one I am giving my life for.
Perhaps while honoring diverse religions and gods, the world could use more
goodness laced with some magic.
'Send us prayers and music for rain' asked a friend and a colleague assigned to South Sudan, and I doubt this has anything to do with God being Transgender. When a doctor, a working nun and a friend of years came to stay in New York, I asked her for an opinion on 'The Clergyman's Daughter', a little known work by George Orwell where he brings up the matter of whether one can survive after losing one's faith. Be as it may, my friend replied this is not a 'good' God, not the one I am giving my life for.
Perhaps while honoring diverse religions and gods, the world could use more
goodness laced with some magic.
7
It would help if there was some conceptual clarity around these issues. To oversimplify (slightly) we can usefully distinguish between sex and gender. Sex has to do with a variety of biological features: chromosomes, organs, hormones, secondary sex characteristics. Maybe there are some psychological and behavioral traits associated with biological sex as well (perhaps women are naturally more empathetic, for instance) but if there are these correlations they are only that. (Men are taller than women on average, but there are some women who are taller than some men. Similarly, even if women are more empathetic on average, there are some men who are more empathetic than some women.) Gender has to do more with social role. So when you say God is transgender, what does that mean? That God has a social identity different from his/her biological identity? Huh? That makes no sense. That God doesn't fit into our human stereotypes about how women/men should behave? Why should he/she/it? Perhaps that people in early religious culture recognized that the biological division of people into male and female didn't map on to God very well? Well, good for them, but this hardly shows that God is transgender. There's a difference between being transgender and being the sort of thing to which gender doesn't really apply.
15
The real value of this piece is the concept of sexuality or gender has a "range" and is not either/or. I've never really thought of it that way. I did understand that there were people who were transgendered, heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual, but I really never considered the different shades of grey being possible. This concept really opens one's mind to different possibilities.
Many of the comments are dismissive of religion and of this article. I think they are missing the point and an important line of reasoning to use with the most dogged of the resistance to equal rights for LBGT individuals. Conservative religions doctrine is the main resistors to social fairness. It is so dogged because it bases its opposition on a belief system based on the Bible. I would expect the only way to sway that belief is to find the acceptance of LBGT in that same book.
Many of the comments are dismissive of religion and of this article. I think they are missing the point and an important line of reasoning to use with the most dogged of the resistance to equal rights for LBGT individuals. Conservative religions doctrine is the main resistors to social fairness. It is so dogged because it bases its opposition on a belief system based on the Bible. I would expect the only way to sway that belief is to find the acceptance of LBGT in that same book.
15
No of course not, the entity has no gender as is appropriate for a non-human.
10
God is not a man, declares the Torah (Numbers 23:19). Thus, as Maimonides wrote, because God is not a man and is outside time and space, any terms we mortals use to describe "him" are erroneous, as a limitation on the limitless God. As such, the only way we can properly describe God is by using negatives, to state what God is not (e.g. God is not limited).
Beyond that, it's all theological mumbo-jumbo, as the finite try to describe and understand the infinite.
Good luck on that!
Beyond that, it's all theological mumbo-jumbo, as the finite try to describe and understand the infinite.
Good luck on that!
18
Seriously? G-d is transgender? This is an insult to G-d. Not because calling someone transgender is an insult, but because applying any sex to G-d and then saying that is fact is utterly blasphemous and I speak as a Jew who has studied Jewish theology explicitely. G-d is referred to as He when he is acting as the Father and She when he is acting as a Mother; assigning an actual physical gender to such descriptions does a disservice to a being as far above us as we are above microbes. Come on, if this argument is valid you don't need to concoct some dribble about a word choice made four thousand years ago (and your point about Yahweh is entirely and completely wrong according to darn near ever scholar of biblical Hebrew that has ever existed) and instead should talk about the old testaments commandments towards treating others. This is simply another example of someone twisting religious scripture to make a political point, and though the intention is good the act is intrinsically manipulative and subversive
23
I simply love this sort of academic realism when it comes to "sacred texts". Especially when it undermines what I refer to as the tradition and practice of Xtian-dominionism over the Jewish texts that early Church fathers "stole" to use as a legitimizer for their upstart, often reviled new Religion. Xtianity all too quickly became the ONLY (self-appointed BTW) legitimate interpreter of Jewish texts - and the belief lingers (malingers) with today's American Xtian organizations where they often outright dismiss any Jewish readings of their own texts. And it all manifests in modern xtians, usually American Evangelicals, claiming ONLY they know the TRUE thoughts and TRUE desires of their co-opted God. Which to them means he literally hates all things they hate. (Their God is basically what they want him to be, when they want him to be it.)
That said, most of the ancient cultures in the "known-world" possessed a certain sexual ambiguity in their Gods, and as such also among themselves. Men (and women) had lovers of both sexes, or such extremely intimate relationships that today they'd freak-out most Evangelical Americans. But this reality is either deemed misread by scholars, or more likely as a means to undermine good xtian values. A conspiracy they wholly believe is all a part of Satan's real work in the world.
We live in an age where only two Religions (Islam and Christianity) are back to being used as weapons for political and social causes. Its a sort of new Dark Ages.
That said, most of the ancient cultures in the "known-world" possessed a certain sexual ambiguity in their Gods, and as such also among themselves. Men (and women) had lovers of both sexes, or such extremely intimate relationships that today they'd freak-out most Evangelical Americans. But this reality is either deemed misread by scholars, or more likely as a means to undermine good xtian values. A conspiracy they wholly believe is all a part of Satan's real work in the world.
We live in an age where only two Religions (Islam and Christianity) are back to being used as weapons for political and social causes. Its a sort of new Dark Ages.
17
God is genderless because gender is an aspect of a sexual reproduction strategy, and the concept of reproduction is moot for a God who is singular and unitary.
15
Transgender issues are difficult to discuss because many people think the adjective “transgender” refers to a female who was formerly a male or to a male who was formerly a female, as if they have made a transition from one sex to another. But the adjective “transgender” does not refer to a person who has made a “transition” from male to female or from female to male. It refers to a person whose gender identify is a mismatch with their actual sex. A “transgender woman” is a man who gender identifies as a female. A “transgender man” is a woman who gender identifies as male. If men could actually become women or if women could actually become men, there would be no transgender issue. The issue is not whether a man who has become a woman should permitted to use the women’s room, but whether a man who gender identifies as a woman should be permitted to use the women’s room. The issue is not whether a women who has become a man should be permitted to use the men’s room, but where a woman who gender identifies as a man should be permitted to use the men’s room. Applicable laws, such as Title IX, clearly refer to biological sex, not gender identity.
9
It may be amusing to ask about the gender identity of God. But we can only know God by what exists. And what exists gives us no clue to the gender nature of God.
From what exists we know only that, whatever God is or isn't, or even if God does not exist separate from all that is, that gender exists. Not only does gender exist, but among those things we define as living, all kinds of gender relationships and strategies are apparently necessary to perpetuate life, even individuals within species which are not to procreate, but serve finite roles, like worker bees.
From this, and knowing that variations within life serve a purpose, we should, in wisdom-humility, accept all, and not arrogantly conclude that none are better or worse, right or wrong, sinful or holy. None of us, human or otherwise, chose, with or without intent, to be as we are. We are as nature has seen fit. We will question, because we are curious. But we should realize curiosity, like gender, has its purpose, which is to know, to realize, not to judge.
From what exists we know only that, whatever God is or isn't, or even if God does not exist separate from all that is, that gender exists. Not only does gender exist, but among those things we define as living, all kinds of gender relationships and strategies are apparently necessary to perpetuate life, even individuals within species which are not to procreate, but serve finite roles, like worker bees.
From this, and knowing that variations within life serve a purpose, we should, in wisdom-humility, accept all, and not arrogantly conclude that none are better or worse, right or wrong, sinful or holy. None of us, human or otherwise, chose, with or without intent, to be as we are. We are as nature has seen fit. We will question, because we are curious. But we should realize curiosity, like gender, has its purpose, which is to know, to realize, not to judge.
9
Every chief deity has had the powers of creation and annihilation. These are innate in the evolutionary process. The generation of cells and the evolution of species requires continual cell death and the creation of new cells from which variations will increase or decrease the ability of the individual to survive and produce a new generation. We are all genetic relatives. The closer our genetic relations, the more secure we feel. It has nothing to do with intelligence or logic.
We are tool-making primates. Our knowledge and cultures depend on our use of improved tools. We main the creatures dependent on nature's laws of survival.
We are tool-making primates. Our knowledge and cultures depend on our use of improved tools. We main the creatures dependent on nature's laws of survival.
Interesting to me is that the rabbi does not use the word androgyny, possibly because it is of Greek origin, meaning both male and female. This term is used to describe the "fluidity" of gender among Greek gods. This fluidity has the same connotation of a "spectrum" of gender. I do appreciate the rabbi's discussion of the "dual-gendered deity", a concept revealed to me in both protestant bible study and my studies of mythology, chiefly through Carl Jung.
The issue of God aside, the gender of a human is determined, as we now understand it, at some point in fetal development, by the change (or not) from an initial XX gene (female) to XY (male). As we also know, both male and female possess estrogen and testosterone, in varying relative amounts. These attributes are, of course, subject to the exigencies of nature which may affect the process of gender determination. (Unfortunately for his wives, Henry the VIIIth did not know it is the male whose physiology calls the shots in the gender of their offspring.)
As in so many other areas, in the West at least, we have long been resistant to changing our understanding of "the way things are" in accordance with the progress of scientific knowledge.
The issue of God aside, the gender of a human is determined, as we now understand it, at some point in fetal development, by the change (or not) from an initial XX gene (female) to XY (male). As we also know, both male and female possess estrogen and testosterone, in varying relative amounts. These attributes are, of course, subject to the exigencies of nature which may affect the process of gender determination. (Unfortunately for his wives, Henry the VIIIth did not know it is the male whose physiology calls the shots in the gender of their offspring.)
As in so many other areas, in the West at least, we have long been resistant to changing our understanding of "the way things are" in accordance with the progress of scientific knowledge.
3
Re "Is God Transgender?" Possibly, possibly not. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that God has whatever qualities or characteristics his/her/its believers attribute to him/her/it, including existence.
Each believer's "truth" is nothing more than a speculation they find pleasing. Ask them the obvious: "Do you believe it because it is true?" "Or is it true because you believe it?"
The history of religion is a matter of endless speculating seeking to establish itself as truth. The urge to do that is clear. God-talk can only be murky, a condition humanity seems to have trouble living with.
Each believer's "truth" is nothing more than a speculation they find pleasing. Ask them the obvious: "Do you believe it because it is true?" "Or is it true because you believe it?"
The history of religion is a matter of endless speculating seeking to establish itself as truth. The urge to do that is clear. God-talk can only be murky, a condition humanity seems to have trouble living with.
3
For all believers, God exists and is an omnipotent presence. And for those believers, his gender assignment should be inconsequential because God is well, God! But if each believer has assigned God in his/her own way, then they have a right to their beliefs. But live and let live, to each their own. I am sick of this gender issues. First bathrooms, now God!!Why don't we all come together and just have mutual respect?
2
I think nature and biology is clear and unambiguous on this subject given the distinct and obvious differences between the sexes.
2
I think people are missing the point. This op-ed is about the author's historical investigation and interpretation of the texts of the Bible, and the mindset of the people of the era who wrote it. It's no different than uncovering tools in an archaeological dig and trying to figure out what their purpose was.
When the Rabbi quotes the text, he does so as a scholar, not because he believes it was delivered by God or is trying to shove God down our throats. There is no mention in the op-ed that God wrote the Bible, that God exists or that we should believe in a God. While there may be hell to pay if one questions the Christian God, it's not the same in Judaism.
When the Rabbi quotes the text, he does so as a scholar, not because he believes it was delivered by God or is trying to shove God down our throats. There is no mention in the op-ed that God wrote the Bible, that God exists or that we should believe in a God. While there may be hell to pay if one questions the Christian God, it's not the same in Judaism.
10
You are really onto something here.
It brings to mind the outrageous discrimination on display right now: the olympics.
The Olympic Committee is obviously and flagrantly using a binary gender system to discriminate against transgenders, and it is time for progressives to end their tolerance of the situation. Men who think they are women must be allowed to compete in the "Women's" events!
I am not a "progressive" (I am ashamed to say), but I am sure the NYT editorial board can express the outrage felt by progressives over this flagrant anti-LGBT behaviour.
It brings to mind the outrageous discrimination on display right now: the olympics.
The Olympic Committee is obviously and flagrantly using a binary gender system to discriminate against transgenders, and it is time for progressives to end their tolerance of the situation. Men who think they are women must be allowed to compete in the "Women's" events!
I am not a "progressive" (I am ashamed to say), but I am sure the NYT editorial board can express the outrage felt by progressives over this flagrant anti-LGBT behaviour.
3
I found this commentary fascinating. When I attended seminary, we were taught the writers and recorders of the ancient Hebrew scriptures took the 10 commandments very seriously. Choosing not to take God's name in vain, the consonants of one name for God were fused with the vowels of another name for God. Is this fusion theory now considered unsatisfactory by contemporary Biblical scholars?
What a fine example of "cherry picking" AND anachronistic thinking (i.e. eisegetically inserting one's own contemporary morality into ancient texts by relying on questionable interpretation, rather than letting a plain-text reading stand on its own).
Without question, the earliest-recorded Jewish worldview was not unlike most of their neighbors: patriarchal and misogynistic, viewing women as property to do with as the male head of the family pleases (see Jephthah's daughter being sacrificed to YHWH).
And as a rabbi, surely the author must be aware that a literal reading of Leviticus prohibited not just women, but also the disabled, from entering into the Kohen brotherhood to serve as Temple priests (it was a familial occupation: one was borne into the career, i.e. nepotism). Not exactly ADA-compliant, nor consistent with current social norms.
This bit of revisionist history would make even Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson blush.
Without question, the earliest-recorded Jewish worldview was not unlike most of their neighbors: patriarchal and misogynistic, viewing women as property to do with as the male head of the family pleases (see Jephthah's daughter being sacrificed to YHWH).
And as a rabbi, surely the author must be aware that a literal reading of Leviticus prohibited not just women, but also the disabled, from entering into the Kohen brotherhood to serve as Temple priests (it was a familial occupation: one was borne into the career, i.e. nepotism). Not exactly ADA-compliant, nor consistent with current social norms.
This bit of revisionist history would make even Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson blush.
1
In Response to C.C. Kegel, Ph.D.:
I like to think that the shift from thinking in binary terms to the understanding that sexual orientation is many faceted is linked to a spirit of inclusiveness that suggests all people count and all deserve food, clothing, a roof over their heads, education and health care. Maybe this is a too broad-brush kind of thinking--like the paradigm shift that many used to talk about--but it still seems plausible to me. I just hope we can make this shift fast enough to save the planet and us all.
I like to think that the shift from thinking in binary terms to the understanding that sexual orientation is many faceted is linked to a spirit of inclusiveness that suggests all people count and all deserve food, clothing, a roof over their heads, education and health care. Maybe this is a too broad-brush kind of thinking--like the paradigm shift that many used to talk about--but it still seems plausible to me. I just hope we can make this shift fast enough to save the planet and us all.
6
"These aren’t typos." OK, not typos but weren't these texts copied by hand over and over for several millennia? When you do calligraphy, a lot of spelling errors are made because of the scribe's concentration on forming the letters well. I'm not going to read too much into these instances of "gender fluidity" in the bible. I don't believe in religious fictions anyway.
4
He/She does not mean a singular entity with dual genders. It means that the the real definition of God is an exalted man and an exalted woman married together in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. And we are created in Their image.
Other history tells us that it was Queen Victoria who set us on the course of strict male/female gender dichotomy. Prior to that, there was more understanding of the fluidity. Not necessarily tolerance, but understanding.
3
Transgender is not a matter of what is found in the ancient holyn texts we call the Bible. Transgender is a construction of the modern holy text we call the DSM-V. As modern people we understand biology, psychology, and psychopathology in a way the ancients didn't. However, psychiatry is prone to political pressure, and how we view transgender is a blend of psychiatry, politics, and a modern Western tendency to blur the boundaries around sexual orientation and gender in the service of politics.
4
The argument against rigid gender stereotypes is well-taken, but basing it on Biblical pronouns is not. Biblical Hebrew is loose with gender in many, many more places than Sameth cites. But that didn't prevent the prohibition against men dressing in women's clothes in Leviticus. And it is absurd to think that ancient priests, with no experience at all of any language that moves from left to right, would suddenly decide to read Hebrew from left to right, let alone find the words for "he" and "she" in YHWH without their alephs (which in Hebrew is a consonant, not a dispensable vowel). This is an irresponsible article that taints an otherwise just cause.
8
The good rabbi cites "gender elasticity" as a biblical benefit, but the Old Testament is also awash with the notion of ritual purity, which I believe lies at the root of all conservative ideology.
In ancient Judea, women who had given birth to a boy were considered impure for forty days, while a girl child rendered her mother impure for eighty days -- hardly an example of gender equality, but indicative of the notion of "impurity" in those barbaric days. And don't even get me started on the ritual impurity associated with seminal emissions.
As for the "he" and "she" mix-ups in the Hebrew Bible, I believe they were indeed typos. But they're minor, considering all the other nonsense one finds there.
In ancient Judea, women who had given birth to a boy were considered impure for forty days, while a girl child rendered her mother impure for eighty days -- hardly an example of gender equality, but indicative of the notion of "impurity" in those barbaric days. And don't even get me started on the ritual impurity associated with seminal emissions.
As for the "he" and "she" mix-ups in the Hebrew Bible, I believe they were indeed typos. But they're minor, considering all the other nonsense one finds there.
5
Thank you for writing this.
3
Many European countries have "genderless" public bathrooms. I saw this in the 1960's and wondered then why we Americans have a defined gendered bathroom facility. Why not just have all of our restroom facilities genderless????? No male or female signs - just a sign saying: BATHROOM.
11
God is omni-gender!
5
I just love the debunking of Christian orthodoxy. God as "HE?!" God as "SHE?!" Boys and girls we really need to get over our egotistical selves. This is a Theist on the line. We're better off with God being "It" or just "I AM."
1
One of the first rules of argument is: settle on the definition of your words. Those little signs on the locker room doors do not relate to “gender”; they relate to “sex”. Like all other aspects of biology, birth defects or genetic missteps occasionally produce “freaks” (not a term of disparagement) like “intersex” or hermaphrodites.
But as respects so-called “transgendered”, there exists no dispute as to their sex.
“Gender” means whatever the left chooses it to mean; some folks aver there are dozens.
But sex IS binary.
One is not “assigned” a gender at birth; with the exception of “freaks”, one simple IS either a male or a female, based upon biology and genetics. And we create separate facilities for the TWO sexes for a very good reason. Sex is NOT a matter of subjective personal opinion, but of indisputable scientific fact.
If you have male genitalia, but you believe you’re a woman, you’re delusional. Delusions are not the proper subject of civil rights protections. Your delusion may be unfortunate, or you might embrace it. Either way, live as best you can, and, if others don’t want to deal with you, there’s simply no governmental dog in that fight. You’re free to disagree with them, but not to sic the law on them, because you’re not free to impose your delusion on others.
We should not be setting policy based upon the delusions out 3 out of 1000 people. The legitimate privacy concerns of the 997 outweigh the feelings of the 3.
But as respects so-called “transgendered”, there exists no dispute as to their sex.
“Gender” means whatever the left chooses it to mean; some folks aver there are dozens.
But sex IS binary.
One is not “assigned” a gender at birth; with the exception of “freaks”, one simple IS either a male or a female, based upon biology and genetics. And we create separate facilities for the TWO sexes for a very good reason. Sex is NOT a matter of subjective personal opinion, but of indisputable scientific fact.
If you have male genitalia, but you believe you’re a woman, you’re delusional. Delusions are not the proper subject of civil rights protections. Your delusion may be unfortunate, or you might embrace it. Either way, live as best you can, and, if others don’t want to deal with you, there’s simply no governmental dog in that fight. You’re free to disagree with them, but not to sic the law on them, because you’re not free to impose your delusion on others.
We should not be setting policy based upon the delusions out 3 out of 1000 people. The legitimate privacy concerns of the 997 outweigh the feelings of the 3.
9
In Judaism God has no physical form. As one rabbi explained, God has no body, no genitalia, therefore the very idea that God is male or female is patently absurd. We refer to God using masculine terms simply for convenience's sake, because Hebrew has no neutral gender; God is no more male than a table is.
9
For all those that stated that we as people should be more concerned about poverty, racism, homelessness etc, I agree with you 100%. Otherwise this is one of the most ridiculous pieces that I've read in a long time. The Bible is clear about this subject. Whether you believe it or not is totally up to each individual.
12
It is amazing to me how as people we so often try and place ourselves in a position of authority to judge and constantly label people so they may fit into a societal box. Thought...what if we we simply just tried loving one another instead of labeling. Besides for those of us that were born as inter-sexed or live with Kleinfelders syndrome you may not be making such broad based assumptions and judgements.
4
mmmmm, God is spirit thus no gender, the triune God under the second person
incarnated as a male.
in what logic, in what universe , does anyone think Jesus could have come as a female ? God freely choose the male role.
the poor logic of the Rabbi has lost itself in the muddle of pure materialism,
a morass of unglued thought.
one can be sympathetic to the souls who are confused, but that's not to say
one will leap into the morass for them- that is the most unjust thing one could choose
incarnated as a male.
in what logic, in what universe , does anyone think Jesus could have come as a female ? God freely choose the male role.
the poor logic of the Rabbi has lost itself in the muddle of pure materialism,
a morass of unglued thought.
one can be sympathetic to the souls who are confused, but that's not to say
one will leap into the morass for them- that is the most unjust thing one could choose
3
Jesus was a god-made-man, mjb, not a god.
1
Wow. As someone trained in biblical studies, I'm surprised at the level of silliness in this article. Apart from the more complicated issues regarding transgender, this article poorly interacts with the biblical text. It's driven by an attempt to garner attention; pure click-bait. And then it's given a false level of authority by the author's "I'm a rabbi; I know." Poor work.
14
Humans may be transgender, but God -- in the theoretical extreme -- is supragender.
4
Whenever I read these words of wisdom I think back to a remarkable interview Terry Gross had with Sister Wendy. Terry was discussing who actually painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the good sister said that history was always open to interpretation. History was an oral to written tradition - "I am sure of only two things 1. There is a God. 2. And that God is total love." So while this Rabbi's interpretation might be correct, it might not be as well. What we do know is that God loves all of us - straight, gay, bi, trans, christian, jew, muslim, buddhist, taoist.
8
I seem to recall an episode of All in the Family in which Archie argues with Meathead over what God looks like. Convoluting the scripture in making his point, atheist Meathead asked, "You mean God looks like you?", drawing a smile from Archie.
Whether a person believes in a higher power or not, the only positive power of one's faith should be in creating more comforted thought, peace, and understanding within this corporeal world.
Whether a person believes in a higher power or not, the only positive power of one's faith should be in creating more comforted thought, peace, and understanding within this corporeal world.
11
While living in Istanbul, Turkey, I was discussing Allah with an acquaintance and the issue of the gender of god came up. I said I thought Allah must certainly be considered a "he." My teaching associate stated that Allah (she was a Sunni) was considered either both female and male, or gender-less. Good to know...
11
Beings that offer foe and friend loving kindness, compassion and generosity to all beings unconditionally is the definition of God.
6
Religion always behind science. Some Rabbi should published this thousand years ago when GOD told them and a lot of people would not suffered discrimination
4
Genesis, the first book of the Bible, states that God created man in his image, and then he took a rib from the man, named Adam, and fashioned a woman, named Eve, to be his companion. Enough said. Thank you.
5
Those scraps of papyrus were written by sun-crazed men.
Give up theold superstitions!
Give up theold superstitions!
13
When I go to France, nobody seems to care one way or the other where anyone goes to the bathroom. There are unisex bathrooms in McDonald's in Paris, urinals without walls on beaches, I've even seen women in traffic jams get out of the car and do their business next to a tree. So what? It's no big deal. Game over. However, in America, land of the "free", it's flat out silly. I mean, you gotta go.....you gotta go. So go. Now we drag God into it all. By the way, I don't think God cares at all. I'm convinced God is a chameleon. He sits under a tree in one part of the world, has multiple personality disorder in several others, passive-agressively He dumps all the responsibility for everything on His only child, is part of some bizarre mens club in other parts of the world, He's a She in a lot of other places, He/She is loving but tends to toss people into a fiery pit in other parts of the world, and is also some sort of hippie selling yoga mixed with snake-oil. Then He/She leaves everyone else fighting all over the place. Transgender? Why not?
15
There is no issue involving unisex restrooms. The issue is whether multi-occupancy restrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms can be segregated by sex.
4
Thank you, Rabbi Sameth, for this essay. Lovely.
18
If one believes in god - and I do - then it is whatever one believes. My god is a loving god, not a judgemental one. I believe it's a universal consciousness with no discriminatory thoughts - about another person's faith, gender, race, color or any other "measurement" human beings use.
4
Nature is as nonjudgmental about sex as it is about everything else people do. The personalties people project onto it are entirely artificial.
17
That's it, you got it! I was just reading about an elephant in India that strayed into Bangladesh. How would Nature recognize country borders. She rejects these man made cartographic barriers.
9
The concept of "God" is outmoded.
How often would "God" have sex--- and would it always be "great?"
Exactly with whom would a sexed God have sex?
I think it's rather clear that Man created God and not vice-versa.
How often would "God" have sex--- and would it always be "great?"
Exactly with whom would a sexed God have sex?
I think it's rather clear that Man created God and not vice-versa.
17
Aramaic, the language of the Jews in Jesus' time, is not like Greek, there is a blurring of genders, so Our Father Who Art in heaven may actually be, by one writer's opinion, "Our mother, father, creator of the universe"
10
Thank you for this article. My view is that the labels "he" and "she" have never captured the human experience. They are boxes that we create by society and do not reflect the nuance within all human lives.
5
If God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-present, so holy that not even [its] name might be mentioned as the Talmud asserts, then it, not he or she, is the immanent cause and effect of everything. Contrary to our impulse to anthropomorphize everything, anything that is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent is not human, so it hasn't a gender.
And if, as it seems clear, that among humans sexual identity is analog, not digital or binary, then the fact of this ambiguity must be part of God's plan, which we can only ever glimpse poorly, as through a looking glass.
Like all else in God's creation, gender fluidity among humans is both a cause and an effect of God. Transgenders are just as godly as gays and straights and everything in between. Accept it and act accordingly.
And if, as it seems clear, that among humans sexual identity is analog, not digital or binary, then the fact of this ambiguity must be part of God's plan, which we can only ever glimpse poorly, as through a looking glass.
Like all else in God's creation, gender fluidity among humans is both a cause and an effect of God. Transgenders are just as godly as gays and straights and everything in between. Accept it and act accordingly.
4
I think in any time and place, historically, there must have been plenty of people who understood that gender was fluid, or questioned notions of masculinity and femininity. And others who, even if they had never really given much thought to gender differences, simply were inclined to accept people for who they were without judgment. There have always been people who are inclined to divide people up according to perceived differences or who are looking for reasons to condemn other people as wrong and evil - and others who are more accepting and just hope for everyone to get along.
It is usually based on fear. If I look at you and find a reason to judge you - you look different, you dress differently, you don't fit the norms or the stereotypes in my head, whether it's gender differences or race, religion, etc. - then if I'm quick to point a finger at you, it's because I hope no one will notice that I, too, am different in certain ways, and point the finger at ME.
It is usually based on fear. If I look at you and find a reason to judge you - you look different, you dress differently, you don't fit the norms or the stereotypes in my head, whether it's gender differences or race, religion, etc. - then if I'm quick to point a finger at you, it's because I hope no one will notice that I, too, am different in certain ways, and point the finger at ME.
5
100 years, we probably did not have such an issue. So, we should look closer at chemical effects on biology and human physiology, and not blame this and that, without the hard evidence, meaning, scientific proof, all else is absurd to say the least. Religion and beliefs should NOT have anything to say about this issue. so, stay out and remain out.
4
Well in fairness religious texts can be cherry picked to suit almost any point of view. This column just serves to insult and degrade anyone who still disagrees and is still not comfortable with anything other than a male or female sex assignment. And to be more fair, this is where so many of us were not that long ago. Acceptance will come, but not this way.
1
Here is the thing ... one day you will face him in judgment ... then you will see whether twisting him to fit your world view worked or not. I think you will be surprised and it will be too late.
4
Does anyone know if Grossman the inspiration of Mr. Garrison in South Park?
The double ambiguity of this, like come on. God is just genderless energy. Physics is God.
The double ambiguity of this, like come on. God is just genderless energy. Physics is God.
3
Have you noticed how many writers here know what God is? Or Who He/She is? I wonder where they got the information, the TRUE and correct information?
7
Thank you Rabbi for your compassionate discourse. Compassion helps to make the world a better, brighter place .....
9
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) believe that there is both a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother, which is interesting in light of the assertion that the name of God is both male and female. This is one of the foundations of the Mormon belief that we are literally the offspring of God, created (both male and female) in God's image.
4
They also believe their underwear is bullet proof.
Just saying...
Just saying...
17
No, that's an urban myth. They wear religious ceremonial clothing as a symbol of their constant commitment to God. They believe this gives them spiritual protection. Some Mormons will assert these garments have also has provided them with physical protection under certain circumstance, but this is similar to those stories about people having their lives saved by a Bible in their breast pocket--who can say?
6
When we accept our neighbor with compassion and generosity no matter of lifestyle or behavior. We honor ourselves. When we are able to be accept equally our foe and friend with respect. We we have honored God.
4
Why would anyone care what the Bible says?
13
money to be made
9
Gender may not be a "simple binary" but it's mostly binary. Humanity is singular.
4
The writer, a rabbi, is going through extreme Talmudic contortions to justify what the Torah explicitly says is prohibited. It explicitly states, for example, that homosexuality is punishable by death.
And the word Yehova is written in the Torah as "yud," "hey," "vuv," "hey," which is pronounced - for those who read Hebrew - as Yehova. There's no other way to read it - it's not read backwards.
I am taking no position here on the qualifications of this rabbi or the values in the Torah, but I do believe one should know and understand what it says before rendering opinions about it.
And the word Yehova is written in the Torah as "yud," "hey," "vuv," "hey," which is pronounced - for those who read Hebrew - as Yehova. There's no other way to read it - it's not read backwards.
I am taking no position here on the qualifications of this rabbi or the values in the Torah, but I do believe one should know and understand what it says before rendering opinions about it.
17
Thanks to the author for actually reading the text in its original language. Having done the same myself I agree with his findings - these are only a few of many examples where gender is fluid, especially in reference to YHWH.
The Torah never uses the word homosexuality. This is a modern term was coined in the late 1800s. The Torah forbid violent sexual behavior between men and advocated for male/female procreation, which makes sense given that the Israelites were a nomadic tribe and needed to reproduce. Also, few Christians or Jews actually follow all of the laws (ie, dietary laws) and seem to believe they are still banner holders for their faith. What's the difference between accepting a more modern understanding of dietary practices and sexual practices?
This aside from the point, as this article deals with gender identity and not sexual preference. No one who has understands the Hebrew and is truthful can disagree. The bible was not penned in the King's English as much as many who have commented would lead you to believe.
The Torah never uses the word homosexuality. This is a modern term was coined in the late 1800s. The Torah forbid violent sexual behavior between men and advocated for male/female procreation, which makes sense given that the Israelites were a nomadic tribe and needed to reproduce. Also, few Christians or Jews actually follow all of the laws (ie, dietary laws) and seem to believe they are still banner holders for their faith. What's the difference between accepting a more modern understanding of dietary practices and sexual practices?
This aside from the point, as this article deals with gender identity and not sexual preference. No one who has understands the Hebrew and is truthful can disagree. The bible was not penned in the King's English as much as many who have commented would lead you to believe.
6
Informative work. Thank you Rabbi Sameth.
2
Arguing over the gender of the Israelite deity is like arguing about which superhero is strongest (e.g., Superman vs. Hulk) and for the same reason.
67
Its all make believe so whats the point in spinning a different version of the fairy tale ? Maybe to be more tolerant to homophobes, thats about it.
8
I notice that without fanfare the new Arclight Cinema here in Santa Monica has private, one person, lockable bathrooms with a man and a woman on the sign. They also have bathrooms with a man sign with many stalls and bathrooms with a woman sign with many stalls. They also have a bathroom(s) with a family group on the sign.
That seems to be handling the which bathroom to use blown-out-of-all proportion issue sensibly.
I noticed the Target store does the same thing, more or less.
As usual America over-reacts, brings God into a non-religious issue and before I finish typing this somebody will probably have been shot over it...or have they been already?
That seems to be handling the which bathroom to use blown-out-of-all proportion issue sensibly.
I noticed the Target store does the same thing, more or less.
As usual America over-reacts, brings God into a non-religious issue and before I finish typing this somebody will probably have been shot over it...or have they been already?
13
Does the "family group" on the sign represent a family as a man, woman and child? I find those to be offensively heteronormative.
2
Why can't they just represent whatever you need them to represent?
I've never even heard the word heteronormative, though I understand what it means.
I've never even heard the word heteronormative, though I understand what it means.
1
This is interesting, but irrelevant to the basic concerns of most Americans on the question of transgender people. As a society, we should work toward people being comfortable in their own skins, whatever their gender preferences. The modern view that chemicals and surgery can change someone into something that person is NOT is nothing more than a extreme version of cosmetic surgery.
It is far more healthy and sane for society to accept people's brains in the bodies that they were born with than to demand that the body be remanufactured to match the brain. The anguish that transgenders experience isn't the fault of either their bodies or their brains. It's the fault of our culture, mores and society.
If there is one God, it is the God of both men and women. It necessarily must partake of the essence of BOTH. It cannot be binary.
It is far more healthy and sane for society to accept people's brains in the bodies that they were born with than to demand that the body be remanufactured to match the brain. The anguish that transgenders experience isn't the fault of either their bodies or their brains. It's the fault of our culture, mores and society.
If there is one God, it is the God of both men and women. It necessarily must partake of the essence of BOTH. It cannot be binary.
6
No one doubts that transgender people existed in biblical times, but what possible connection could this have to the current debate over sex-segregated public restrooms? Few Americans think of sex-segregated public restrooms as a religious issue. Most women don’t like sharing restrooms with men and most men don’t like sharing restrooms with women due to sexual modesty. The United States has been segregating public bathrooms by sex since cities grew urbane enough to offer separate facilities for men and women. In Upton Sinclair’s novel “Main Street,” free-spirited, liberal-minded, progressive Carol Milford’s first major contribution to the frontier town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, is the construction of a public restroom for women. After arriving in Gopher Prairie from St. Paul, Carol notices that the farm women who came to town in their horse-drawn wagons refuse to use the town’s only public restroom because they had to share it with men. Instead, they walk out onto the prairie and find a bush to squat behind. Gopher Prairie’s public restroom for women become a symbol of small-town enlightenment.
6
The Avatar, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, said that God has both male and female attributes.
1
For your examples to carry any weight, you need to show that the ancient Hebrews thought of and employed grammatical gender as highly reflective of physical/psychological human gender. Identifying the two is a canard as old as sin.
You would also need to show that the ancient Hebrews thought of nursing as an inescapably and definitively feminine activity.
You would also need to show that the ancient Hebrews thought of nursing as an inescapably and definitively feminine activity.
3
Thank you for your comment "Surges!" ! Want to reinforce that I fully agree with what you have said. The transgender issue is an easy sexy news thrilling discussion, "...poverty mental illness and other major issues that effect far ore people" requires work and care on many levels which is much harder to do.
5
Quite creative but the Rabbi is pushing it and there is little scholarly basis for his assumptions. The original pronunciation of YHWH remains unknown. Though a formless entity all names and references to God in the Old and New Testaments and Koran are masculine. There's a reason the monos are known as patriarchal religions. Buddha was a male as well. For significant female deities one has to look to paganism. It does appear that in the case of animal gods gender was not a factor.
6
God is neither male nor female. God can't be captured in words. The ensouling spirit that is all, called the universe or the presence or really no particular name has no gender because he/she/it isn't in a form at all. Human minds have to make god in their image because they can't comprehend without one.
That all-encompassing bliss isn't noticing if you keep Kosher, wear a burqa, get down on your knees, or sit on a meditation cushion. The message of that essence is "love one another", "do only to others what you would have done to you". Everything else is made up by (mostly) men. A lot of people understand this, but the majority do not.
They are threatened by what they don't understand, by change, and by "other-ness". Gender issues, and those of race, nationality, and economics are strictly man-made. Really, if you have to worry about who is going to what bathroom, my advice is, get a life!!! In Europe no one cares and we shouldn't either.
You have to be taught to hate...the songs says. Yes. You also have to be taught to love, unless you are lucky enough to be born with an open heart, in which case love is easy, constant and obvious. And, yes, there are a lot of those people on earth, it's just that they are not (yet) in charge of the system. They will be. I'm waiting for the hundredth monkey.
To all those who are busy judging their fellow humans and doing harm to them and the planet just because of their beliefs I say only this: WAKE UP!
That all-encompassing bliss isn't noticing if you keep Kosher, wear a burqa, get down on your knees, or sit on a meditation cushion. The message of that essence is "love one another", "do only to others what you would have done to you". Everything else is made up by (mostly) men. A lot of people understand this, but the majority do not.
They are threatened by what they don't understand, by change, and by "other-ness". Gender issues, and those of race, nationality, and economics are strictly man-made. Really, if you have to worry about who is going to what bathroom, my advice is, get a life!!! In Europe no one cares and we shouldn't either.
You have to be taught to hate...the songs says. Yes. You also have to be taught to love, unless you are lucky enough to be born with an open heart, in which case love is easy, constant and obvious. And, yes, there are a lot of those people on earth, it's just that they are not (yet) in charge of the system. They will be. I'm waiting for the hundredth monkey.
To all those who are busy judging their fellow humans and doing harm to them and the planet just because of their beliefs I say only this: WAKE UP!
8
Ms. Diva: how do YOU know the gender of God? Or if there is a gender which can be described?
The word “gender” can refer either to biological sex—the physical state of being male or female—or to the social and cultural differences between the two sexes. Rabbi Sameth seems to be confused about the definition. We don’t need scientists to tell us that not everyone conforms to social and cultural gender norms, but Rabbi Sameth fails to explain what this has to do with sex-segregated public restrooms. Multiple-occupancy public restrooms are segregated by biological sex, but not by gender compliance. Gender may be fluid in the sense that social and cultural gender norms change, or that a person may choose to comply or not comply with gender norms, but biological sex is not fluid. Humans are not among the species that can change sex after birth. Neither gender identity, sexual orientation nor “sex reassignment” surgery changes a person’s biological sex. If men could become women or women could become men, there would be no transgender issue, would there?
13
The Koran uses different pronouns to represent God. Sometimes male, female, single and plural. This avoids creating an image of God we can worship as an idol.
7
"But thousands of years ago, as a review of ancient literature makes clear, that truth was known." A blither of Middle Eastern fairy tales is the truth? That's what they teach at Liberty "University." Whoever in the Editorial section has been obsessing with this issue for the past two years, well...this is what it has descended to, Biblical revelation!
3
I think it was Anselm of Canterbury who said "When we speak about God, it is not God we are speaking about."
71
Apparently, I'm the only born again Christian who reads the NY Times (really, a remnant from when I was an unsaved, unbelieving, reprobate, leftist/liberal). Thank God I still find some good information in the NY Times, and can discern when I'm reading articles distorted by the extreme liberalism of the Times. I grew up in NY, so reading the NY Times is a part of my history and continuity as a New Yorker. But when I see articles like this, and then the comments on these threads, I truly feel like I am walking in the wilderness of very lost people, who believe they have the correct "answers" because of their "educations." Other born again people need to read these articles and speak up. And I say "born again," because unless you are, your interpretation of the Holy Scriptures (Jewish and Christian). has no validity. You cannot discern the words of God if you lack the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you can project whatever distortions you wish onto the text, to suit your social agendas.
4
I really loved this article. I have always thought that trying to anthropomorphize God was a bit sacrilegious and very silly.
4
Well, all arguments in favor of good sense are welcome, although the real issue is why good sense doesn't suffice.
3
I had never heard that proposed meaning of the four letters of the name of God.
Though it seems odd and I wish the Rabbi had supported the idea rather than just asserting it.
Still, look at Galatians, where Paul says in Christ there is no male or female. Seems innocuous enough in context, but then the Gospel of Thomas has similar puzzling sayings on the mixing of gender
I wonder if this interpretation of the name of God was widely known in the ancient Jewish world?
It was death by stoning for blasphemy to pronounce the hidden name of God, as happened to Jesus's brother and leader of his church after his death, the apostle James. I wonder if his church took this interpretation?
Pure speculation of course and it is such an odd idea on the Yahweh name that I do wish it had been expanded upon, left alone it just seems kooky.
Though this essay seems in some ways a little off putting or designed around the current controversies, that may just be a reflection of how separated we are from folks who are transgender, which would have been less separate in the ancient world
Though it seems odd and I wish the Rabbi had supported the idea rather than just asserting it.
Still, look at Galatians, where Paul says in Christ there is no male or female. Seems innocuous enough in context, but then the Gospel of Thomas has similar puzzling sayings on the mixing of gender
I wonder if this interpretation of the name of God was widely known in the ancient Jewish world?
It was death by stoning for blasphemy to pronounce the hidden name of God, as happened to Jesus's brother and leader of his church after his death, the apostle James. I wonder if his church took this interpretation?
Pure speculation of course and it is such an odd idea on the Yahweh name that I do wish it had been expanded upon, left alone it just seems kooky.
Though this essay seems in some ways a little off putting or designed around the current controversies, that may just be a reflection of how separated we are from folks who are transgender, which would have been less separate in the ancient world
1
Isn't the idea that God has any kind of gender at all kind of ludicrous? If you truly believe that this being created the infinitely vast universe, attaching something as limiting and parochial to it as gender seems transparently stupid. Even if you believe that God is a manifestation of deeper spiritual forces, the notion of gender still makes no sense. If religious people want others to take the concept of religion seriously, they can start by abandoning such clearly limiting and nonsensical concepts.
11
If there is no god....then what difference does it make?
6
Rabbi Sameth pulls the idea that the priests would have read God's name backwards out of thin air. The word "talmudic" describes a certain kind of convoluted reasoning of which this is an example. As the rabbi well knows, in Hebrew verbs take different forms for male and female, and in the Bible when God says something or does something, the verbs are exclusively male.
9
And how many angels - transgender or otherwise - can comfortably dance on the head of a pin?
15
Angels have no sex/genitals.
Didn't you see "Dogma"?
Didn't you see "Dogma"?
1
More information needed, i.e. which style of dance (eg Twerkin' requires far more square footage vs slow-dancing)?
1
The Christian concept of God (although necessarily imperfect) is non-sex or gender. God is pure spirit having no limits in flesh, space or time. God is "instantly"/ eternally perfect. We have no words in any language, nor any possibility to imagine or express who God is. The Burning Bush's appellation: I AM WHO AM is likely the closest we can come.
As to humans? We do have a binary biological sex. Gender identification may be more fluid based on lesser biological processes. Social discrimination should not be based on sex nor on gender preference. As the author points out, such gender limits are matters of social constructs. Hatshepsut was always a woman in a "man's world."
As to humans? We do have a binary biological sex. Gender identification may be more fluid based on lesser biological processes. Social discrimination should not be based on sex nor on gender preference. As the author points out, such gender limits are matters of social constructs. Hatshepsut was always a woman in a "man's world."
4
Silly superstitious article. There's no such thing as gods...
16
This kerfluffle reminds me of my sister's experience in, oh, 1956 or so. She attended a women's college the South. The college arranged a bus for the students to go to New York City over Thanksgiving break. It was the first time some of her friends and classmates had been north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
At the first rest stop north of the Line, some of her classmates got back on the bus, exclaiming "There were 'collahd people' in theah!"--a first-time experience for them in using a restroom. Get used to it, folks. The world changes.
At the first rest stop north of the Line, some of her classmates got back on the bus, exclaiming "There were 'collahd people' in theah!"--a first-time experience for them in using a restroom. Get used to it, folks. The world changes.
11
God has no gender since it doesn't exist. The final proof of god's omnipotence is that he need not exist to save us according to Peter deVries.
1
I always preferred a loving mother to an angry dad.
But as a hip 70s priest (now hounded out of the Catholic Church) told me, more or less, God is too big for genders. God is energy that fills all things.
But as a hip 70s priest (now hounded out of the Catholic Church) told me, more or less, God is too big for genders. God is energy that fills all things.
7
Is God transgender? I doubt this was a popular topic of discussion during God's time. He had more important issues to attend to and I am sure this was the last thing on his mind.
4
Isn't sex is a function of the body? Doesn't it generally apply to corporeal beings based on their male and female physical characteristics? If the creator is incorporeal, which is what many religions seem to believe, the creator would be sexless having neither male nor female characteristics.
6
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Classifications like gender are just conveniences that make it a bit easier for the beholder to find bliss.
Nature knows no bounds. That's a clear sign that if there is a creator, our characterization of it as 'a being' that it has bounds of the human sort is completely ridiculous.
We have evolved our senses and our biases as needed to survive and thrive on our particular planet. We'll learn more, grow more, survive longer, and fulfill our destiny best if we manage to convince the conservatives that the planet, our history, and our traditions are milestones that mark our journey. We are accountable and in control of our destiny. We just have to 'bite the bullet', and take responsibility for it rather than blaming it on some omnipotent, mysterious "other".
Nature knows no bounds. That's a clear sign that if there is a creator, our characterization of it as 'a being' that it has bounds of the human sort is completely ridiculous.
We have evolved our senses and our biases as needed to survive and thrive on our particular planet. We'll learn more, grow more, survive longer, and fulfill our destiny best if we manage to convince the conservatives that the planet, our history, and our traditions are milestones that mark our journey. We are accountable and in control of our destiny. We just have to 'bite the bullet', and take responsibility for it rather than blaming it on some omnipotent, mysterious "other".
3
That all depends on whose god is God and if there is a god. There is no agreement even among the progeny of Abraham who each have their individual prophet and scripture judging and condemning their fellows. And war and rumor of war among the "faithful" slays, enslaves, wounds and scatters. So much for harmony and happiness.
Misogyny and bigotry are natural biological evolutionary DNA genetic fit quests for fat, salt, sugar, water, habitat, sex and kin. No amount of deceptive hypocritical high minded rhetoric can conceal our cultural nurtured basic human nature "truths." Until the advent of DNA paternity was always in doubt. Maternity was always certain. There are all female vertebrate species. But no all male species. The LGBTQ can not perpetuate the human race.
If any god made us then that god has to be all and only an XY female first.
Misogyny and bigotry are natural biological evolutionary DNA genetic fit quests for fat, salt, sugar, water, habitat, sex and kin. No amount of deceptive hypocritical high minded rhetoric can conceal our cultural nurtured basic human nature "truths." Until the advent of DNA paternity was always in doubt. Maternity was always certain. There are all female vertebrate species. But no all male species. The LGBTQ can not perpetuate the human race.
If any god made us then that god has to be all and only an XY female first.
3
XX female..... oops another junior moment...
Why is there a Y chromosome?
Why is there a Y chromosome?
3
As an atheist, this is a trivial question. But the amount of attention that this minority (.08% of the US population) gets makes me think the question should be: "Are transgendered persons, gods?"
13
Oh my God. That's ridiculous. A. There is no God be. That's my opinion . C. Your entire essay is based on the opinion of storytellers. D. We are all human, in all our wonderful and varied forms. E. Leave God out let love in.
3
Have we sorted out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin yet?
8
As a transgender person (there are at least 1.3 million of us and counting in the US), so many oppose our right to live and to provide medical healthcare to us.
Religious people deride our surgery to align body with brain as recreating what God has created, an abomination to do. Science shows (trans)gender is inborn, like sexual orientation or eye color, and immutable- it's not a choice or lifestyle. This essay puts the lie to the religious argument. If my brain is not masculinized but my body is, should I be discriminated against? Are they opposed to surgery to address heart issues; diabetes? Do they not agree to provide medical care to those with lung cancer from smoking: why care for a self-induced illness but not a condition from merely being born?
It's ALL reconstructive, not cosmetic surgery: to provide, say, a man (a transwomen) genital surgery benefits but not facial surgery is to invite marginalization and violent assault - the "man in a dress". Surgery aligns body with brain. Half a cure is no cure. It is inhumane.
Perhaps in 2016 we can immediately stop beginning with trans, after the extended & prolonged struggles of immigrants, women, blacks, gays, et al for their rights. We are all the "other" in some way or another. We must accept each other.
Religious people deride our surgery to align body with brain as recreating what God has created, an abomination to do. Science shows (trans)gender is inborn, like sexual orientation or eye color, and immutable- it's not a choice or lifestyle. This essay puts the lie to the religious argument. If my brain is not masculinized but my body is, should I be discriminated against? Are they opposed to surgery to address heart issues; diabetes? Do they not agree to provide medical care to those with lung cancer from smoking: why care for a self-induced illness but not a condition from merely being born?
It's ALL reconstructive, not cosmetic surgery: to provide, say, a man (a transwomen) genital surgery benefits but not facial surgery is to invite marginalization and violent assault - the "man in a dress". Surgery aligns body with brain. Half a cure is no cure. It is inhumane.
Perhaps in 2016 we can immediately stop beginning with trans, after the extended & prolonged struggles of immigrants, women, blacks, gays, et al for their rights. We are all the "other" in some way or another. We must accept each other.
50
I found your piece fascinating. Especially the suggestion throughout your piece that the human brain seems much more plastic than the human body--in other words, although people are sometimes born with ambiguous physical characteristics, are not strictly male or female, the brain appears even more plastic than the human body, which is to say with a greater fluidity and ambiguity than the human body, which means in a sense the human body lags behind the human brain in plasticity.
If this is the case then of course we can expect medical, in fact engineering techniques in broadest sense, to be developed to somehow have the body altered to fit the plastic capabilities of human brain. This problem is probably one of the reasons all throughout human history the myth of morphing the human body has been in existence (whether you want to speak of morphing into animal, opposite sex, or into various objects).
We can imagine a science fiction scenario not too far from truth of a human future in which the human brain is made even more plastic to increase creative and imaginative power and techniques exist to morph the body in a variety of ways...Humans it seems at bottom really want to be anything or anyone they like...The brain is altering and asking the body to keep up or be shed altogether perhaps...
If this is the case then of course we can expect medical, in fact engineering techniques in broadest sense, to be developed to somehow have the body altered to fit the plastic capabilities of human brain. This problem is probably one of the reasons all throughout human history the myth of morphing the human body has been in existence (whether you want to speak of morphing into animal, opposite sex, or into various objects).
We can imagine a science fiction scenario not too far from truth of a human future in which the human brain is made even more plastic to increase creative and imaginative power and techniques exist to morph the body in a variety of ways...Humans it seems at bottom really want to be anything or anyone they like...The brain is altering and asking the body to keep up or be shed altogether perhaps...
Darcy what is the difference between a male who finds his body insufficiently feminine and has surgeries to align brain and body, and a female who finds her body insufficiently feminine and has surgeries to enhance her femininity? Why is the m to f getting "reconstructive surgeries" but the f to f getting "cosmetic surgery"?
All of this smacks of the wishful, or delusional, like a religious person talking about their faith. Yeah I respect that it's that person's faith, and I'd certainly defend them if they were under attack- actually I have once on the subway, stood between a transwoman and her hecklers, - but I still think you are trying to turn a passion and a faith and an act of imagination into something corporeal and material. For me it lands with a thud.
All of this smacks of the wishful, or delusional, like a religious person talking about their faith. Yeah I respect that it's that person's faith, and I'd certainly defend them if they were under attack- actually I have once on the subway, stood between a transwoman and her hecklers, - but I still think you are trying to turn a passion and a faith and an act of imagination into something corporeal and material. For me it lands with a thud.
4
Intriguing, but a dangerous game. Once you used religious text to support secular advances, you license the use of those same texts for the opposition. And then you get a battle over divine provenance, and all that entails. Not a good place to be.
85
But any text can be used that way--not just "religious" texts. Look at the battles over the original or the current or the intended meaning of the 2nd amendment of the US constitution. Everything is a matter of interpretation.
5
He is not using a religious text to advance a secular agenda. He is using it to explain how people thought about this a long tme ago. It is not what we assume of them, and it is not what most think today.
He is not saying, "God tells you to think this." He's saying, "People once thought differently about this."
He is not saying, "God tells you to think this." He's saying, "People once thought differently about this."
2
The rabbi is hardly the first to use biblical passages to support a particular perspective on a political or social issue. What I find to be more important is how a person chooses which parts to use and why. The overwhelming ethic Judaeo-Christian religious leaders have taught us to glean from the bible is one of acceptance and tolerance, forgiveness and introspection. Why then do so many people choose to cite passages that exclude others whom they see as different? Why do so many choose passages that justify their self righteous attitudes? I find it refreshing to see a religious leader and scholar providing passages from scripture to support a more accepting view point. Because there are so many contradictions in the bible, I think the biblical passages people use to support their social or political views says more about the person than the book or the religion.
2
This is truly a "leap" in faith in an attempt to give a mutated definition of the deity many persons and religions identify as their highest guidance for within and beyond their everyday living.
One flaw with Mark Sameth theory are his references to attempt to support his argument by giving examples of how the Hebrew Bible (if read in the original language) refers to people of the opposite historic gender identifier. By referencing Moses as a she or Eve as a he only may prove the flaws of translation over a few thousand years, and /or errors not found after these documents were first written.
One flaw with Mark Sameth theory are his references to attempt to support his argument by giving examples of how the Hebrew Bible (if read in the original language) refers to people of the opposite historic gender identifier. By referencing Moses as a she or Eve as a he only may prove the flaws of translation over a few thousand years, and /or errors not found after these documents were first written.
1
What this boils down to is: An argument about the sex of something that does not exist.
How can anyone with any pride go on record with nincompoopian thinking like this?
How can anyone with any pride go on record with nincompoopian thinking like this?
9
Here's another case of speaking to current issues via a certain construct of god. Stereotypically, one might assign the justice of god towards a masculine characteristic and the merciful toward the feminine. In doing so, we might be inclined to recognize we are in fact in his image in this regard; we might allow ourselves to accept and value these parts of ourselves and others. Perhaps there is an art to that. Our culture has been rewarding expressions of gender in many forms implicitly. But the bandwagon might empty out a bit if you change your title, 'Has God had sex reassignment surgery?'
3
The rabbi isn't assigning a gender to God. He's saying that the ancient Hebrews also recognized the duality of yin and yang: All things exist as an equilibrium of contradictory or complementary opposites. He's also doing what rabbis and other clerics often do: alighting on a Biblical basis for his chosen sermon.
5
Yes, that's what rabbis do! I don't understand all this outrage at a rabbi being a rabbi. If a medical doctor wrote an article about disease, and sought out possible emotional causes for things like,say, ulcers, would he/she be so blasted by these commenters? The rabbi is working within his frame of reference, speaking from his own expertise. He's not saying he's the be all and end all of this discussion; he's contributing a point of view to the larger pool of other points of view. And, unlike a lot of commenters, he's saying it with grace and humility.
6
Does Trans not mean beyond? No argument here. The concept of God as all pervading has to mean it is beyond gender. If we want to relate to God in a human form that in inclusive, look no further than the HImdu deity Ardhanareeshwara - Shiva and consort Parvati (Purush/Prakriti, Matter/Energy) described as half male/half female.
4
Oh, please. God is whatever people make god out to be - and in the long run it does more harm than good. Human beings need to grow up and stop framing issues this way.
7
You cannot debate, that which does not exist; nor have a verifiable conclusion. There are no gods. Nothing supernatural has ever happened – ever.
4
You are a "rabbi" of what? Certainly not the Hebrew Scriptures. Your article is false. The God of Scriptures is not whom you write about. Stop trying to make human behavior that is the result of psychological and emotional distortion "normal" because it is not; it is dysphoric gender identity. And it is the few (or maybe, unfortunately, the not so few), creating distorted ideas and trying to force them on the rest of society. This article is sickening and it is wrong all the way through. True born again believers, Jewish and otherwise, see the false claims about God immediately. Those who are unbelievers will eat up these blasphemous assertions about the Alpha and Omega and the Holy ScriptureSpirit immediately. Shame on you, "rabbi."
4
Durbanbreeze, this was simply an intellectual exercise.
No reason to get all fired up.
Relax big guy...relax.
He wasn't calling your beliefs stupid or childish.
He was simply telling a story.
No reason to get all fired up.
Relax big guy...relax.
He wasn't calling your beliefs stupid or childish.
He was simply telling a story.
2
This article in no way constitutes an intellectual exercise, wishful self-indulgence yes- appealing to post modernists and their kowtowing to ideology- also yes. But absolutely nothing to do with either science or academia.
1
An old Christian hymn goes something like this: "In God there is no east and west, in Him no north or south." Even if you allow for the masculine pronoun, it would seem to imply that God lies beyond dualities. Somehow that would seem to make sense.
5
“Counter to everything we grew up believing, the God of Israel — the God of the three monotheistic, Abrahamic religions to which fully half the people on the planet today belong — was understood by its earliest worshipers to be a dual-gendered deity….It may come as a surprise that scientists view gender as anything other than a simple binary. But thousands of years ago, as a review of ancient literature makes clear, that truth was known.”
So, did the Creator of the countless, wretched humans since the beginning know or didn’t know?
All these enlightening reinterpretations leave me with a seminal question as whether or not God knew—until our era of advanced sciences—that his “prized possession” has been far more complex than the biblical figures, defined as “male and female.” We are informed about Adam and Eve, their “sin” and subsequent expulsion from Eden but nothing about their offspring’s inherent complexities and gender dysphoria. Why God—this verbosely foreboding Creator who kept sending obsessively preaching Prophets—offers no clarification to prevent centuries of sufferings among a significant number of his creations remains a mystery to me. He just allowed “that truth” to remain buried in ancient stones and parchments. Or, The Almighty God might have just left it to our distinguished, post-modernist Rabbi from New York to “review” and deconstruct our ancient texts. What a relief to my LGBT friends!
So, did the Creator of the countless, wretched humans since the beginning know or didn’t know?
All these enlightening reinterpretations leave me with a seminal question as whether or not God knew—until our era of advanced sciences—that his “prized possession” has been far more complex than the biblical figures, defined as “male and female.” We are informed about Adam and Eve, their “sin” and subsequent expulsion from Eden but nothing about their offspring’s inherent complexities and gender dysphoria. Why God—this verbosely foreboding Creator who kept sending obsessively preaching Prophets—offers no clarification to prevent centuries of sufferings among a significant number of his creations remains a mystery to me. He just allowed “that truth” to remain buried in ancient stones and parchments. Or, The Almighty God might have just left it to our distinguished, post-modernist Rabbi from New York to “review” and deconstruct our ancient texts. What a relief to my LGBT friends!
2
Of course, as the rabbi writes God has no gender (how could he, come to think of it, whatever way one thinks God looks like?)
It is the man and his/her history who decided on gender pecking order. Now science and technology do wonders and also throw in the air all our concepts and prejudices. Why not gender?
It is the man and his/her history who decided on gender pecking order. Now science and technology do wonders and also throw in the air all our concepts and prejudices. Why not gender?
Might as well accept that God was a prankster and we fail in understanding his art!
"Is God Trans?", now that will get "them" nightmares! I would guess it's more likely that God is Androgynous. Imagine how much less war there would be had the Bible been inspired by a Hermaphroditic Creator.
1
If there is a god he or she would disavow anything to do with humanity.
1
This is really a useless column, and inaccurate as well.
Of the principal names of God (and there are six or seven) Shekinah is the only one that is of the feminine gender in Hebrew grammar.
The Cabbalists have dozens of names for God, referring to different attributes of the Almighty, so these "names" are more like descriptive adjectives, not nouns.
I think Rabbi Sameth "doth protest too much". Perhaps he should just refer to God as "It".
Of the principal names of God (and there are six or seven) Shekinah is the only one that is of the feminine gender in Hebrew grammar.
The Cabbalists have dozens of names for God, referring to different attributes of the Almighty, so these "names" are more like descriptive adjectives, not nouns.
I think Rabbi Sameth "doth protest too much". Perhaps he should just refer to God as "It".
2
All these comments remind me of the story about the blind men describing a elephant.
5
Wouldn't it be nice if there could more thoughtful comments (whether in agreement or not) in response to this interesting article, and less sniping, grousing, and one-upmanship? It's a beautiful Saturday morning, people, and someone has offered us his thoughts. Try a little good will, for him, for the rest of us, and especially for yourselves! (In other words, on that last, when you snipe at something thoughtful you don't exactly do yourself any favors.)
6
This is probably the most ridiculous article I have ever read in the NYTimes. God is an infinite being which we finite human beings cannot begin to understand. Obviously such a being would have no sex. God did become incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ who, both theologians and historians agree, was a man.
was definitely a man.
was definitely a man.
2
There is no god.
2
I'm hoping God isn't even a human.
1
Since "God" does not exist who cares? How does one put a gender on Nature?
2
While there is evidence in the Hebrew Bible that, early on, God had a consort, and there seems to be some sort of female principle at work, the question "Is God Transgender" elicits from me a giant yawn.
Interesting when you're studying "The Song of Songs," but after that, who cares?
Interesting when you're studying "The Song of Songs," but after that, who cares?
1
When I was a child, my mom was a god and my dad was a god. For others it was maybe an aunt or a grandma or a godmother or a big brother. That person who loved you and looked out for you and took care of you. It does not seem unfathomable that this heavenly being who loves us could have all sorts of traits just like on earth we find many gods with many traits.
God is beyond our ken. But to elevate Transgenderism is to deify the 'feelings' of folk. The hairless ape finds significance in its every sense of itself.
What a waste of time.
What a waste of time.
2
Yes, God is transgender and so is Jesus and so is it the Holy Ghost in fact every animate creature is transgender. Transgender is the norm. Yea. Now find something else to sell advertising space.
This is sophistry at its worst.
1
When you read this article, you'll find that the author either doesn't know how to read or he is deliberately lying and trying to mislead people who don't read the Bible. He makes so many biblical errors I don't know where to start. Here is one glaring example: "And Genesis 1:27 refers to Adam as “them.”"
This is what Genesis 1: 27 actually says: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Anyone who knows how to read will realize that the word "them" does not refer to Adam, but to Adam and Eve, which follows "them." The Bible is simply saying that God made Adam and Eve (them) in His image.
The other examples are distortions and twisting of Scripture in order to forward an agenda. I am glad true Christians will research their Bible and see that these things are not true.
This is what Genesis 1: 27 actually says: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Anyone who knows how to read will realize that the word "them" does not refer to Adam, but to Adam and Eve, which follows "them." The Bible is simply saying that God made Adam and Eve (them) in His image.
The other examples are distortions and twisting of Scripture in order to forward an agenda. I am glad true Christians will research their Bible and see that these things are not true.
3
This has been interesting and fun, despite some curmudgeonly rejection of such subjects belonging in the NYTimes. (Rabbi Sameth's interpretation is new, is it not? That makes it news. And newsworthy. And therefore belonging in a newspaper.)
I leave any still reading with this final thought and quote: Regarding matters of God and gender, "There are stranger things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio."
I leave any still reading with this final thought and quote: Regarding matters of God and gender, "There are stranger things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio."
When does it stop ?
When do we no longer have to read exaggerated interpretations so far
fetching in attempting to make their point that all you can do is chuckle
at the inanity of it all.
I suppose when Men become pregnant.
Rabbi Sameth, if you really think being "attuned to ourselves and others" is the way to find happiness and harmony I can only wonder why you are not some sort of Westernised Buddhist.
When do we no longer have to read exaggerated interpretations so far
fetching in attempting to make their point that all you can do is chuckle
at the inanity of it all.
I suppose when Men become pregnant.
Rabbi Sameth, if you really think being "attuned to ourselves and others" is the way to find happiness and harmony I can only wonder why you are not some sort of Westernised Buddhist.
3
The ignorance of the most basic and universally accepted standards of lower biblical criticsm seem to be unknown to this rabbi. The ignorance his stunning. The Masoretic text, even according to the most " fu da mentalist" Jewish orthodox readers of the bible is unanimous in declaring these to indeed be "typos" to use the auor's primitive language. Why the Torah is read the way these verseswords are pronounced corrects the typos. It is called Keri and Ketiv. How it is written and how it is read (and translated). There exists not a single translation of the He few bible, including the Aramaic and Greek and Latin, let alone English, that renders these sources Ina transgendered manner. This is pure idiocy and ignorance. No matter that I happen to agree with the principle he is arguing for, there is simply no excuse for this astounding level of basic Biblical illiteracy. Some rabbi! Every 8 year old Orthpdox child knows better....shame on the Times for a total failure to do any fact-checking, even so basic as to look at EVERY version and tanslation of the Hebrew Scriptures. I'm astonished. There is no " Transgender trope" and there needn't be to make the argument for decent and equal treatment of transgender people. That is a basic moral given, so why distort Scripture to make such an obvious argument. Sad testimony to the level of basic Jewish literacy among American Rabbis. Shocking!
3
"there is simply no excuse for this astounding level of basic Biblical illiteracy."
Given the astounding number of typos throughout your post, what is your excuse, "rabbi"?
Given the astounding number of typos throughout your post, what is your excuse, "rabbi"?
6
I can only say Oy vey.
2
Gender cannot be attributed to God. This whole article is pure ignorance and heresy.
Eve is he. Noah goes to her tent. "These are not typos." How do we know?
1
Just when we thought the ever-evolving transgender narrative couldn't possibly become more bizarre, now this.
2
This makes sense. God is both male and female and neither completely. This makes sense.
1
Rabbi or not, the idea of God as "trans" is a very silly, (provocative?) notion. God is without gender.
2
LGBT are not choices, LGBT phobias are
4
I think this article is very important.
What could be more appropriate than to refer to the Creator as Hu/Hi?
What could be more appropriate than to refer to the Creator as Hu/Hi?
2
"My God is an awesome God"
How about God as nongender?
8
I suppose God could be female, insofar as fathers can be female (see Psalm 68:5, 89:26; Isaiah 9:6, and that's not even quoting the Christian NT, where Jesus and his apostles repeatedly call God "the Father").
This rabbi is guilty of sloppy and forced exegesis, superimposing his personal experience on a text he considers sacred.
This rabbi is guilty of sloppy and forced exegesis, superimposing his personal experience on a text he considers sacred.
3
In Hinduism there is the androgynous 'avatar' of the Hindu God Shiva, 'ardhanarishwara', literally meaning 'half man, half woman'; the essence of gender fluidity that this article speaks about.
3
In the Christian portion of the Bible, Jesus states 'in heaven, there is no man or woman.'
5
Point us to that, please. Then quote it in its entirety. Thank you.
2
The God of the Bible has both male and female qualities. But, like so many religions and people in our culture, the female isn't honored — is written out.
Christian Scientists refer to God as our Father-Mother — a designation that honors that "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24 KJV), "God Is Love" (I John, 3) and "there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male more female" (Galatians 3:28).
Christian Scientists refer to God as our Father-Mother — a designation that honors that "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24 KJV), "God Is Love" (I John, 3) and "there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male more female" (Galatians 3:28).
5
For some reason, the article brought to mind Pat McCroy, the devout Christian who brought North Carolina to its knees by being a devout swindler. And who just can't have transgender people using his bathrooms because the Bible says, well, never mind what it says, it just ain't right, you know. Naturally, he was re-elected. The only things we need to know about God, and nobody knows this better than Jews, is that "He" is holy, holy, holy. Did you hear that, Pat?
1
Pat McCrory hasn't won reelection yet. He's down in the polls right now because of the embarrassment - and loss of millions of dollars - caused by the "bathroom bill". As well as the over $9 million dollars spent defending unconstitutional laws from the 2012 marriage amendment (overturned by SCOTUS) to the voter ID law (found unconstitutional by a federal court last week). Oh, and his administrations cover up of Duke Energy's fouling of drinking water.
2
Hindu's recognised this fact 10,000 years back. 'Shiva' one of the trinity, God is Transgender (Arthanari-Eswaran = half male/female) and no Hindu God exists without a Goddess next to him. Upanishads the governing principles of Hindu theology described 9 different gender(transgender) categories.
5
But all religions ultimately have the flaw of being 'imagined' by humans. This leaves them with a disabling residue of the 'imagineer's' biased views and observations.
Then, there's the politics that underlies ALL religions, even the most open of which defines or relegates some group of "others" as outsiders and/or lesser beings.
The "role of women" is one of the more obvious examples of this. Historically, it was convenient to classify and encapsulate a role for "the weaker sex", but ultimately it's true strength has 'busted out', and the new frontiers of religious folklore are adapting to a more "modern" view.
We need to extend the frontier to include ALL humans. Unconditional inclusivity is the hallmark of human civilization.
Then, there's the politics that underlies ALL religions, even the most open of which defines or relegates some group of "others" as outsiders and/or lesser beings.
The "role of women" is one of the more obvious examples of this. Historically, it was convenient to classify and encapsulate a role for "the weaker sex", but ultimately it's true strength has 'busted out', and the new frontiers of religious folklore are adapting to a more "modern" view.
We need to extend the frontier to include ALL humans. Unconditional inclusivity is the hallmark of human civilization.
2
Revelatory! Thank you, Rabbi Sameth.
4
Lol @ the commenters who are enlightened enough to tolerate gender fluidity, but not enlightened enough to tolerate Mr. Sameth's belief in God.
Ironically, the people who simply HAVE to preach about how they "know" God "isn't real" are no different from the people who simply HAVE to preach about how they "know" transgenderism "isn't real" either. We get it: you're always right, and you're the worst people to talk to at parties.
Ironically, the people who simply HAVE to preach about how they "know" God "isn't real" are no different from the people who simply HAVE to preach about how they "know" transgenderism "isn't real" either. We get it: you're always right, and you're the worst people to talk to at parties.
4
I for one do not believe in any type of god. What my problem with people who do is the way i have to subsidize your beliefs with my money "tax dollars". i have to pay more money in my property tax for your beliefs. i have to pay more money because your religion does not have to pay income tax. i have to pay more because of something that you believe but can't prove. Wether it is true or not i pay wile you do not pay your fair share.
3
God, like gender is a human invention that has served us well in our journey to cope and deal with the seemingly insurmountable forces of nature that surrounds us.
We know better now, and our traditional (ancient) invention needs a modernization. Those who use it as a crutch and/or rely on it to cope with the day-to-day misery of their lot in the human condition will not throw off their 3rd leg so willingly. All that I can say to our conservative friends is: "Run, Forest, run!"
We know better now, and our traditional (ancient) invention needs a modernization. Those who use it as a crutch and/or rely on it to cope with the day-to-day misery of their lot in the human condition will not throw off their 3rd leg so willingly. All that I can say to our conservative friends is: "Run, Forest, run!"
Rabbi, what a great slant . There is always room for thought. We must look at all things from all sides. This gives a comfort for all of us. Rabbi you are a "MENCH". Thank-you and the heavens above.
5
Commenters who disparage the author's appeal to religion miss his point. He is simply contesting those who would argue that their hostility to transgender rights is biblical and hence a matter of religious freedom. He is setting the record straight--so to speak--on what the Bible actually says about gender.
21
What has religion got to do with this issue? Why are we always including religion in these debates? This country is obsessed with fairy tales.
16
Right after Rabbi Sameth demonstrates conclusive physical proof of the Supernatural being that he calls "God", that's when you should believe anything he says.
Basing the belief of "sexual identity" on the fantasy of a Supernatural Being and what tribal witch doctors wrote several thousand years ago - since translated by later tribal witch doctors - is ludicrous.
"These aren't typos." Yeah, right. Here's a thought: Every major newspaper in the 21st century has typos. In the modern digital information age printed newspapers (not to mention books) still demonstrate that humans make mistakes; thinking that text written and re-written and re-written over the course of millennia must have ZERO typos is childishly naïve. Case in point: When the New Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek, one of the translators substituted the Hebrew word for "young woman" to the Greek word for "virgin". As a result, Christ became born of a "virgin".
Basing the belief of "sexual identity" on the fantasy of a Supernatural Being and what tribal witch doctors wrote several thousand years ago - since translated by later tribal witch doctors - is ludicrous.
"These aren't typos." Yeah, right. Here's a thought: Every major newspaper in the 21st century has typos. In the modern digital information age printed newspapers (not to mention books) still demonstrate that humans make mistakes; thinking that text written and re-written and re-written over the course of millennia must have ZERO typos is childishly naïve. Case in point: When the New Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek, one of the translators substituted the Hebrew word for "young woman" to the Greek word for "virgin". As a result, Christ became born of a "virgin".
12
Changes would not have been "typos", which are accidental mistakes. Changing "young woman" to "virgin" would have been deliberate. More to the point, I don't think the New Testament was ever written in Hebrew. Wasn't it originally written in Greek?
4
I disagree with the claims of this article, but you, sir, I truly pray for you. You are a lost soul and I pray that you will be saved and come to know the God and the Scriptures (proven to be reliable with each subsequent scroll found; more reliable than any other ancient text) that you dismiss as fantasies.
1
We also find dozens of instances where G-d is referenced in the feminine. This makes sense when one considers the henotheism of ancient Israel. Neighboring peoples worshipped gods and goddesses, often broken down around similar roles: the chief god led in battle, the chief goddess brought rain, produce, and fertility. The chief god judged the unjust, the chief goddess forgave out of love. In Israel, G-d served all roles, and when forgiving or nurturing, is often referenced in feminine terms. Poor translations have removed this beautiful statement that even in a time of great patriarchy, G-d is beyond gender, as G-d cannot be constrained within human constructs.
6
I thought that this issue was resolved by most people at around the third grade.
2
"Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;" Us? Our?
Try this: "Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand rand take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23. God sounds worried about man living forever.
Looking at religious texts for justification of changing sexual norms is a crazy sport. Protestants and Catholics killed each other for centuries, Sunnis and Shiites are killing each other now for religious reasons and each has the same text that they use for justifying murder. Everyone should be cautious in referencing any scripture to justify anything.
Try this: "Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand rand take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23. God sounds worried about man living forever.
Looking at religious texts for justification of changing sexual norms is a crazy sport. Protestants and Catholics killed each other for centuries, Sunnis and Shiites are killing each other now for religious reasons and each has the same text that they use for justifying murder. Everyone should be cautious in referencing any scripture to justify anything.
7
I think the theme of this piece is that it is wrong to use religion as justification for hate toward differences in gender identity.
5
Well, this topic of "gender fluidity" is certainly all the rage. Ancient texts can be interpreted in many ways, and I'm sure that there are scholars out there who could give their own interpretations that would not agree with this one. It depends who's doing the reading and how they wish to see it.
This article is only one way to look at ancient texts, albeit a fashionable one.
This article is only one way to look at ancient texts, albeit a fashionable one.
2
Most amusing! Comments that God doesn't procreate seem rather sure about that. I wonder if the Bible indicates anything in that area. I have never seen it proposed before but it is an interesting idea.
We now have to step up the war on terror with bathroom police... Emergency Federal Funds should me made available for the purchase of tampons.
Sure God transcends gender.
So does "Mother" Nature/Earth.
If we de-gender God, we must de-gender Nature.
So does "Mother" Nature/Earth.
If we de-gender God, we must de-gender Nature.
2
The usual guy selling the cans of worms hasn't been working his cart this week so someone else felt obligated to open one.
3
The learned rabbi is describing what should become known as Quantum Theology.
Quantum theology may afford reconciliation of fractiousness in the various traditions of divine revelation.
Resurrecting words of ancient souls may yet conduit the lives' wishes of those good people. Thank you Rabbi Sameth.
Quantum theology may afford reconciliation of fractiousness in the various traditions of divine revelation.
Resurrecting words of ancient souls may yet conduit the lives' wishes of those good people. Thank you Rabbi Sameth.
4
Isn't it great when an educated person enlightens us with facts instead of allowing ignorant prejudices created in our own heads to divide us. Many Christians believe that there are three dimensions to God, Father, Son and Spirit, just as water has the three dimensions of steam, liquid and ice. Perhaps the Spirit is the female dimension of God.
Rembrandt's famous painting of the 'Return of the Prodigal Son' depicts the loving Father embracing the son with both a male hand and a female hand.
Was Rembrandt inspired to depict God in this way?
Rembrandt's famous painting of the 'Return of the Prodigal Son' depicts the loving Father embracing the son with both a male hand and a female hand.
Was Rembrandt inspired to depict God in this way?
1
Something that doesn't exist can't be Transgender. Why don't we stop worrying about what the Invisible Sky King would be like, and turn our attention to solving the ugly discrimination and violence that actual, living Transgender people endure every day?
10
Without the "Sky King," and the words that were written by prophets through His Spirit, that you speak of, there is no moral basis for right and wrong. Our notions of "right" and "wrong" that we use in western civilization to judge, control, or monitor human behavior, are derived from the words written by the "sky king" you reference. So, if God is false and His words are false, you have nothing to base YOUR so-called notions of right and wrong on. Right and wrong can continuously shift, as we can see it is doing and has been doing, under the auspices of liberal thought and liberal thought policing.
1
Does the Easter Bunny lay eggs?
Religion is a collection of stories from our species' babyhood. As adolescents, it is time to discard the old stories as we are capable of comprehending difficult concepts. As you would not tell a child about sex because it is too much information, we now should be capable of understanding that we exist on one planet in a large solar system in a small galaxy in a huge universe, and we are not special, except to each other.
Religion is a collection of stories from our species' babyhood. As adolescents, it is time to discard the old stories as we are capable of comprehending difficult concepts. As you would not tell a child about sex because it is too much information, we now should be capable of understanding that we exist on one planet in a large solar system in a small galaxy in a huge universe, and we are not special, except to each other.
9
Insult is not argument.
The idea that whatever force or "being" that may created the universe possesses either a penis or a vagina (or both) is completely ridiculous.
2
I think we need to stop using ancient myths to justify scientific facts. Facts don't need justification. Myths need justification.
8
The anonymous author of "The Cloud of Unknowing," the classic of medieval mysticism, claims God is a spirit. That works for me.
2
If our goal is to encourage a balanced life in which people can express the full range of their sexuality in a consensual manner free of shame, then the first step is to eliminate religion entirely from the equation. Let's not start there.
Chevy
South Hadley
Chevy
South Hadley
The issue is not the gender of God--a metaphysical question, but the tolerance for the other that all religions profess to teach. The bigotry that many rationalize by quoting scripture is just that--a rationalization of their "fear of the other" and a rejection of the very essence of what it means to be a religious or spiritual person in a world where we are all different and unique. That politicians in the Republican Party are embracing such bigotry in the pursuit of power is nothing less than old-fashioned blasphemy.
3
Dude, I want what you're eating. You have far too many brain cells to be living in America!
2
After spending months immersed in the vital questions which affect us all - gross income inequality, manipulation of the voting process by a deeply dishonest rightwing party, the overpopulation of the world compared to the availability of water - what a relief to happen upon an article that's the exact equivalent of "How many angels can dance...."
C'mon, rabbi, *of course* god is a guy, the same guy whose deified invisibility gives human guys blanket permission to grab other peoples' lands, goods, women, and resources, enslave the vanquished... and kill them if they object.
C'mon, rabbi, *of course* god is a guy, the same guy whose deified invisibility gives human guys blanket permission to grab other peoples' lands, goods, women, and resources, enslave the vanquished... and kill them if they object.
1
While I love the ancient history included in some ancient religious scripture and some of the lessons taught within are valid they are all really just fairytales.
God isn't a man or woman, God is made up.
God isn't a man or woman, God is made up.
1
Who really knows what the ancients were thinking? This editorial strikes me as yet another example of that timeless practice of projecting one's own values, beliefs, and hopes onto Scripture and emerging with the interpretation most favorable to same.
3
really weird op-ed.
And I wish people would stop invoking the term "scientists" as in "It may come as a surprise that scientists view gender as anything other than a simple binary."
Really? Which scientists? From which disciplines? All scientists? Based on what? A survey? I'd really like to know. Are we talking about individuals or the entire population where gender is anything other than a simple binary. We know that only a very small percentage of the population is transgender, but that doesn't mean the rest of us aren't pretty clear about which gender we are. It is a biological fact. There may be more of a continuum regarding sexual orientation or psychological makeup, but the biology is pretty clear.
Has anyone ever surveyed the population on this issue? If so, I doubt if there is much general confusion and most view gender as binary. I woke up this morning a male, just like every other morning and I imagine that as long as I keep waking up in the morning I'll be male. And it will be pretty much a binary fact for me -- and I suspect most others. Doesn't mean there's anything wrong with those who are transgender, but to imply that most people don't have a solid notion of what their gender is, with perhaps a few exceptions when they were kids when they decided it might be fun to be a girl (if a boy) or vice versa, I believe most adults are pretty clear on this issue.
And I wish people would stop invoking the term "scientists" as in "It may come as a surprise that scientists view gender as anything other than a simple binary."
Really? Which scientists? From which disciplines? All scientists? Based on what? A survey? I'd really like to know. Are we talking about individuals or the entire population where gender is anything other than a simple binary. We know that only a very small percentage of the population is transgender, but that doesn't mean the rest of us aren't pretty clear about which gender we are. It is a biological fact. There may be more of a continuum regarding sexual orientation or psychological makeup, but the biology is pretty clear.
Has anyone ever surveyed the population on this issue? If so, I doubt if there is much general confusion and most view gender as binary. I woke up this morning a male, just like every other morning and I imagine that as long as I keep waking up in the morning I'll be male. And it will be pretty much a binary fact for me -- and I suspect most others. Doesn't mean there's anything wrong with those who are transgender, but to imply that most people don't have a solid notion of what their gender is, with perhaps a few exceptions when they were kids when they decided it might be fun to be a girl (if a boy) or vice versa, I believe most adults are pretty clear on this issue.
4
Are your hands the exact same size? Feet; arm length? Is you hair all grey? Your brown eye color just like my brown color. NOTHING in nature exists binary, including sexual orientation and gender identity. What you write has been disproven so firmly by science that I'm unsure what to say to you.
All life exists on a spectrum. Most feel mostly or all male or female (binary); but many feel both or neither (nonbinary).
All life exists on a spectrum. Most feel mostly or all male or female (binary); but many feel both or neither (nonbinary).
2
When did Rabbi Mark imply that most people don't have a solid notion of what their gender is?
I must have missed that part.
What I took away from the article was that culturally the ancients had a much different take on gender than we do today.
Wait here...I'm gonna' go reread the piece real quick.
Yup, I was right, the author never even hints that people are ify on their own gender.
Bravo on the strawman Ralphie...bravo.
I must have missed that part.
What I took away from the article was that culturally the ancients had a much different take on gender than we do today.
Wait here...I'm gonna' go reread the piece real quick.
Yup, I was right, the author never even hints that people are ify on their own gender.
Bravo on the strawman Ralphie...bravo.
1
Why do people feel there must be a biblical justification or scientific explanation for everything? Frequently, as is the case here, those explanations sound ridiculous. Why not just let people just be who they want to be and do what they want to do? Those who do no harm to others ought to be left alone and in peace.
4
I fully agree w letting alone. But doesn't there have to be an explanation for the way things are? Some use science, some religion, some both, but who uses nothing?
1
I think current gender expressions are the result of evolution.
It might be nature's way of softening male aggression, so that we don't blow up the world.
Illustrated perfectly, in the current race for the presidency.
The new model being female for the first time in our history, in a "man's job", the old model wondering why we can't just use nuclear weapons as some practical everyday solution.
I'm glad this article was written by a religious person, since religion too often sums up this phenomena as a "sin" or "moral failing".
It is just Nature.
It might be nature's way of softening male aggression, so that we don't blow up the world.
Illustrated perfectly, in the current race for the presidency.
The new model being female for the first time in our history, in a "man's job", the old model wondering why we can't just use nuclear weapons as some practical everyday solution.
I'm glad this article was written by a religious person, since religion too often sums up this phenomena as a "sin" or "moral failing".
It is just Nature.
1
I agree, but for a different evolutionary reason. Gender is on a spectrum to blur and soften its edges.
It is a spectrum to make men more approachable by women and vice versa, so they can get along just enough to mate. As a trans person, I tell you the effects of hormones are real. Aggression and compassion; humans are a marvelous mix of the two.
It is a spectrum to make men more approachable by women and vice versa, so they can get along just enough to mate. As a trans person, I tell you the effects of hormones are real. Aggression and compassion; humans are a marvelous mix of the two.
2
Humans conceive of an entity that transcends time itself, created everything in the universe with a thought, gave us physical desire, provided ambiguous and confusing clues as to how we should respond to it, and then punishes us for eternity if we misread his intentions. This is the best argument for atheism I’ve heard.
4
Scott,
When did you graduate from all 8 Ivy League universities? You nail this so succinctly, it's just a delight to read.
When did you graduate from all 8 Ivy League universities? You nail this so succinctly, it's just a delight to read.
1
When Einstein was asked if he believed in God, he responded: No, I believe in something much bigger.
This is an excellent op-ed, full of interesting information. But God is a concept created by humans to encapsulate the incomprehensible, that of a limitless, powerful mind or entity that may have given rise to existence as we perceive it. That this concept was something we conjured up for our own benefit, primarily written about by male proponents is the reason so many perceived God as male. But I'm with Einstein: the idea of God is just too small.
This is an excellent op-ed, full of interesting information. But God is a concept created by humans to encapsulate the incomprehensible, that of a limitless, powerful mind or entity that may have given rise to existence as we perceive it. That this concept was something we conjured up for our own benefit, primarily written about by male proponents is the reason so many perceived God as male. But I'm with Einstein: the idea of God is just too small.
15
Hey I have a post on my wordpress blog called "God is Small." substancethought:wordpress.com
1
Well, aren't YOU putting yourself on a pedestal - delimiting the almighty power of God?!
One could even go as far as to say you're attempting to use logic, common sense, sociology and and cosmology science in this debate. And to trot out the existential wisdom of Einstein is an outrage!
How dare you!
Cat: will you marry me?!
One could even go as far as to say you're attempting to use logic, common sense, sociology and and cosmology science in this debate. And to trot out the existential wisdom of Einstein is an outrage!
How dare you!
Cat: will you marry me?!
1
Awesome Cat...thanks.
3
In the debates about transgendered peoples' rights, Rabbi Sarneth is on the side of the angels but not, I think, biblical scholars. Stating bluntly as if there were no other reasonable possibilities that the name of God is "He/She" simply wrong. Perhaps the rabbi is right but he has yet to convince the scholarly world. Good luck with your book.
When throwing Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, God seemed to be rather specific about gender roles. Men are to gain food by the sweat of their brows and women are to have painful childbirths.
I have never read that Hatshepaut was revered by her subjects as a maternal figure who "nursed" her subjects. Other than her sex, she seems to have been much like any other pharaoh. And whatever the Egyptians thought of her, how did this come to affect Jewish thinking? I doubt there are any indications of influence in either the archaeological or written records.
The author's thesis, although stated as if it were established fact, is unproved.
When throwing Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, God seemed to be rather specific about gender roles. Men are to gain food by the sweat of their brows and women are to have painful childbirths.
I have never read that Hatshepaut was revered by her subjects as a maternal figure who "nursed" her subjects. Other than her sex, she seems to have been much like any other pharaoh. And whatever the Egyptians thought of her, how did this come to affect Jewish thinking? I doubt there are any indications of influence in either the archaeological or written records.
The author's thesis, although stated as if it were established fact, is unproved.
2
Yes, how could the Egyptians have influenced Jewish thinking?
The Exodus was TO the promised land but where was it FROM?
Oh yeah, Egypt.
And yes after the fall, man and women (God created Eve by using a piece of Adam rather than whipping her up from scratch) were cursed but prior to that things were great...heck, it was an Eden.
As fas as the whole nursing thing, the Madonna and child come directly from Egyptian mythology.
Check out Isis nursing Horus. With that in mind, the concept of Egyptians seeing Hatshepsut as a wet nurse seems logical and natural.
The author of this OpEd piece has done a wonderful job putting a new perspective on the ancients and has given me a lot to think about.
Thanks Rabbi Mark..
The Exodus was TO the promised land but where was it FROM?
Oh yeah, Egypt.
And yes after the fall, man and women (God created Eve by using a piece of Adam rather than whipping her up from scratch) were cursed but prior to that things were great...heck, it was an Eden.
As fas as the whole nursing thing, the Madonna and child come directly from Egyptian mythology.
Check out Isis nursing Horus. With that in mind, the concept of Egyptians seeing Hatshepsut as a wet nurse seems logical and natural.
The author of this OpEd piece has done a wonderful job putting a new perspective on the ancients and has given me a lot to think about.
Thanks Rabbi Mark..
2
Is God male or female or transgender? Of course in monotheistic religions like Christianity, Islam and Judaism, god is always a male. But in Eastern religions like Hinduism god is both male and female. "Ardhanarishvara (Sanskrit: अर्धनारीश्वर, Ardhanārīśvara) is a composite androgynous form of the Hindu god Shiva and his consortParvati (also known as Devi, Shakti and Uma in this icon). Ardhanarishvara is depicted as half male and half female, split down the middle. The right half is usually the male Shiva, illustrating his traditional attributes".(source: wikipedia). Buddhism and Jainism do not have that problem whether god is a male or female because they do not believe in a god. Hindus worship god in all forms and in everything including animals and plants but ultimately they believe in "Brahman" the formless, that is present everywhere.
3
Fascinating and enlightening. For we atheists, it is immaterial that Mark Sameth believes in a god; his point in asking if god is transgender is to open everyone's eyes to the fact that human sexuality is not binary as we are taught and most believe.
I won't attempt to add to his argument; Rabbi Sameth does it succinctly and beautifully. I will add that I hope that some day Paula Grossman would be viewed as a human being accepted for who she is and not judged by artificial social constructs which build prejudices.
Most prejudices stems from ignorance, but not just base ignorance, real lack of knowledge. If we don't personally know a homosexual, don't know a black, don't know a Latino American, don't know a Muslim; don't know a transgender, we form our beliefs about them based on labels, our family and community attitudes. In other words, we learn to be prejudiced. A sex-reassignment surgery did not change Paula from a beloved music teacher to a social outcast, our ignorance did that. We can and must strive to be better than that.
I won't attempt to add to his argument; Rabbi Sameth does it succinctly and beautifully. I will add that I hope that some day Paula Grossman would be viewed as a human being accepted for who she is and not judged by artificial social constructs which build prejudices.
Most prejudices stems from ignorance, but not just base ignorance, real lack of knowledge. If we don't personally know a homosexual, don't know a black, don't know a Latino American, don't know a Muslim; don't know a transgender, we form our beliefs about them based on labels, our family and community attitudes. In other words, we learn to be prejudiced. A sex-reassignment surgery did not change Paula from a beloved music teacher to a social outcast, our ignorance did that. We can and must strive to be better than that.
143
I disagree. We do not learn prejudice. It's genetic. Fear of the unfamiliar is a useful trait to improve one's chances for survival. After all, survival is a necessary prerequisite to procreation, which is the ultimate function of life. BTW, I'm not racist or homophobic. I'm just interested in acquiring objective knowledge.
I see not what he thinks of God, but what ancients thought about gender, which is not what we assume of them. That is interesting, even without accepting their concept of a supernatural being.
2
When I was three, four, five and even later, I was a thin wispy girl with blond hair who thought she was a boy and carried a toy gun wherever she went. In nursery school I played with the boys in the rough and tumble blocks area, never with girls in dress up or dolls corner. When I was older I played stick ball and prided myself on hitting the ball hard fast and far. Although it was confusing I didn't think about it much since I was too busy running around breathlessly and collecting fire flies in a neighborhood swamp. How many of us start out as polymorphously gendered only to later emerge as male or female? The rabbis article was fascinating in the way it throws light on the relationship between personal gender identity and conceptions of the divine. Thank you so much for this eye opening piece.
111
Of perhaps those things that you enjoyed are not really related to gender in reality. We only associate them with gender due to our culture. Your gender is quite simple, check your genes. And since the entity is not known to actually have genes this transgendered idea is foolish.
2
Sex is defined as the reproductive differences between the anatomical male and anatomical female or, the function of the organs that define the role of the individual in the reproductive dualism most commonly used on our planet.
Gender is the self-recognition of the individual's sexual being which may or may not fall anywhere on the scale of sexual identity between female to male scale.
Ancient languages often gave nouns, pronouns, and even actions, male or female identifiers. In French:
Le Bureau - (male) desk
La Chaise - (female) chair
Le Jour - (male) day
La semaine - (female) week
Le Mur - (male) wall
La Maison - (female) house
While I believe I understand what you are trying to express Rabbi Sameth, and I do agree in part, I doubt that there is a god anywhere we could ever begin to comprehend in full. Is not uncommon for most people to assume that man was created in the likeness of God? But what if that likeness was not an intended physical similarity but rather propensity to reason and thought? Who is to say? If it is the first, man looks like god then woman doesn't but if it is the second then we must realize that all thinking life forms are an expression of god. If it is the latter then the rules change dramatically. We as a species are moving towards the latter. A great many of us no longer feel that religion is the keeper of morality and ethics and bear upon ourselves the weights of our moral convictions. For many of us, secular is to be like god.
Gender is the self-recognition of the individual's sexual being which may or may not fall anywhere on the scale of sexual identity between female to male scale.
Ancient languages often gave nouns, pronouns, and even actions, male or female identifiers. In French:
Le Bureau - (male) desk
La Chaise - (female) chair
Le Jour - (male) day
La semaine - (female) week
Le Mur - (male) wall
La Maison - (female) house
While I believe I understand what you are trying to express Rabbi Sameth, and I do agree in part, I doubt that there is a god anywhere we could ever begin to comprehend in full. Is not uncommon for most people to assume that man was created in the likeness of God? But what if that likeness was not an intended physical similarity but rather propensity to reason and thought? Who is to say? If it is the first, man looks like god then woman doesn't but if it is the second then we must realize that all thinking life forms are an expression of god. If it is the latter then the rules change dramatically. We as a species are moving towards the latter. A great many of us no longer feel that religion is the keeper of morality and ethics and bear upon ourselves the weights of our moral convictions. For many of us, secular is to be like god.
61
the thunder, perfect mind, a weird gospel-like text from nag hamadi, is about a female jahweh
1
Here we go again.
8
I fully support the right of individuals that have the need/desire to change their gender if they so choose. I fully condemn discrimination against these individuals or anyone for such personal and NON-THREATENING reasons. As a married gay man who was born Jewish, anything else would be the height of hypocrisy and I disavow any discriminatory policies or prejudices. I must say, however, that I find the rabbi's arguments very questionable. Having attended ORTHODOX synagogues in my youth, I remember well the prayer said by men EVERY DAY: Blessed art thou o Lord for not creating me a woman" and by women "Blessed art thou o Lord who has created me according to HIS will." My point is that ALL mainstream religions are guilty of prejudice against the entire LGBT community. Pope Francis, whom I was coming to admire, just a week ago came out against transgender people with the most scathing and hateful language. Personally, the day I gave up religious beliefs I found I had a heart and a much bigger and warmer one than I did during my days praying in temple.
12
Genesis 1:27 (KJV):
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Based on the above it would seem that whatever a man or a woman is so is God.
So, is God transgender? Yes...
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Based on the above it would seem that whatever a man or a woman is so is God.
So, is God transgender? Yes...
4
"Transgender" refers to an individual who has a gender identity different from that of their biological body. In order for God to be transgender, God would have to have a biological body of a certain sex, a gender identity, and they would have to be non-matching, to some degree.
What you probably mean to say is: "Is God gender fluid?" The answer to that may be yes, depending upon how you define God.
Please pay more attention to the definitions of the words you use. This article comes off as extremely ignorant, right from the title.
What you probably mean to say is: "Is God gender fluid?" The answer to that may be yes, depending upon how you define God.
Please pay more attention to the definitions of the words you use. This article comes off as extremely ignorant, right from the title.
10
Transgender doesn't mean a man who feels like a woman only, it encompasses gender fluid; genderqueer; etc. It is an umbrella term.
Your comment is a semantic quibble with a well written, deeply intelligent article.
Your comment is a semantic quibble with a well written, deeply intelligent article.
Joseph Campbell shared his understanding of this words something like these: "That which we call 'God' is but a metaphor for a mystery that transcends all categories of human understanding, even those of being or non-being."
It is as futile to ask "What gender is God?" as it is to ask "What color are God's eyes?" or "Does God have a belly-button?"
Or "What is the weather like ten miles north of the North Pole?"
It is as futile to ask "What gender is God?" as it is to ask "What color are God's eyes?" or "Does God have a belly-button?"
Or "What is the weather like ten miles north of the North Pole?"
17
Judaism, Christianity and Islam all share a common failing: Making god male, and thereby depriving the feminine aspect of the Divinity. Whence, all manner of evils and ills.
18
There is a feminine aspect of God, Shekhinah. That doesn't mean God is transgender.
Except that the Shekinah in Judaism, the manifest presence of God in the world, or in a specific place, is also the feminine aspect of the Divine.
This is not true of Judaism, not at all. I encourage you to read up on it. You will find that not only do many Jews not see Gd as male, but it is even more complex than that!
So when the Commandments were given to Moses, the burning bush says that his people will not reach the promised land, not because they are worshipping false gods, but because they are worshipping the other gods. It seems to me that this polytheistic aspect of the Bible has been largely swept under the rug. How was it decided which God was the right God to worship and how could they tell the difference?
7
"To the Israelites, identity was fluid, for humans as well as Jehovah."
And we care about this particular myth because...?
Israelites also used to stone adulterous women to death...like the Taliban.
And the Israelites learned "An eye for an eye" from the Babylonians, and it became their gift to the world.
And we care about this particular myth because...?
Israelites also used to stone adulterous women to death...like the Taliban.
And the Israelites learned "An eye for an eye" from the Babylonians, and it became their gift to the world.
4
Why would GOD have any sex organs, when all that need be said is "let there be?" Therefore, GOD is neither male nor female, nor any combination thereof. It all depends on who writes the texts. and when they were written and copied (hopefully accurately). What a waste of time and effort.
91
BDR, perhaps God and human gender have no or at least just a mysterious relationship. Believers like to think humankind were made in the image of God and not the reverse. Atheists don't won't to even think about it. Agnostics relax and say, "If you say so." I found the gender talk and talk about God risky business. I lost my job in ministry in small part talking about this concern. The lectionary readings included Jesus' parable of the Kingdom of heaven found in the Gospel of Matthew. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a hen who gathers in her chicks. I wonder if the Department of Agriculture has any statistics about how many roosters gather in chicks compared to hens gathering chicks? This is a parable/metaphor for describing God's feminine persona. When Moses came away from the burning bush, he understood God to be "I am Who I am" and Peter in a sermon recorded in Acts said "God is the one in whom we live, move, and have our being". These are very impersonal and almost obscure identifiers for God. Paul Tillich referred to God as the "Ground of Being". Theologically helpful. In a pastoral situation, meaningless. How we "image" God in our daily lives matters, because if we love because God first loved us is different from a God of Battles who cherishes one gender more than another and one people more than another. Believers honor God who is "Holy Other" and who is intimate and can inspire and motivate our better selves.
1
This article displays an egregious level of ignorance for someone who claims to be a rabbi...
God is an incorporeal spiritual being. God does not have a biological sex, nor does God demonstrate primary sexual characteristics.
In English, we refer to God as "He," because traditionally when the gender is unknown, we default to the masculine. That's how the language works, even if there are those today who are trying to change that.
God is everything. Therefore, God encompasses all that is male and female, as well as any other thing one can think of and all other things that one cannot.
This article is an insulting attempt to politicize God in the interest of propagandizing transgender rights.
The "rabbi" should be ashamed for writing it, for the logical gymnastics involved in justifying it, and the NY Times should be ashamed that it was printed in a such a once-great newspaper.
Seriously, where will this ridiculous advocacy of any politically-correct perversity end?
God is an incorporeal spiritual being. God does not have a biological sex, nor does God demonstrate primary sexual characteristics.
In English, we refer to God as "He," because traditionally when the gender is unknown, we default to the masculine. That's how the language works, even if there are those today who are trying to change that.
God is everything. Therefore, God encompasses all that is male and female, as well as any other thing one can think of and all other things that one cannot.
This article is an insulting attempt to politicize God in the interest of propagandizing transgender rights.
The "rabbi" should be ashamed for writing it, for the logical gymnastics involved in justifying it, and the NY Times should be ashamed that it was printed in a such a once-great newspaper.
Seriously, where will this ridiculous advocacy of any politically-correct perversity end?
2
My thoughts exactly.
1
The author mentions that Paula Grossman lost her wrongful termination lawsuit and likes "to think it would have ended differently today" however things may not have changed too much.
Recall a few years back, 2011-2012 maybe, a beloved award winning music and religion teacher of 31 years, Marla Krolikowski, was fired from a private high school in Queens for coming out as transgender.
There was some sort of monetary settlement after a lawsuit but there is still a way to go in protecting employee rights of transgendered people.
Recall a few years back, 2011-2012 maybe, a beloved award winning music and religion teacher of 31 years, Marla Krolikowski, was fired from a private high school in Queens for coming out as transgender.
There was some sort of monetary settlement after a lawsuit but there is still a way to go in protecting employee rights of transgendered people.
1
Of course they are typos, and don't forget mistranslation, and don't forget deliberate editing over the centuries by bored scribes who wanted to tell the story differently. The Book is used for every purpose, from the most evil to the most sublime. They all work because of the remarkable ability of humans to interpret the same words in every way imaginable. The most hateful attitudes to non-standard sex are also found in the Book. Where are you going with this? Liberality is found among the non-dogmatic, not the true believers. Hope your cousin Paula is still with us and doing well.
2
Well in Hindu religion god also exists in the form of half man and half woman - name in Sanskrit Ardhanarinateshwar - and is presented in a classical dance position. In Hindu society existence of transgenders is accepted as reality and in North India they are invited to bless the new born baby. Well, otherwise the society treats them as outcasts, though that is also steadily changing in a democratic way.
5
Thank you, Vivek.
Columns such as this one enlighten us in more ways than one.
Columns such as this one enlighten us in more ways than one.
3
It's still hard for me to believe in the validity of a belief about oneself that requires mutilation of one's body for fulfillment. It's also hard to believe that Jewish law would allow for such a thing. My understanding as a Jew is that the body is something sacred and should not be mutilated. Surgery to remove a tumor, etc. is of course in a different category. But the removal of healthy organs and tissue to me does not seem like something that could be justified according to Jewish belief.
4
I find it astonishing that in the 21st century a substantial portion of the world's population is still trying to maintain the relevancy of thousands of years old myths. This wouldn't be so bad if they didn't also believe these same stories should govern the rest of the planet's lives as well.
6
The Gender of a person is fixed in every cell of it's body. Males have a xy chromosome,females have xx. No surgery or hormone therapy can change this. Transgender people are excluded from procreation,and I don't believe they can have a satisfying sexual experience.
Of course any personal discrimination because of their choice is not justified. What the bible says about this seems completely irrelevant.
Of course any personal discrimination because of their choice is not justified. What the bible says about this seems completely irrelevant.
3
Beyond X and Y chromosomes are hormones and the cell types that produce them, hormone receptors, interactions of hormones and other substances, other genes that modulate genetic function, influences on the fetus within the womb, multiple other factors and failures in every one of these factors....
In other words, what makes mental sexual identity ain't simple, and no one yet completely understands it.
In other words, what makes mental sexual identity ain't simple, and no one yet completely understands it.
4
Beautifully written.
It is of note that even one of the most stringent "Christian" religions—Mormonism—has a doctrine of a "Heavenly Mother" distinct from Mary. And the just as stringent Catholic Church essentially extrapolates Mary to a feminine divine.
And for Christianity, the importance of Christ lies not in the gender of Christ—Christ certainly had to be born into the world as one gender or the other—but in who Christ was and is.
Yes, the wonderful three-letter-word God is fluid, as well it should be.
It is of note that even one of the most stringent "Christian" religions—Mormonism—has a doctrine of a "Heavenly Mother" distinct from Mary. And the just as stringent Catholic Church essentially extrapolates Mary to a feminine divine.
And for Christianity, the importance of Christ lies not in the gender of Christ—Christ certainly had to be born into the world as one gender or the other—but in who Christ was and is.
Yes, the wonderful three-letter-word God is fluid, as well it should be.
3
Mary is not a "feminine divine." Only God is worthy of adoration, given the unique form of worship called "latria." The veneration directed to the saints is "dulia." Because of her unique position as the Mother of God ("theotokos," as defined by the Council of Ephesus), Mary is given a special form of veneration known as "hyperdulia." For Catholics, these distinctions are extremely important.
3
God Transcends man and our human form. At least the God I believe in. Everyone has an belief - even some of the athiests below. Men and women are different and we all know that even those who are not religious. What will the many new rulings do for title 9, womens sports and anything that has to do with womens rights? It just seems to defy logic.
1
In the interest of relevance, isn't it time for human spirituality to let go and evolve? Why is that humanity continues to cling to the most primitive of god-responses which mandates that its gods are anthropomorphic gender-driven, emotion-laden genies in bottles hovering locally in the atmosphere of Planet Earth?
In a cosmos where we now know infinity could very well define its true nature, these ancient, geocentric notions of "God" are hopelessly irrelevant. Letting human spirituality and science converge and projecting ourselves into the larger cosmos gives us clearer insight into what we're REALLY a part of...
...and that answer is ironically everything that we don't understand. Hence, the true nature and composition of "God."
In a cosmos where we now know infinity could very well define its true nature, these ancient, geocentric notions of "God" are hopelessly irrelevant. Letting human spirituality and science converge and projecting ourselves into the larger cosmos gives us clearer insight into what we're REALLY a part of...
...and that answer is ironically everything that we don't understand. Hence, the true nature and composition of "God."
5
According to the opening paragraphs of Genesis, God is a spirit who existed before the Beginning, when there was nothing, only the void.
So, the problem with "God's gender" is merely a problem with the limitation of languages. The ancient Semitic languages were careless and negligent of gender. Archaic and Modern English treat only two genders, with "it" as a diminutive alternative applied to small animals and inanimate objects.
We need to invent a set of supragender words to deal with God the Spirit. Suggestions?
So, the problem with "God's gender" is merely a problem with the limitation of languages. The ancient Semitic languages were careless and negligent of gender. Archaic and Modern English treat only two genders, with "it" as a diminutive alternative applied to small animals and inanimate objects.
We need to invent a set of supragender words to deal with God the Spirit. Suggestions?
2
All the mythological "holy books" were written by men who decided it would be easier for them to create a male god. In this way they would have an easier time subjugating women. The woman became the cause of all the world's ills. They plagiarized the Greeks who invented the character of Pandora, the woman who opened the box and let out all the evil, by assigning Eve, the first woman, as responsible for "original sin" because she ate an apple. Truly, religious people should be studied by anthropologists in the same way they study primitive tribes and mountain gorillas.
7
While fully supportive of people's rights to classify themselves as they wish, the attempt to link ancient texts steeped in mythology and then current issues of gender politics and somehow attempt to ascribe biological meaning seems a stretch at best. Gender identify seems far more likely to be a matter of genetic variation with classic male and female identifies anchoring some distribution of variations. We need not seek some connection to a higher authority to simply accept people as they wish as long as their personal choices do not impose harm on others. This applies to religion as much as identify.
3
There are a few layers of reification that need to be traversed before any discussion of a gender or sexual orientation of a god.
I have yet to hear articulated or read anything presenting any hypothesis that an adult can take seriously. I never get past the existence layer of reification.
I do have an opinion: if there is some he/she/it that created and runs this vast (billions of light-years) sublime and beautiful universe, I have a really hard time accepting that said deity cares a wit about gender or sexual orientation.
I have yet to hear articulated or read anything presenting any hypothesis that an adult can take seriously. I never get past the existence layer of reification.
I do have an opinion: if there is some he/she/it that created and runs this vast (billions of light-years) sublime and beautiful universe, I have a really hard time accepting that said deity cares a wit about gender or sexual orientation.
8
The author makes a persuasive point. However, the human condition involves categorizing, stereotyping, marginalizing and proselytizing. Readers of this piece who sense the gender continuum within themselves will find this essay enlightening. Traditionalists will cry foul and say the author has no business describing the Deity as they know full well the characteristics of the Deity because that's what Sunday school taught them.
3
Very disappointed in the NYT Picks today. Really? To me, the reason this issue continues to resonate is because one political party, supposedly committed to limited government, continues to insert itself into the most personal of human choices – where to go to the bathroom. Yes, there is poverty, mental illness and other important issues like global warming that affect our people. However, these issues are being ignored by that party as well. Mark Sameth is simply giving more religious and historical context for this conversation, which I really appreciate. Thank you!
8
God's sex is a subject for speculation? We have no idea if God exists, much less that it may have any attributes. Surely if he is the one responsible for the immensity and complexity of the cosmos his sex has no relation to human sexuality. There are many more important issues to occupy our minds.
6
We have awareness. Who is it that is aware. That awareness sparkles in each conscious being. That awareness is consciousness. It is as easily accessible to a human as it is to a blade of grass. We may not call it with a common name as tongues speak and express differently, yet we know we have a common quality of awareness, universal to all of us beings.
5
And because of our awareness we know anything about some mythical God entity? The first step in wisdom is to acknowledge that they are some things we know nothing about. To discuss nothing is meaningless.
Rabbi Sameth,
It comes as no surprise that scientists view gender as anything other than a simple binary.
To the simple gist of your piece:
Scientists now tell us that gender identity, like sexual orientation, exists on a spectrum. Some of us are in greater or lesser alignment with the gender assigned to us at birth. Some of us are in alignment with both, or with neither. For others of us, alignment requires more of a process.
Welcome aboard the view from ancient Athens.
It comes as no surprise that scientists view gender as anything other than a simple binary.
To the simple gist of your piece:
Scientists now tell us that gender identity, like sexual orientation, exists on a spectrum. Some of us are in greater or lesser alignment with the gender assigned to us at birth. Some of us are in alignment with both, or with neither. For others of us, alignment requires more of a process.
Welcome aboard the view from ancient Athens.
1
I read this title and did not read the article, but had to comment. Transgendered means being biologically one gender and mentally the opposite gender. I don't think that's what this article meant-I think they are referring to people (and God) as bigendered, meaning that people/God have elements of both genders to them (which is true). The sloppy headline uses incorrect terminology.
3
No, God is female because in virtually all species it is females who create and give life, and it is the female, the womanly, which is the default for each human being. Men deny this in an attempt to evade their responsibility for women's suffering and mutilation and death in pregnancy and childbirth.
5
There are probably many reasons why the god of the bible is generally referred to by the pronoun "he" and in the New Testament by Jesus with the term "father."
One reason not yet mentioned, however, is the issue of penetration. Sounds weird, I know, but the Greek gods — who predate the Hebrew god — were the seducers, chasers, rapers(?) and penetrators of mortal women. They were the he's. When Aphrodite, a goddess, has an affair with a Trojan male, the male — Priam, I think — is in serious trouble because in the Greek scheme of things it is the person of greater power who does the penetrating and not the other way around.
The god of Genesis 2 breathes into the first human — a male — and it is the divine force that enters Adam and gives him life.
As a result, Adam becomes a living being. This event is an especially intimate and vitally essential moment and because YHWH is the penetrator, that god gets the pronoun "he," which is an entirely anthropomorphic designation but an understandable one given the prevailing concepts of power and the predominant role of of the male as penetrator in chief in the ancient (and I suppose, not so ancient) world.
Using the bible to justify or not justify transgenderism, however, is quite the reach.
One reason not yet mentioned, however, is the issue of penetration. Sounds weird, I know, but the Greek gods — who predate the Hebrew god — were the seducers, chasers, rapers(?) and penetrators of mortal women. They were the he's. When Aphrodite, a goddess, has an affair with a Trojan male, the male — Priam, I think — is in serious trouble because in the Greek scheme of things it is the person of greater power who does the penetrating and not the other way around.
The god of Genesis 2 breathes into the first human — a male — and it is the divine force that enters Adam and gives him life.
As a result, Adam becomes a living being. This event is an especially intimate and vitally essential moment and because YHWH is the penetrator, that god gets the pronoun "he," which is an entirely anthropomorphic designation but an understandable one given the prevailing concepts of power and the predominant role of of the male as penetrator in chief in the ancient (and I suppose, not so ancient) world.
Using the bible to justify or not justify transgenderism, however, is quite the reach.
2
To an atheist, this all looks pretty ridiculous, trying to devine transgender meanings from ancient sentences written within vastly different, largely recognizable societies.
I'll go with the scientists -- there is a spectrum of gender. Fine -- no big deal. Let's get on with journey of exploring what is put before us.
I'll go with the scientists -- there is a spectrum of gender. Fine -- no big deal. Let's get on with journey of exploring what is put before us.
10
What this author misses is that transgender as identity is very much a quasi-religious belief system based on self-perception with the outside world. It is interesting how an entire cultural debate is being waged in the name of hurt feelings while women are regularly abused for pointing out the patently obvious: one cannot change the sex of the body and that gender is a social construction. If anything this article underscores that perception while avoiding the uncomfortable discussion of identity as religious doxa.
1
Do I understand well - the word "probably" - that the rabbis doesn't know their God's name after all? Not a single one of them?
Nonetheless I agree with the interpretation. It makes sense in the given historic / cultural context (the Exodus, and the replacement of the Egyptian cult with monotheism).
Nonetheless I agree with the interpretation. It makes sense in the given historic / cultural context (the Exodus, and the replacement of the Egyptian cult with monotheism).
According to ancient Vedic thoughts, which is the basis of Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism, the Parabrahmam, the source from which everything in the Universe came and into which everything merges at the end of time, is the Highest Supreme energy that is transcendental and beyond all descriptions and forms. For human understanding, the unmanifest energy at the beginning and end of time is refereed to as Purusha the male form, and the manifest Universe that encompasses all the power of that energy is referred to as Prakriti or the female form. Ardhanareeswara for example, represents Purusha and Prakriti together as One.
3
Reinterpreting “sacred” texts to justify later discoveries (not “revelations”) does not hold up, Mark.
I respect PEOPLE obsessed with religious “faith” and “beliefs”, but not their faith and beliefs
“Free speech.”
I pay taxes for people who need a religious crutch to walk through the ward. Magnanimously.
Though no “liberal” (however defined).
Gender differentiation depends NOT on allegorical hermeneutic interpretations of ancient texts, no matter how revelatory of cumulative human literary prowess they may be. Divine, prophetic?
The conveyed thoughts, not the texts!
Evolutionary biology shows that the “choice” of two, rather than more, sexes (our normative, binomial sex spawned, in later-evolved human consciousness, the notion of divinely “inspired” feminine/masculine “principles).
It was never a “choice”, but an unconscious “stumbling upon”, done randomly (survival of fittest, natural selection) that occurred in aberrant biological closed systems, which preserved and reproduced themselves in the local planetary niche.
Outside of religious, “spiritual” interpretations, life is obviously an accelerative “device” that streamlines natural entropic process. Life consumes complex materials and inefficiently converts stored energy, evacuating waste (with energy rendered potential and latent again).
Don’t prostitute excellent literature to justify fallacious notions of single deities, Mark!
Better reread your Maimonides (said the kid raised Baptist)!
I respect PEOPLE obsessed with religious “faith” and “beliefs”, but not their faith and beliefs
“Free speech.”
I pay taxes for people who need a religious crutch to walk through the ward. Magnanimously.
Though no “liberal” (however defined).
Gender differentiation depends NOT on allegorical hermeneutic interpretations of ancient texts, no matter how revelatory of cumulative human literary prowess they may be. Divine, prophetic?
The conveyed thoughts, not the texts!
Evolutionary biology shows that the “choice” of two, rather than more, sexes (our normative, binomial sex spawned, in later-evolved human consciousness, the notion of divinely “inspired” feminine/masculine “principles).
It was never a “choice”, but an unconscious “stumbling upon”, done randomly (survival of fittest, natural selection) that occurred in aberrant biological closed systems, which preserved and reproduced themselves in the local planetary niche.
Outside of religious, “spiritual” interpretations, life is obviously an accelerative “device” that streamlines natural entropic process. Life consumes complex materials and inefficiently converts stored energy, evacuating waste (with energy rendered potential and latent again).
Don’t prostitute excellent literature to justify fallacious notions of single deities, Mark!
Better reread your Maimonides (said the kid raised Baptist)!
1
Yes, the Torah clearly stands as a progressive and insightful revelation on sexuality and gender in which God is revealed to be not only transgender, but calls for tolerance, diversity, and respect to be celebrated and practiced by all. Of course the multiple textual examples of this progressive he/she God divinely sanctioning rape, homophobia, misogyny, genocide, or capital punishment for a myriad of slights to his/her petty narcissistic needs for attention should be overlooked.
How did this complete and utter nonsense ever make it past the editor's desk?
How did this complete and utter nonsense ever make it past the editor's desk?
7
Unfortunately the transgender meaning of the NAME is challenged by the dominant association of the more accepted uses to denote a tribal, side-taking interventionist and distinctly patriarchal notion of deity. I much prefer the scene in which the one who might be a more accurate "image" would not reveal a name to Moses but instead confined identification to 'I am I'. Theology is so mired in its patriarchal past that it now needs a complete do-over, as Bonhoeffer suggested.
4
There is wisdom in the good Rabbi's observations, but wisdom can com from many places. If we are to have an effective application of social justice progress in our modern world, the energy for that progress must be truth not myth. And it is the truth that, "In the whole history of the universe, no supernatural event has happened, not once, ever." As such there are inherent problems with religiously based guidance.
The Ancient Greeks held that "The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one thing very well ..." no doubt there is an application for that challenging bit of insight in social justice arguments, too.
My preference would be to rest arguments for social justice on moral teachings that have clarity and that resonate with truth without devolving to tribal myths, such as those we may find in, "The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values" by Sam Harris. In this work Harris proposes that moral questions are questions "... about the well-being of conscious creatures."
See a bit more here:
https://philosophynow.org/issues/90/The_Moral_Landscape_How_Science_Can_...
The Ancient Greeks held that "The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one thing very well ..." no doubt there is an application for that challenging bit of insight in social justice arguments, too.
My preference would be to rest arguments for social justice on moral teachings that have clarity and that resonate with truth without devolving to tribal myths, such as those we may find in, "The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values" by Sam Harris. In this work Harris proposes that moral questions are questions "... about the well-being of conscious creatures."
See a bit more here:
https://philosophynow.org/issues/90/The_Moral_Landscape_How_Science_Can_...
1
As the cherished lyric from the British band XTC dares to state about the Deity, "DId You make us or did we make You?" One cannot hear that without being compelled to contemplate the nature and of course, even the existence, of a god. Or did we merely form after billions of years after cosmic dust went through massive successive chemical interactions and changes? God has been used as an excuse for every bad thing that humans have done to each other, so one must regard the conventional conceptualization of the divine as being utterly monstrous.
12
One of the fundamental tenets of Judaism, adopted by Christianity, is the view that people were made in the image of God. The story of Abraham bargaining with God, albeit in vain, to spare Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction is what distinguishes the Judeo-Christian tradition from the later Islamic one: people are active agents in making their destiny and not merely submissive in their relationship with the divine. While many plumb these ancient texts for guidance in navigating the modern world, every interpretation is necessarily influenced by individual preferences. As another commenter pointed out, the answer lies in the Golden Rule not in some reverse reading of the Tetragrammaton to justify behavior that is, in itself, ethical.
As an aside, there is a traditional reason given to explain why no one knows how to pronounce God's name. In the ancient world it was believed that part of your essence resided not only in your body parts (which is why spells were believed to be more effective if you possessed anything from that person, even a strand of hair or fingernail) but in your name as well. When Moses asks God for his name, the answer is a dodge ("I am that I am") to avoid giving Moses power over God. Only Rabbi Loewy of Prague's knowledge of the Name allowed him to animate matter, and we know how the Golem story turned out.
As an aside, there is a traditional reason given to explain why no one knows how to pronounce God's name. In the ancient world it was believed that part of your essence resided not only in your body parts (which is why spells were believed to be more effective if you possessed anything from that person, even a strand of hair or fingernail) but in your name as well. When Moses asks God for his name, the answer is a dodge ("I am that I am") to avoid giving Moses power over God. Only Rabbi Loewy of Prague's knowledge of the Name allowed him to animate matter, and we know how the Golem story turned out.
9
Truly surprising and informative. But gender identity is at least as much a cultural construct as a biologic phenomenon. Our society and much of the rest of the developed world is transitioning from a narrow binary set of gender identities to a multimodal, continuous distribution understanding. Such fundamental cultural transitions are messy, prolonged and generate a lot of heterogeneity within a society for a long time.
7
What an odd and unpersuasive argument. First, to superimpose a contemporary notion "gender fluidity" upon ancient books. To invoke "scientists" without naming scientists--as if there were no debate among scientists about sex in human beings, though they seem pretty much agreed upon sex as procreative--though "cousin Paula" receives a mention. Then to fail to stick to the point: referring to Eve and Adam has nothing whatever to do with referring to God, since they are they and He is He. Besides, most school children past the age of 14 know, if they take a foreign language, if Genesis refers to Adam as "them," the difference is in grammatical number--plural, to be clear--not gender. The same applies to a "nursing king" which is easily what is called--I hope the author is sitting down--a metaphor. Clearly the rabbi is correct in one regard, though he seems to blind to this in failing to specify the assumption the Bible obviously makes: there are two sexes, male and female, among human beings. (I seem to recall that, more than once.) Is the sadness the rabbi feels perhaps not at all that sad, since it evinces itself when presented with those not as enlightened as he in their notion of God? And do I detect a whiff of arrogance in it, too? Imagine, Christians and Jews agreeing for thousands of years that God created men and women, sexual creatures complementary to one another by the very reason of their biology. Do unnamed scientists and cousin Paula know better?
8
Just a misread of what the Rabbi wrote, through your own personal lens. I think the Rabbi may be a better authority on Old Testament scripture and scholarship than you are, and he gets bonus points for putting it in an historical context of the other contemporaneous religions of the area, as well as the historical/political context.
The fact that a rabbi would have the hubris to try to impose a gender on God demonstrates that the author has no real concept of what God means. Gender is a totally human construct. Sexual identity is another matter. As far as I know sexual identity is based on biology and at least in the higher animals like mammals of which humans are a part there are very distinct sexual roles that are part of the reproductive process. Gender has to do with how human beings see themselves but is not a concept that can be attached to God because God is not human and has no gender---not male, not female not otherwise because God is by nature beyond human comprehension and cannot be adequately defined by human terms. We as humans can only approach a definition of God.
10
Dear Sir:
" As far as I know" means you do not know so you should look it up.
Look up in biology what happens when there are extra X chromosomes
"Klinefelter syndrome is caused by the presence of one or more extra copies of the X chromosome in a male's cells. Extra genetic material from the X chromosome interferes with male sexual development, preventing the testicles from functioning normally and reducing the levels of testosterone."
"And then there variations with extra Y chromosome
XYY syndrome is a genetic condition in which a human male has an extra male (Y) chromosome, giving a total of 47 chromosomes instead of the more usual 46. This produces a 47,XYY karyotype, which occurs every 1 in 1,000 male births."
There is much more biology on this. It is not black and white because God made it with a gray in between. There are population advantages to having people that their genes contradict their phenotype (whether they look like men or women when in fact their reproductive system is the opposite.)
So let's stop all attacks on science. It is very very very dangerous to spread untruths and the reason God gave "thou shalt not lie" as one of the 10 commandments. He-she really meant you shalt not attack science by misrepresenting what it says.
" As far as I know" means you do not know so you should look it up.
Look up in biology what happens when there are extra X chromosomes
"Klinefelter syndrome is caused by the presence of one or more extra copies of the X chromosome in a male's cells. Extra genetic material from the X chromosome interferes with male sexual development, preventing the testicles from functioning normally and reducing the levels of testosterone."
"And then there variations with extra Y chromosome
XYY syndrome is a genetic condition in which a human male has an extra male (Y) chromosome, giving a total of 47 chromosomes instead of the more usual 46. This produces a 47,XYY karyotype, which occurs every 1 in 1,000 male births."
There is much more biology on this. It is not black and white because God made it with a gray in between. There are population advantages to having people that their genes contradict their phenotype (whether they look like men or women when in fact their reproductive system is the opposite.)
So let's stop all attacks on science. It is very very very dangerous to spread untruths and the reason God gave "thou shalt not lie" as one of the 10 commandments. He-she really meant you shalt not attack science by misrepresenting what it says.
6
Fundamental misreading of what the Rabbi wrote.
1
"...gender is a human construct..."? God, what we can imagine about the creator of the universe, the omnipotent, the omnipresent is a human construct and generally our religions' construct is a male God.
Hubris? No, just a literal translation.
Hubris? No, just a literal translation.
God does not have a gender, period. The reason religion tends to use the masculine, Abba or Father, is that it is easier for most people to relate to.
The entire trans-gender discussion involves a fraction of the population, and discussing it diverts attention from problems of poverty, mental illness, and other major issues that effect far more people.
The difference is that addressing the other issues requires sacrifice, while hand-waving about gender takes none. Mark Sameth and the Editors would rather preen in self-righteous indignation than do the hard work to help others.
The entire trans-gender discussion involves a fraction of the population, and discussing it diverts attention from problems of poverty, mental illness, and other major issues that effect far more people.
The difference is that addressing the other issues requires sacrifice, while hand-waving about gender takes none. Mark Sameth and the Editors would rather preen in self-righteous indignation than do the hard work to help others.
65
God is addressed as male because of the choices made by those who wrote what is the Old Testament and New Testament, and other religious texts. Male to justify the ascendency of men over women and to ensure that men had the primary roles in society in ownership of property and power. And, yes, women were and in many societies today still are considered property. Gender is not mere "hand-waiving". Gender distinctions enforcement result in poverty for women, mental illness for women, physical abuse and rape of women (while the men who assault them go free), as well as the horrors of female genital mutilation and the murders of transgender women, 18 to date in 2016.
2
"The reason religion tends to use the masculine, Abba or Father, is that it is easier for most people to relate to." This might be true if most people were, by sex or gender, male. But, most people are not. Seems the Israelites understood that.
Being fully aware of other people is the first step in dealing with the major issues of people in the World. Thank you, Rabbi Sameth for helping us see that.
Being fully aware of other people is the first step in dealing with the major issues of people in the World. Thank you, Rabbi Sameth for helping us see that.
1
I have often wondered what percentage of the population is transgender for the related issues to be receiving such frequent and prominent news coverage and suspect the fraction you refer to is quite small. Is it to attract readership by what the editors see as titillating subject matter?
As a female I for one would not want to share a public bathroom with one equipped with male genital organs regardless how they identified themselves. Use of a public facility is not the same as filling out a form with the option to choose M,F or Other.
As a female I for one would not want to share a public bathroom with one equipped with male genital organs regardless how they identified themselves. Use of a public facility is not the same as filling out a form with the option to choose M,F or Other.
1
Gender Fluidity, different kinds of families that are special in their own ways, polyamory, freedom. Equality between sexes, inclusivity and diversity. People who can truly be themselves. The end of religion's stranglehold on our society.
This is the future. This is a good future. This is a real future. This is so much better than what we have now or what we have ever had.
Us Millenials are going to leave a bigger mark than any other generation. As a Transgender woman in a polyamorous relationship with 3 other transgender people, I can say that things are both way better and more real than anything our society has ever seen.
Remember when Hillary said that she and her fellow Welsley graduates should look for more penetrating modes of living? Well that was in the late 1960s and her generation didn't follow through. They sold out. Well, our society has sold US out (I have $186000 in student debt), so we are starting to do things differently.
The best part is that there is no stopping us. It is only a matter of time.
This is the future. This is a good future. This is a real future. This is so much better than what we have now or what we have ever had.
Us Millenials are going to leave a bigger mark than any other generation. As a Transgender woman in a polyamorous relationship with 3 other transgender people, I can say that things are both way better and more real than anything our society has ever seen.
Remember when Hillary said that she and her fellow Welsley graduates should look for more penetrating modes of living? Well that was in the late 1960s and her generation didn't follow through. They sold out. Well, our society has sold US out (I have $186000 in student debt), so we are starting to do things differently.
The best part is that there is no stopping us. It is only a matter of time.
34
Amazing this person is bragging as though this were a societal accomplishment. Wonder if they will feel the same in 30 years.
Since the commenter was not alive in the sixties or seventies, there is a lack of appreciation of what Hillary's generation (also mine) and specifically Democratic Party did for women, lesbians, gays, transpersons - - and be it added, for racial and ethnic minorities. Did it take longer than I would have wished as a gay man? Indeed it did. It has lasted my entire life and its not over yet. But if it had been left to the Republican party, same-sex sex would still be a crime and the "criminals" practicing it would have no civil rights.
I hope your generation can do better. You will not, if you do not understand what your predecessors accomplished and against what odds. Good Luck.
I hope your generation can do better. You will not, if you do not understand what your predecessors accomplished and against what odds. Good Luck.
2
"It is only a matter of time." Actually, we have had lots of time. I was there in the 1960s. I saw all of the free love, and the drugs, and the deaths. You are a transgender person involved with three other people. Good luck with that. Perhaps if you were having less sex and working a lot harder, you wouldn't have so much student debt.
2
Mark Sameth is identified as a Rabbi, but his congregation, if he has one, is not identified. Perhaps he is like the "Reverend" Al Sharpton, who has never had a congregation. It is curious indeed how he has been able to identify anomalous "gender" references that have somehow eluded biblical scholars for two millennia. Not content with this, he tells us that scientists have found "gender identification" as existing in a spectrum.
No single word in the new babble has engendered so much confusion as "gender". In its proper meaning it is a purely grammatical tern which in European languages is masculine, feminine, or neuter. As a (totally unneeded) synonym for sex it is xx, xy, or occasionally xyy. In academic feminist jargon, it means, as Humpty-Dumpto told Alice, whatever they say it means, at any given time; no more or no less. It is only in the latter sense—that of having no stable meaning at all—that it can exist in a spectrum.
In addition, I wonder where the Rabbi found out that a bearded lady became one of Egypt's greatest Pharaohs. I'll bet it is yet another product of his fevered imagination, like how to pronounce the Tetragrammaton backwards.
No single word in the new babble has engendered so much confusion as "gender". In its proper meaning it is a purely grammatical tern which in European languages is masculine, feminine, or neuter. As a (totally unneeded) synonym for sex it is xx, xy, or occasionally xyy. In academic feminist jargon, it means, as Humpty-Dumpto told Alice, whatever they say it means, at any given time; no more or no less. It is only in the latter sense—that of having no stable meaning at all—that it can exist in a spectrum.
In addition, I wonder where the Rabbi found out that a bearded lady became one of Egypt's greatest Pharaohs. I'll bet it is yet another product of his fevered imagination, like how to pronounce the Tetragrammaton backwards.
5
This is a lovely piece that speaks to finding a more gender-fluid interpretation of God within the Abrahamanic traditions.
Growing up as a Hindu child, I thought it strange that we worshipped God as male, female and even as a deity that was a combination of genders (Ardhanareeshwara). Even more peculiarly, God was conceptualized in a variety of animal and plant forms. And yet we were taught that the supreme reality was in fact formless (nirguna). Now, as an adult I realize the value of contemplating God in a myriad of aspects:
The ultimate divinity is likely beyond human understanding. Yet humans persist in their need to define God. By simply broadening that definition to encompass every aspect of creation, divinity is manifest everywhere. It’s an exquisite way to view the world.
We can question whether God is transgender, male, female or genderless. The important thing is to allow the answer to be as fluid as the believer needs it to be.
Growing up as a Hindu child, I thought it strange that we worshipped God as male, female and even as a deity that was a combination of genders (Ardhanareeshwara). Even more peculiarly, God was conceptualized in a variety of animal and plant forms. And yet we were taught that the supreme reality was in fact formless (nirguna). Now, as an adult I realize the value of contemplating God in a myriad of aspects:
The ultimate divinity is likely beyond human understanding. Yet humans persist in their need to define God. By simply broadening that definition to encompass every aspect of creation, divinity is manifest everywhere. It’s an exquisite way to view the world.
We can question whether God is transgender, male, female or genderless. The important thing is to allow the answer to be as fluid as the believer needs it to be.
7
My thoughts on this lean towards science and history. I believe science has shown people have a mix of male and female hormones and that the mix influences how masculine or feminine anyone is. Environmental factors like family and friends and schoolmates may also have an influence. And, movies and propaganda. And, what the person decides given the influences. I think that societies have generally marginalized people with very noticeable reversal in their apparent sex and their hormonal sexual indicators, or behavior. Traditional societies have not wanted to popularize such individual rarities for various traditional reasons. At the same time, the existence of "latent" gay or lesbian tendencies may be related to the actual mix of hormones. Traditional societies may have had more stability than some contemporary societies because ratifying instead of marginalizing apparent gay and lesbian people may lead to more experimentation by "latents" and accompanying social instability in general. Historians have found corollaries between open gay and lesbian societies and social disintegration. No one should hurt anyone in this minority group, but people's feeling do get hurt. Protection of this group does not have to mean the end of general marginalization in mass communication and so on. It is like that in U.S. movie depictions of society. Very very few gay and lesbians are seen in any movies as casual background or secondary roles.
I believe the biggest problem that some -- or at least I -- are having with the issue of transgendered individuals is that one must be one or the other biologically (noting that it may take one some time and money to "get there,"). Beyond that, it becomes the "old" issue of whether one is straight, gay, or bi, viz., who cares? I don't.
But, the illogical and ego-centric stance that one is whatever one gender one wishes to be whenever one wishes to be, or that one should be referred to as "ze" because one is, rather impossibly, neither male or female is less an issue of gender identity and more an issue akin to a 12 year old stamping its feet wanting to be unique, and demanding that the entire world be reshaped according to its will.
Grow up. Life is not fair. Get on with it.
But, the illogical and ego-centric stance that one is whatever one gender one wishes to be whenever one wishes to be, or that one should be referred to as "ze" because one is, rather impossibly, neither male or female is less an issue of gender identity and more an issue akin to a 12 year old stamping its feet wanting to be unique, and demanding that the entire world be reshaped according to its will.
Grow up. Life is not fair. Get on with it.
13
We (that is to say maybe five groups of Neurobiologists in the world) can define a particular mating behavior of a male C. elegans worm on the cellular (not yet molecular) level. In 2013 or 2014, a few people could show that sleep is required to clean a bunch of special cells in the brain. Sleep - an activity we're carrying out for 8 hours a day may finally get understood. Gender, sexual identity, homosexuality... is far, far off what we really know. (Epidemiological studies are just the prelude to real science.) So let's not pretend science has an important voice in this discussion. Not much more than religion anyway. What we have learned is that transgender people and - by yehova, god and yahwe teenagers - are psychologically extremely fragile. You break them (or assist in breaking them), you go to their parents and explain them why.
3
In the nature of the human condition, of life on Earth, most of us are attracted to the opposite sex. We relate with and identify ourselves as the sex with which we were born. Some of us are attracted to our same sex. And some to both sexes. That is part of our reality too. I vote for LGBT rights.
Still, to undertake such extremely violent surgery to the body, to cut off a penis and testicles, to have plastic implants, Botox injections, bones removed and/or shaved, hair removal and transplanted, and to take hormonal drugs to alter our bodies, and don make-up and clothes most often like Marilyn Monroe, does not seem to me to be an undertaking to be considered as aligned with a religious perspective of God's will. Whether you have any sense of the transcendental or not. I just had a hernia operation. It was awful. To subject oneself to far more invasive surgery strikes me as very neurotic.
My heart goes out to those who are driven to not accept their fate with resolution.
Still, to undertake such extremely violent surgery to the body, to cut off a penis and testicles, to have plastic implants, Botox injections, bones removed and/or shaved, hair removal and transplanted, and to take hormonal drugs to alter our bodies, and don make-up and clothes most often like Marilyn Monroe, does not seem to me to be an undertaking to be considered as aligned with a religious perspective of God's will. Whether you have any sense of the transcendental or not. I just had a hernia operation. It was awful. To subject oneself to far more invasive surgery strikes me as very neurotic.
My heart goes out to those who are driven to not accept their fate with resolution.
15
Is Zeus transgendered?
Is Freyja transgendered?
Is ISIS transgendered?
Does it matter?
Are we really talking about the genders of very possibly imaginary beings on the NY Times website?
Is Freyja transgendered?
Is ISIS transgendered?
Does it matter?
Are we really talking about the genders of very possibly imaginary beings on the NY Times website?
13
Yes, we are talking about it in the NYTimes because over half the world believes in this particular god, to varying degrees and in varying ways.
2
"Are we really talking about the genders of very possibly imaginary beings on the NY Times website?"
Zeus was male, as were his brothers Poseidon and Hades. His sisters were female. Hestia, goddess of the hearth, was very definitely female; and when she gave up her own Olympian throne in order to admit the upstart Dionysos, she proved it.
Ditto Freya and Isis.
Since these deities have all been debunked, so to speak -- or dethroned -- we don't have to worry about their genders. One day, perhaps, the same will hold true for God.
Zeus was male, as were his brothers Poseidon and Hades. His sisters were female. Hestia, goddess of the hearth, was very definitely female; and when she gave up her own Olympian throne in order to admit the upstart Dionysos, she proved it.
Ditto Freya and Isis.
Since these deities have all been debunked, so to speak -- or dethroned -- we don't have to worry about their genders. One day, perhaps, the same will hold true for God.
1
Every person possess both male and female physical traits to various degrees, and since gender identification by society can determine social privilege or ostracism, the issue is fraught with anxiety.
The general preference is usually for an intensification of gender traits: super-male, or ultra female. Gender ambiguity that confuses and enrages others can be dangerous, possibly resulting in violence.
Having taught children in groups I have observed how boys and girls who have not yet matured into visible manifestation of gender differentiation can be very self-conscious about being incorrectly labelled, and may recoil from being associated with their opposite sex classmates for fear of identification with them. They will go to extra lengths to identify with a gender prototype not yet fully developed in themselves.
People who place their self-worth almost entirely upon their gender (think of John Wayne or Jane Mansfield types) can find that the endless efforts of reinforcing gender identity can be an exhausting full-time job.
This would all be hilariously absurd were it not for the fact that causes so much pointless stress and terrible suffering.
The general preference is usually for an intensification of gender traits: super-male, or ultra female. Gender ambiguity that confuses and enrages others can be dangerous, possibly resulting in violence.
Having taught children in groups I have observed how boys and girls who have not yet matured into visible manifestation of gender differentiation can be very self-conscious about being incorrectly labelled, and may recoil from being associated with their opposite sex classmates for fear of identification with them. They will go to extra lengths to identify with a gender prototype not yet fully developed in themselves.
People who place their self-worth almost entirely upon their gender (think of John Wayne or Jane Mansfield types) can find that the endless efforts of reinforcing gender identity can be an exhausting full-time job.
This would all be hilariously absurd were it not for the fact that causes so much pointless stress and terrible suffering.
12
This article strengthens my belief that -- God is agender, not transgender.
Only that can explain Genesis 1:27: God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Only that can explain Genesis 1:27: God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
9
Or perhaps God has a wife, and the scripture is referring to them together as one entity.
1
@JO
Maybe. But the idea of plurality of God puts a wrench in the works of monotheism, and raises more questions than answers, doesn't it ?
Maybe. But the idea of plurality of God puts a wrench in the works of monotheism, and raises more questions than answers, doesn't it ?
There are many things that one might wish the Bible to say. But it's wrong to mangle Hebrew grammar and spelling to make it so. As a scholar of the Hebrew Bible, I would give several "pants on fire" for the author's assertions. Biblical language has considerable artistry and stunning metaphors, but these claims are mostly wrong or misleading. Sorry, NYT.
7
Yes, I too found the grammatical assertions highly suspect (but I do not claim your expertise). The root of the problem, I think, is our word "gender", which has recently (past few decades) expanded from a narrow grammatical sense (and many languages have three genders, not two) to a substitute for "sex" --a word that became politically taboo (it had long been culturally taboo) around 1980. When feminists and other left wing intellectuals replaced "sex" with "gender" they thought they were replacing biological essentialism with a new recognition that everything is culturally. The problem was: common folk adopted the word but not the idea, so we now hear transgender people saying "I don't believe in the gender binary". In other words, new "gender" is old "sex" writ large and we have lost the (useful) grammatical sense along with the ability to distinguish between that sense and "sex". Hence the muddle in this poorly argued opinion piece.
2
There's a big difference between saying ancient Judaism was about being transgender and saying God does not have a gender. Your ancient Egyptian pharaoh? Do you think she was trying to make a statement as being transgender, or did she don a beard to gain power? If you don't recognize the difference that is a weak indication of your intelligence
6
Now we are at the heart of what the author is discussing. Only a bigot would call the author's intelligence into question. And only a bigoted atheist would put the question of the existence of a monotheistic God before the importance of the issue being raised.
This isn't about the existence of God or the intelligence of the author, it is about accepting the 50 shades of gender. Get over the religious issue (or as this commenter is unable to hide, anti-Semitism) and look at this as anthropology.
(Finally, I will let you in on a secret: men who use the female parts of their brain and women who use the male parts of their brain are vastly more intelligent than men who despise their femininity and women who despise their masculinity! Who are you?)
This isn't about the existence of God or the intelligence of the author, it is about accepting the 50 shades of gender. Get over the religious issue (or as this commenter is unable to hide, anti-Semitism) and look at this as anthropology.
(Finally, I will let you in on a secret: men who use the female parts of their brain and women who use the male parts of their brain are vastly more intelligent than men who despise their femininity and women who despise their masculinity! Who are you?)
1
Yes, gender identity does fall along a spectrum. That should be readily apparent to anybody that's even attended elementary school. Yet gender identity, like almost every other issue imaginable, is seen as binary, black and white, by all evangelicals and nearly all Republicans (and by ALL elected Republicans). What is wrong with these people???? Transgendered ask only to be left alone, to be allowed to be themselves.
7
Actually they ask for a bit more than that. They ask (and litigate) for acceptance and accommodation (including material resources), not just toleration ("to be left alone")
John, I think that the litigation arises because people do not leave transgendered people alone. By refusing to accommodate them as they would anyone else, they actively discriminate against them.
Look, at one point I think that we should just make do with what we look like. Girls with short legs will never be leggy Vogue models and shouldn't beat themselves up about it. And make no mistake about it, they do beat themselves up. Boys who prefer "girlish" things and who as men don female clothing and apply makeup will have a more difficult life, even if they never again saw another human being, than if they wore khakis, simply allowed themselves to feel female, and enjoyed their days on earth.
It might be fun to dress up, but given what our media have done to young women, what's the purpose? The female "look" is unattainable. Advertisements are airbrushed. Why feed the beast of fashion?
Look, at one point I think that we should just make do with what we look like. Girls with short legs will never be leggy Vogue models and shouldn't beat themselves up about it. And make no mistake about it, they do beat themselves up. Boys who prefer "girlish" things and who as men don female clothing and apply makeup will have a more difficult life, even if they never again saw another human being, than if they wore khakis, simply allowed themselves to feel female, and enjoyed their days on earth.
It might be fun to dress up, but given what our media have done to young women, what's the purpose? The female "look" is unattainable. Advertisements are airbrushed. Why feed the beast of fashion?
3
Transgender want to be left alone? Perfect! Then let alone the stables he'd laws and our children's education!
Who cares? First prove that your god exists and then I'll be happy to sit down and talk about his/her gender. Until you do that your question is irrelevant.
24
The question is not "irrelevant" when many people still do believe in God and the culture in which all of us live has been shaped, and continues to be shaped, by theistic belief (for good or for ill, rationally or irrationally)
2
I suspect that Mr. Sameth was speaking to fellow religious readers as well as readers whose minds enjoy contemplating theological ideas, regardless of whether they believe in God or not. Besides, even atheists like to prattle on about their own incorporeal gods, such as "right" and "good," whose existence cannot be empirically substantiated.
2
The author's point wasn't proving the existence of a Deity, it was removing the religious argument of "I know what the Deity wants because my Bible, translated 17 centuries after the fact, said so". In terms of relevancy, you have to admit that there are more Deity folks than not, and it's the Deity folks who are causing the legal oppression, based on (the author alleges) false translations. IF you believe in God, then you believe that God made everything. My question has always been why would God make a LGBTQ person if it was "evil", and who are We to hate one of God's creations in the first place? I'm agnostic, but am comfortable with my answer to the first part (She would not), and regardless of one's religious belief, Hatred of another human is always wrong.
1
The flaw in your argument is that transgender was not a consideration thousands of years ago. It was not even considered a possibility until the last few decades. Please do not try to rewrite history by putting modern values on things that were created thousands of years ago.
13
This author does not understand transgender. Transgender is not "gender fluidity." Transgender is someone who firmly believes they are of a single sex - be it male or female - but born in the body of the opposite (wrong) sex.
18
Transgender people are very capable of seeing themselves as falling somewhere between male and female and their outward appearance and/or genetics don't match what the world initially sees.
Sierra,
Then they are not transgender. They are "intersex" or "intersex identified." And this is not just a quibble in terminology. Try telling a transgender person that he is not really male (but "somewhere in between"). It would be hurtful and offensive.
Then they are not transgender. They are "intersex" or "intersex identified." And this is not just a quibble in terminology. Try telling a transgender person that he is not really male (but "somewhere in between"). It would be hurtful and offensive.
1
This article is amazing. I am a Transgender woman and I completely agree.
The gender binary IS a modern construct, I sometimes wonder how my life would have been growing up in a Lakota tribe or as an ancient Greek. In America, people look at me with a disgusted look that is both obvious and extremely hurtful. However, when they get to know me most people are fast friends.
I believe that Transgender people like me are going to become more and more visible over the next years. I wonder how many butch lesbians or feminine gay people will transition now that Transgender people aren't only prostitutes on Jerry Springer like in the 90s.
I believe that, with time, being Transgender or Genderqueer will be celebrated and cherished in our society. We should be g8ven a special place in our society. No one but people like me know what it is like to grow up feeling fundamentally wrong, and then going through the intensity that is a gender transition. We have wisdom and experience that can help all of society.
The gender binary IS a modern construct, I sometimes wonder how my life would have been growing up in a Lakota tribe or as an ancient Greek. In America, people look at me with a disgusted look that is both obvious and extremely hurtful. However, when they get to know me most people are fast friends.
I believe that Transgender people like me are going to become more and more visible over the next years. I wonder how many butch lesbians or feminine gay people will transition now that Transgender people aren't only prostitutes on Jerry Springer like in the 90s.
I believe that, with time, being Transgender or Genderqueer will be celebrated and cherished in our society. We should be g8ven a special place in our society. No one but people like me know what it is like to grow up feeling fundamentally wrong, and then going through the intensity that is a gender transition. We have wisdom and experience that can help all of society.
7
Spoiler:
God doesn't exist
God doesn't exist
35
Indeed! The Devil's coup was so successful that duhDonald's gonna stroll into the White House surrounded by blonds, all of whom speak very little English (certainly none printable) but are fluent in Russian and can cuss like sailors.
This does not mean that God has no power, or gender, or voice, or history, or even interiority or consciousness. It's very odd (and very hard for plain-thinking atheists to grasp) but this is so. God's in-fact existence is probaby the least potent quality he or she or it or they can be thought to have. You are now free to laugh dismissively.
1
I agree about god not existing. But I believe the point here is that "devout" followers of the Abrahamic tradition, particularly conservative Christians, Jews, and Muslims, are among the most vehement opponents of transgender rights. And they base their opposition on the traditions of their faith.
Even an agnostic like me, therefore, finds this essay interesting.
Even an agnostic like me, therefore, finds this essay interesting.
3
Is God Transgender?
Use your IMAGINATION!
It's what other humans have been using
for thousands of years. For some good and way too much bad.
Use your IMAGINATION!
It's what other humans have been using
for thousands of years. For some good and way too much bad.
1
God, if there is one, IS ALL genders and must contain all to ENCOMPASS all. How could it be any other way? Which means that the question is a trivial one, elevated by humans as one more way to define groups, and deny full humanity to the
other." But the essay is fascinating.
other." But the essay is fascinating.
9
Male and female: these are properties of plants and animals made out of matter. God transcends gender and is not material. The Judaeo-Christian Scriptures are written to be understood by human beings, whether one thinks they're divinely inspired or just written by people, so they use gender -- and other metaphors, like "the hand of God" and "ye are the salt of the earth" -- metaphors which most people, including religious Christians and Jews, don't take literally.
Meanwhile, being mean to people because they don't fit your picture of the meaning of "gender" violates the Golden Rule, which Jesus quotes directly from Leviticus 19:18 when asked "What is the greatest commandment?"
Meanwhile, being mean to people because they don't fit your picture of the meaning of "gender" violates the Golden Rule, which Jesus quotes directly from Leviticus 19:18 when asked "What is the greatest commandment?"
37
If the resurrected human is either male or female, then it could not be considered beyond the reach of the almighty to express in terms others might understand as so oriented in gender. Viva la difference is an eternal joy, after all.
That doesn't mean an angry autocrat in D.C. gets to order every public building in the country do away with the system for bathrooms in place. Push this hard enough and you'll be facing an exile crisis.
Ditto Hillel who encapsulated the OT Bible in one one phrase, "Don't do to your neighbor what you wouldn't want them to do to you."
God's a guy, likes his Red Sox, beer and the odd stick of beef jerky.
33
That's why no one likes him anymore
1
As an older guy, this transgender stuff confuses me.
My first exposure to it was highly favorable, a fine and sympathetic character in a series of novels by Vachss. Since I've come to know just two people like this, and I like both of them. So really, Im okay with it.
I just don't really understand it. I'm self aware enough to be aware I don't understand.
I am grateful for this explanation of ancient religion and attitudes. I had no idea, part of a larger ignorance.
I suspect there are many like me wiling to be understanding, but simply without any experience or knowledge. It was not part of the experience of my world in which I grew up. It was simply unknown.
There is a lot of work to be done by those who do know, to teach those willing to learn.
My first exposure to it was highly favorable, a fine and sympathetic character in a series of novels by Vachss. Since I've come to know just two people like this, and I like both of them. So really, Im okay with it.
I just don't really understand it. I'm self aware enough to be aware I don't understand.
I am grateful for this explanation of ancient religion and attitudes. I had no idea, part of a larger ignorance.
I suspect there are many like me wiling to be understanding, but simply without any experience or knowledge. It was not part of the experience of my world in which I grew up. It was simply unknown.
There is a lot of work to be done by those who do know, to teach those willing to learn.
214
But you really don't need to understand it.
1
I'm your age, with a very different story. I stayed up late and went to all night diners. They were frequented by guys who were trying to pass as women with little success. Back then, we called them weirdos. Any guy my age with a tabula rasa must have been in bed by 10:00. There have always been a good number of transgenders. But, in our day, the weirdos were the only ones with the courage to be seen., I don't think of you as aware. I think of you as a guy who went to sleep too early. If you'd stayed up later, you would have learned that the weirdos weren't all that weird.
1
Your desire to understand is laudable. This is how I explained it to my mom: in school, we learn about how the gene for brown eyes is dominant and the one for blue eyes is recessive. If you get 2 brown eye genes, or a brown and a blue, from your parents, you end up with brown eyes. Two blue eye genes gives you blue eyes. But if you look at actual people, they have dark brown eyes, light brown eyes, green, gray - there's a huge spectrum of possibility. There are lots of elements all working together to determine a person's unique eye color. Similarly, we are taught that XY chromosomes means you're a boy and XX means you're a girl. But maybe there is a huge range there, too - a spectrum, with a person's unique spot on the spectrum determined by the interaction of countless elements that we don't even understand yet. It's like if for hundreds of years, people had to choose between saying they had blue eyes or brown eyes, and then somebody realized that people's eyes are all different. Now we're realizing that people are all different in the way their gender is expressed, there's a huge variation. Maybe not everybody has a feeling that the appearance of their sex organs and their innate sense of who they are don't "match", or maybe not everybody feels like they're somewhere in the middle, or nowhere - but for those who do, they should be able to be able to be who they are, because it's nobody else's business.
3
Is that tree in the woods transgender ?
Is that ant gay ?
Is that dog a lesbian ?
It doesn't matter.
And we certainly don't need to rely on an antediluvian textbook to provide guidance on the subject.
It's not that hard to treat each of our fellow beings with dignity, respect and decency....all it takes is an ounce of humanity.
The notable thing about homophobia and transgenderphobia is that it is learned behavior, an acquired spite generally absorbed through religious osmosis
The world's leading homo-trans-phobics are conservative Christians and Muslims, having malignantly interpreted 'the word of God' as ill will toward others. The Jewish people seem to have adopted a more tolerant, Quakered acceptance of LGBT souls, much to their Hebraic credit.
If it weren't for Bible Thumpers and Koranophiles whipping the rest of society into a 'be fruitful and multiply' heterosexual hysteria for eons, LGBT souls would have been warmly welcomed into the societal fold a very long time ago.
Besides, we all know 'God' was old-fashioned gay, i.e. lighthearted and carefree --- not that there's anything wrong with that.
Natural variation is a gorgeous feature; we should naturally embrace it, not discriminate against it based on superstitions and a lousy reading and comprehension of some ancient textbooks.
It's amazing how often the secular world needs to teach the religious world basic humanity.
Is that ant gay ?
Is that dog a lesbian ?
It doesn't matter.
And we certainly don't need to rely on an antediluvian textbook to provide guidance on the subject.
It's not that hard to treat each of our fellow beings with dignity, respect and decency....all it takes is an ounce of humanity.
The notable thing about homophobia and transgenderphobia is that it is learned behavior, an acquired spite generally absorbed through religious osmosis
The world's leading homo-trans-phobics are conservative Christians and Muslims, having malignantly interpreted 'the word of God' as ill will toward others. The Jewish people seem to have adopted a more tolerant, Quakered acceptance of LGBT souls, much to their Hebraic credit.
If it weren't for Bible Thumpers and Koranophiles whipping the rest of society into a 'be fruitful and multiply' heterosexual hysteria for eons, LGBT souls would have been warmly welcomed into the societal fold a very long time ago.
Besides, we all know 'God' was old-fashioned gay, i.e. lighthearted and carefree --- not that there's anything wrong with that.
Natural variation is a gorgeous feature; we should naturally embrace it, not discriminate against it based on superstitions and a lousy reading and comprehension of some ancient textbooks.
It's amazing how often the secular world needs to teach the religious world basic humanity.
324
"And we certainly don't need to rely on an antediluvian textbook to provide guidance on the subject."
The Tanach is post-diluvian. Otherwise it could not relate the history of the Flood. ;-)
The Tanach is post-diluvian. Otherwise it could not relate the history of the Flood. ;-)
1
Totally agree with all you posted, except that the god of the bible - especially in the Old Testament - was "lighthearted and carefree". As far as I remember, He, She, It was a very very mean-spirited, vengeful entity. Why, a common way to describe a devout person is 'god-fearing' - with cause.
There are a few layers of reification that need to be unwrapped before any discussion of a gender or sexual orientation of a god can occur.
I have yet to hear articulated or read anything presenting any 'god' hypothesis that an adult can take seriously. I never get past the definition layer, much less the existence layer of reification.
I do have an opinion: if there is some he/she/it that created and runs this vast (billions of light-years) sublime and beautiful universe, I have a really hard time accepting that said deity cares a wit about gender or sexual orientation.
This is my boilerplate response to all extremely silly religious based discussions - culture war, hijab versus bikini, any LBGT issue, abortion, birth control, etc. I can't believe how long and idiotic this list is.
I have yet to hear articulated or read anything presenting any 'god' hypothesis that an adult can take seriously. I never get past the definition layer, much less the existence layer of reification.
I do have an opinion: if there is some he/she/it that created and runs this vast (billions of light-years) sublime and beautiful universe, I have a really hard time accepting that said deity cares a wit about gender or sexual orientation.
This is my boilerplate response to all extremely silly religious based discussions - culture war, hijab versus bikini, any LBGT issue, abortion, birth control, etc. I can't believe how long and idiotic this list is.
4
Is God anthropomorphic is the deeper question. And that is a serious question. Let us grant that God exists. Is God even animate in any way familiar to us?
The ancient Greeks philosophers had a very refreshing answer to this long-standing prejudice: God is not a person, but rather is the order of things.
That would make God not male or female, animal or vegetable, or even mineral, but something more like the four laws of thermodynamics, or the Standard Model, or, as Baruch Spinoza argued in the 1600's, nothing more or less than all existence merely as such.
I leave aside here the entirely open question as to whether or not even God exists. But if we entertain that question in the positive, I do not see why we should instantly default to the concept of God being a "person" -- ie., a being anthropomorphically familiar to us. That is rather small of us.
The ancient Greeks philosophers had a very refreshing answer to this long-standing prejudice: God is not a person, but rather is the order of things.
That would make God not male or female, animal or vegetable, or even mineral, but something more like the four laws of thermodynamics, or the Standard Model, or, as Baruch Spinoza argued in the 1600's, nothing more or less than all existence merely as such.
I leave aside here the entirely open question as to whether or not even God exists. But if we entertain that question in the positive, I do not see why we should instantly default to the concept of God being a "person" -- ie., a being anthropomorphically familiar to us. That is rather small of us.
83
“I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings.” Albert Einstein, New York Times, 25 April 1929.
Thus endeth the lesson. Amen
Thus endeth the lesson. Amen
2
The Bible describes Adam as being made in the image of God; and then describes Adam as "male and female created He them." God's first human creation was bisexual.
1
"... Let us grant that God exists ..."
God is monolithic, everyone knows exactly which god you are referring to, and with maybe the exception of a few minor details believe in exactly the same, one and only god. Sorry, that leap is simply too large. How can any discussion of the anthropomorphic property of god take place when a guy in a cave in seventh century Arabia and some other guy sitting under a Bhodi tree in 500 BCE have such so dramatically different god hypotheses?
God is monolithic, everyone knows exactly which god you are referring to, and with maybe the exception of a few minor details believe in exactly the same, one and only god. Sorry, that leap is simply too large. How can any discussion of the anthropomorphic property of god take place when a guy in a cave in seventh century Arabia and some other guy sitting under a Bhodi tree in 500 BCE have such so dramatically different god hypotheses?
OK gender may be fluid. Mark and others fail to explain why discrimination by gender is appropriate and discrimination by anatomy is bad. Why should a 12 year olds who is beginning menstruation and beginning physical changes be forced to undress in the locker room next to someone of different anatomy who although sharing the same gender will never experience the same changes that this person is going through. Many of us will accept that gender and anatomy may not align as traditionally viewed. Accepting this does not mean accepting that anatomy is irrelevant. There seems to be an assumption that if people accept gender isn't always traditionally aligned then all those people will agree that anatomy is irrelevant and everything should be discriminated by gender rather than anatomy. However, some of us instead feel that we should have four school locker rooms - one for every combination of anatomy and gender. Those like Mark Sameh that argue for accepting differences in gender always leave out of their argument why we should ignore anatomy. If anatomy were irrelevant Mark's cousin Paula would not have had surgery. Not all transgenders desire surgery nor should that be required. However, after surgery - their anatomy and gender become traditionally aligned. The logical comparison to the civil rights era to end discrimination by color would be to eliminate discrimination by both gender and anatomy - only one locker room for everyone in the school.
19
What I've never understood is why we make public buildings with rooms that force us to expose ourselves in front of other people, even of the same sex, just so that we can deal with our bodily functions.
How about constructing public restrooms and locker rooms with individual private stalls? No one has to expose their bodies to anyone else.
That would make it more like our homes. Nobody I know has a bathroom marked men, women, boys, girls, or unisex. You go in, do your business, you go out; next person goes in.
In schools, etc. you just fill those large spaces with private stalls used by one person at a time. Same with showers, if there really need to be public showers. Doesn't that make sense?
How about constructing public restrooms and locker rooms with individual private stalls? No one has to expose their bodies to anyone else.
That would make it more like our homes. Nobody I know has a bathroom marked men, women, boys, girls, or unisex. You go in, do your business, you go out; next person goes in.
In schools, etc. you just fill those large spaces with private stalls used by one person at a time. Same with showers, if there really need to be public showers. Doesn't that make sense?
1
Families with siblings of a different gender use the same bathroom every day.
2
Language and indoctrination via religious discipline are at the crux of the gender issue. The brain-washing of children with the idea that God created Adam, the first man rather than the first human makes a big difference. The idea that Eve was created from Adam's rib is another issue as in most instances the Aramaic word "tsela" is usually translated as side of something; therefore, Adam is split to make Adam and Eve which suggests that the first human was hermaphroditic. Of course male priests were having none of that, so when they edited the Torah and incorporated the Oral tradition, the writers of history made the rules.
9
Gender is not a fashion statement, it is the biological mechanism for reproduction, which through countless eons evolved from single cell organisms separating themselves into two, to two genders of the same species combining their DNA to procreate.
If there is a God (like transgenderism itself, it's a way of explaining reality), God is not transgender. God has no gender because s/he/it doesn't procreate.
If there is a God (like transgenderism itself, it's a way of explaining reality), God is not transgender. God has no gender because s/he/it doesn't procreate.
16
You're confusing gender with sex. Sex is male and female which combine DNA to procreate.
Gender is masculine and feminine (and other forms, as we are now beginning to understand).
God has traditionally been assigned a masculine gender role (via pronouns, via "the Father," via certain behaviors). This is a function of patriarchal society, which includes language. I don't know about Hebrew, but English has no gender neutral singular pronoun except for "it," which we don't apply to people. It would be nice if something like "per" (short for person), which Marge Piercy used in her futuristic novel "Woman on the Edge of Time," but that would be inappropriate for God because of the implied anthropomorphism.
The New Testament (Gospels and Paul's epistles) do reveal here and there the idea that in the next life there will be no male or female (nor Jew or Gentile, no slave or free--and I think it is reasonable to extend this to racial and other binaries associated with physical bodies).
Finally, one could argue that in some ways Jesus enacts more of a feminine gender role than the Father as rendered in the Old Testament. (Would his DNA have been XX since there was no physical father?)
Interesting questions, quite relevant to modern life.
Gender is masculine and feminine (and other forms, as we are now beginning to understand).
God has traditionally been assigned a masculine gender role (via pronouns, via "the Father," via certain behaviors). This is a function of patriarchal society, which includes language. I don't know about Hebrew, but English has no gender neutral singular pronoun except for "it," which we don't apply to people. It would be nice if something like "per" (short for person), which Marge Piercy used in her futuristic novel "Woman on the Edge of Time," but that would be inappropriate for God because of the implied anthropomorphism.
The New Testament (Gospels and Paul's epistles) do reveal here and there the idea that in the next life there will be no male or female (nor Jew or Gentile, no slave or free--and I think it is reasonable to extend this to racial and other binaries associated with physical bodies).
Finally, one could argue that in some ways Jesus enacts more of a feminine gender role than the Father as rendered in the Old Testament. (Would his DNA have been XX since there was no physical father?)
Interesting questions, quite relevant to modern life.
1
Actually, sex is a mechanism for reproduction. Gender is a social construct about the social meaning we assign to biological differences. While reproduction occurs through binary sex in humans, not all humans fit the binary sexual "norm." And what constitutes gender categorization, including number of categories in a given culture, and attendant expectations of those categories is highly variable across time and place.
2
It is amusing to see ancient spelling put to the service of well-intended modern moral lessons. Ancient writing of Hebrew had its oddities, for instance a final heh usually could feminine but also masculine at times. But the ending of adjectives or verbs clearly attached to Gen 3:12 or 24:16 makes the subject feminine, no matter the presence of a vav instead of a yod in the pronoun for "she", and no matter the lack of a heh at the end of the young Rebecca. It seems that the discussion of such matters can be endlessly indulged in English, since this is one of the languages with a radical paucity of grammatical gender. Only he/she, him/her. Everything else is genderless.
16
he does not have gender. he/him was used for many years when gender of the subject was unknown. It is only in the last few decades that we insist that he means exclusively masculine gender and our writing must be modified.
1
Why does anyone care?
The idea of death in and of itself is, for most among us, a confusing fright making violence with its' alusion to death the conqueror's tool of preference.
This necessitated the invention of another tool which could blunt the one of violence This tool in its' many forms is an amorphous supreme being known as "God"
Any and every god became a useful fiction created by men and/or women who seek or sought to obtain and cement their power through this means.
The brilliance of the concept is both power and control could be had without the expense of soldiers and arms.
Gods as we know through a study of history have taken many forms and like the humans who worship, take on the form which brings most comfort.
Just, armed, powerful, forgiving, inclusive?
God is what we make up in order to accomodate ourselves in a world based on dominance which selfishly ranges between acceptance and elimination.
A transgender god is more welcome than an angry one.
The idea of death in and of itself is, for most among us, a confusing fright making violence with its' alusion to death the conqueror's tool of preference.
This necessitated the invention of another tool which could blunt the one of violence This tool in its' many forms is an amorphous supreme being known as "God"
Any and every god became a useful fiction created by men and/or women who seek or sought to obtain and cement their power through this means.
The brilliance of the concept is both power and control could be had without the expense of soldiers and arms.
Gods as we know through a study of history have taken many forms and like the humans who worship, take on the form which brings most comfort.
Just, armed, powerful, forgiving, inclusive?
God is what we make up in order to accomodate ourselves in a world based on dominance which selfishly ranges between acceptance and elimination.
A transgender god is more welcome than an angry one.
11
I have always found it interesting that Elisabeth Kübler-Ross who wrote the book “On Death and Dying” was an atheist.
She understood that humans are weak and would be frightened by death. As a psychiatrist she knew that people NEEDED to believe in an after life--that we had evolved to knowing that we would one day die--only mammals or animals to have that awareness.
The book outlines the five stages of grief over one’s impending death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
Although an atheist she understood our frailties in “needing” religion.
The USA has one of the top percentages of any modern country who believe in God. But in Scandinavian countries only 20-25% of the population believe in a god. They are MUCH more advanced than us.
So when the transgender woman, Christine Jorgensen, an American wanted sexual reassignment surgery she needed to go to Denmark--NOT the USA. She was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having reassignment surgery.
Jorgensen grew up in the Bronx, New York City.
She went to Copenhagen, Denmark and obtained special permission to undergo a series of operations starting in 1951.
She returned to the United States in the early 1950s and her transformation was the subject of a New York Daily News front page story. She became famous, using the platform to ADVOCATE FOR TRANSGENDER PEOPLE.
The USA was SO religiously intolerant that she had to flee to a more modern, sophisticated country for help.
She understood that humans are weak and would be frightened by death. As a psychiatrist she knew that people NEEDED to believe in an after life--that we had evolved to knowing that we would one day die--only mammals or animals to have that awareness.
The book outlines the five stages of grief over one’s impending death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
Although an atheist she understood our frailties in “needing” religion.
The USA has one of the top percentages of any modern country who believe in God. But in Scandinavian countries only 20-25% of the population believe in a god. They are MUCH more advanced than us.
So when the transgender woman, Christine Jorgensen, an American wanted sexual reassignment surgery she needed to go to Denmark--NOT the USA. She was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having reassignment surgery.
Jorgensen grew up in the Bronx, New York City.
She went to Copenhagen, Denmark and obtained special permission to undergo a series of operations starting in 1951.
She returned to the United States in the early 1950s and her transformation was the subject of a New York Daily News front page story. She became famous, using the platform to ADVOCATE FOR TRANSGENDER PEOPLE.
The USA was SO religiously intolerant that she had to flee to a more modern, sophisticated country for help.
2
You're saying YHVH would have (might have?) been pronounced Y'hu / v'hi ?
So where's the Yud for the Hiy?
This & your other examples: you're stretching .
So where's the Yud for the Hiy?
This & your other examples: you're stretching .
17
No, you've got it backward. He's saying it's read as HVHY -- He Vav, He Yod. That's "Hu va Hi," "He and She."
I was told by one of my Hebrew teachers that Hebrew was written boustrophedonically at some time in the distant past, but I have never seen an example or any other confirmation.
I was told by one of my Hebrew teachers that Hebrew was written boustrophedonically at some time in the distant past, but I have never seen an example or any other confirmation.
1
There is no God! Stop clouding the issue!
169
How can you be so sure? The majority of humanity feels that there is a god/gods. Even the majority of people in "enlightened" Europe believe that there is a god. So the idea of god is very central to many people.
1
Yes, indeed. "god" is from TMI: too much imagination. And
too much manipulation and fear mongering.
too much manipulation and fear mongering.
1
People like to dream. It's not about making sense, it's about people feeling good when they think about it. If it were about making sense, this wouldn't even be a topic of conversation, because the premise is flawed. -- One cannot argue about the attributes of a being whose existence they have yet to prove. It would be like claiming to know the sex of a child one is yet to conceive.
During god's correspondence with humans, mostly through talking and literate lightning bolts; a bush on fire and various secret messages to carefully chose emissaries who were usually benefactors, the subject of Devine sexuality never (I believe) came up; though it begs the question; ' if God is our father, who is our mother'?
28
I can't read Hebrew, but in the story of creation (actually two stories edited together) in Genesis, the first person plural is used: "Let us create mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea..."
I think many Christian interpreters have said the "us" and "our" refer to God the Father and God the Son-Jesus. But that is only an interpretation.
The plural may refer to the plurality of God's nature: female and male, black and white, etc.
I think many Christian interpreters have said the "us" and "our" refer to God the Father and God the Son-Jesus. But that is only an interpretation.
The plural may refer to the plurality of God's nature: female and male, black and white, etc.
Check out Mormon (Latter Day Saint) theology. They have an interesting explanation - God has a wife.
1
Where are the talking lightening bolts?
I'm an Episcopal priest and in no way a Hebrew scholar, so I can't comment directly on the author's reading of the meaning of YHWH. But this is the first time in 30+ years of some awareness of Biblical scholarship that I've come across the notion that the Divine Name might have been read backwards to result in "He/She" as God's Name. I like the result, but I'm a bit skeptical of the linguistic claim.
That said, the Rabbi is definitely onto something. God is certainly not just "He" nor, despite a beloved colleague's frequent use of the feminine pronoun, is God simply "She." Nor, I'd say, "He/She" or even gender-fluid. The Holy One is beyond gender (though embracing all genders, including the many varieties of LGBTQ as well as straight people). So when preaching, I do my best to avoid gendered pronouns when speaking of God. The Divine Mystery of Love cannot be subsumed in human categories, even the most fluid.
That said, the Rabbi is definitely onto something. God is certainly not just "He" nor, despite a beloved colleague's frequent use of the feminine pronoun, is God simply "She." Nor, I'd say, "He/She" or even gender-fluid. The Holy One is beyond gender (though embracing all genders, including the many varieties of LGBTQ as well as straight people). So when preaching, I do my best to avoid gendered pronouns when speaking of God. The Divine Mystery of Love cannot be subsumed in human categories, even the most fluid.
144
Seriously?
Ah, the raw power of imagination is everywhere... too bad there's so much of it in religion.
Ah, the raw power of imagination is everywhere... too bad there's so much of it in religion.
I'm not even an Episcopal priest, but I was also baffled by the author's suggestion that the Israelite priests would have read the name backwards (left to right) and not the usual way (right to left). After all, it's not just that "some" have "guessed" that the spelling is right-to-left YHWH; that is pretty much how every scholarly edition of the Bible and other texts translates the word (along with its variants, such as Jehovah). I suppose that he must have some good reason for suggesting that everyone else is wrong, but unfortunately he didn't provide it, so there's really no way to evaluate his claim.
2
Sex, miosis and mitosis, is for reproduction. DNA must make more of itself. Does god multiply and be fruitful? One god has no need of gender if it has no drive to reproduce. Do you see what a rabbit hole the whole mess is?
This is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. If you don't like the masculine God of the bible then find a new religion. Better yet- admit that religion is full of ridiculous things and stop trying to reinterpret superstitious texts written by pre-scientific people.
106
I know it sounds ridiculous to base reason in something that defies rational thought. But the point of the essay is that gender fluidity is not a new invention, nor is it something that is alien to religion (or anathema to it). That and the revelation that YHWH was pronounced backward as Him/Her is pretty powerful stuff. (Especially to this recovering Evangelical Christian.)
1
"... the masculine God of the bible..."
Is that based on your knowledge of biblical Hebrew?
Is that based on your knowledge of biblical Hebrew?
And Santa Claus is white, don't forget. Everybody knows that.
1
Why would anyone believe that God has any gender at all? Male and female are constructs that apply to (some) plants and animals. God is God - gender is irrelevant.
66
Is this a question worth thinking about?
It seems from the postings to be some sort of "more tolerant than thou" competition.
Since God does not reproduce, it is not obvious how the question can arise.
But we have emotions which reflect our feelings about gender.
In India some people worship a God, some others worship a Goddess.
The festival of Navratri lasts nine days and is devoted to the (nine forms of) Goddess Durga.
But others worship Krishna or Rama or Shiva, all of them male. All of these satisfy different emotional needs of people but ultimately the question of God having a gender makes no more sense than asking what gender the sun is.
The sun is a star like many others and stars are not formed by sexual reproduction involving an astral P and an astral V.
It seems from the postings to be some sort of "more tolerant than thou" competition.
Since God does not reproduce, it is not obvious how the question can arise.
But we have emotions which reflect our feelings about gender.
In India some people worship a God, some others worship a Goddess.
The festival of Navratri lasts nine days and is devoted to the (nine forms of) Goddess Durga.
But others worship Krishna or Rama or Shiva, all of them male. All of these satisfy different emotional needs of people but ultimately the question of God having a gender makes no more sense than asking what gender the sun is.
The sun is a star like many others and stars are not formed by sexual reproduction involving an astral P and an astral V.
32
God doesn't reproduce?!? Tell that to Jesus....!
1
And you know God does not reproduce how, please? It seems there is at least one major religion in the world based on the premise God does reproduce. Sorta. In His own way...
1
GOD has produced all that there is. GOD is still producing, creating. GOD will for infinity create, produce. There is no other reality than GOD. Grow up and get real about The one God................
1
Transgendered persons have been fetishized by people like the author of this essay for millennia (see e.g. Euripides' The Bacchae). Don't blame the trans community.
10
Fetishized? I think just the opposite. Read it again.
What Bathroom Would God Use? Can you possibly flog this topic into a more absurd submission?
35
How about creating a "god icon" to indicate in which restroom God should pee?
Designers please Make some proposals!
Designers please Make some proposals!
1
A famous Jew named Jesus told his disciples that God was a Spirit. I take this to mean that God is not flesh and blood and without a sex determinant.
13
Jesus also said that the kingdom of God is within You. Why do people seek the kingdom outside? Its here, now, ever present, ever accessible. Why quarrel over her, she, him, he, it, that when its within and without, all pervasive, all fluid, all ready to manifest physically as anything you can imagine, from stars to microbes. Treat everything, every object with respect because it has the essence of the Universe in it.
2
Jesus was teaching Hinduism. Read the Gita and you will understand.
1
He made them male AND female.... not male OR female. Everyone with a strict binary view of gender should take a course in embryology. We are all each male AND female, and ancient texts show this.
5
I've always wondered about this myself, but we are both relying on English translations here. How would this sentence read in the original Hebrew?
Gender is like God, Love, Truth, Justice, and the US of A. Look at them closely and they dissapear in a mire of counter proposals and where does that leave you? Longing for something real to do even if it's only taking out the trash.
4
Transgender?
How about: transcendent.
It's always been intuitively obvious to me (for what it's worth, Christian, in my own way) that God, great glorious etc, ought to be above our humble, earthly chromosomal/cultural/endocrinological concerns...
How about: transcendent.
It's always been intuitively obvious to me (for what it's worth, Christian, in my own way) that God, great glorious etc, ought to be above our humble, earthly chromosomal/cultural/endocrinological concerns...
5
I think you are sorely misinformed. That's not the meaning of the Hebrew word for God. The meaning is "I am that I am" or "I'm the One who Is", meaning that everything you are and everything around you has its origins in God.
13
Which includes everything the rabbi is describing.
1
I do not want to take issue with the good rabbi, but I am not in concurrence with what he is saying regarding the supposed gender bending in the bible. My translation of the bible does not share that, but regardless, the bible has been translated many times, and language has changed. I also take issue with his version of history. In fact, gender is clear in the gods and goddesses of the Greeks for example. There is no ambiguity about sex in history, and I can say that as someone with a degree in history. I am not condoning hatred, but 98% plus of the population is happily assigned to a particular gender. We need not conform all of society to an extreme minority, nor should we accept it as completely normal.
13
One of the few good things about being a teacher these days is the realization of what God must be like.
I root for 100% of my students, past and present. The ones who are different, the ones who are mean, the ones who are smart, the ones who are kind, the ones who are terrified to be different--it doesn't matter. I cannot help but see the good in each of them. I cannot look at any of them and not see a miracle of life. While I believe they should all be held accountable for their actions even if it means prison, I will always be able to name 1 good thing about each of them.
Sexuality? Gender? Race? Those things don't even register on my radar when I think of any student. I believe God sees us like this: miracles. The rest is just background noise.
I root for 100% of my students, past and present. The ones who are different, the ones who are mean, the ones who are smart, the ones who are kind, the ones who are terrified to be different--it doesn't matter. I cannot help but see the good in each of them. I cannot look at any of them and not see a miracle of life. While I believe they should all be held accountable for their actions even if it means prison, I will always be able to name 1 good thing about each of them.
Sexuality? Gender? Race? Those things don't even register on my radar when I think of any student. I believe God sees us like this: miracles. The rest is just background noise.
52
It's interesting to see what religious people read into evolutionary biological processes. Natural selection in a Darwinian sense is not a master-craftsman working toward some perfect state. Selection processes have made people loosely fit a binary distribution with regard to sex and gender, but there's room for a significant "error" fraction. Deities appear to prefer working with binary, Gaussian, and Poisson distributions, for reasons unknown.
3
Sex is only relevant to beings that reproduce. One God cannot reproduce, and is immortal. The question of God's sex (or "gender", as this writer writes it, although "gender" properly is a grammatical, not a biological, term) is meaningless. God can have no sex, or "gender". So, sometimes the masculine pronoun is used, sometimes the feminine---it means nothing.
The textual references, if not copyists' errors, are evidence of fluidity of language, not of sex of actual living people.
The textual references, if not copyists' errors, are evidence of fluidity of language, not of sex of actual living people.
21
Gender has a meaning other than in grammar, but the use of terms in Rabbi Sameth's article is very confused. Gender is not assigned at birth; sex is. One can of course agree that everyone should be treated with respect and not be discriminated against, but aside from that, there's not much here. Others have already critiqued the linguistic argument, and anyone who has read the Hebrew Bible knows that it is not especially tolerant toward people "elsewhere" on the putative gender "spectrum." It has a hard enough time with straight women.
1
Many individuals enter the rabbinate and the priesthood without working through their own issues, and anyone who spends time in spiritual environments know spiritual leaders are rarely well adjusted. Gender identity disorder is a disorder with behavioral health abnormalities that can lead to self destructive negative habits. It is not always pathological, but many individuals look for victimization as a way to bring attention to their own maladjustment when most of us simply don't care either way. This invites a self fulfilling prophecy of abuse and exclusion.
There is such a thing as unreasonable accommodation, which can reinforce self harm. Too often, advocates prescribe invasive therapies with dubious outcomes and considerable social and financial cost and risk.
As for the vague "scientific studies," which sound comical when referenced by a spiritual leader claiming biblical authority, the "gender spectrum" theory has been disproved. Sexual attraction exists on a spectrum for women, but for men it is binary. Gender expression is cultural, but identity is only diseased when external authorities, such as culturally progressive rabbis, prescribe what is (and is not) tolerated, even if it leads to further confusion and coddling.
As for pronouns, linguists understand grammatical gender can be unrelated to human gender, but Orwell had a term for attempts to rewrite history with new words to apply the standards of an elite: newspeak.
There is such a thing as unreasonable accommodation, which can reinforce self harm. Too often, advocates prescribe invasive therapies with dubious outcomes and considerable social and financial cost and risk.
As for the vague "scientific studies," which sound comical when referenced by a spiritual leader claiming biblical authority, the "gender spectrum" theory has been disproved. Sexual attraction exists on a spectrum for women, but for men it is binary. Gender expression is cultural, but identity is only diseased when external authorities, such as culturally progressive rabbis, prescribe what is (and is not) tolerated, even if it leads to further confusion and coddling.
As for pronouns, linguists understand grammatical gender can be unrelated to human gender, but Orwell had a term for attempts to rewrite history with new words to apply the standards of an elite: newspeak.
18
That was an excellent breakdown of both the religious and trans-gender issue. Thanks Thomas Busse! That just proves once again that NYT readers are generally not cowed by superstitious nonsense or trendy identity politics. Bravo!
You are right about religious leaders with unresolved issues, and these people are expected to be able to counsel others! But I have to say, mechanisms of attraction are supposed to succeed in maximum reproduction with the "best" members available. That means a heteronormative female should be more attracted to a lovely healthy female than an ugly unhealthy male. We get over it in a flash and move on, but it's there. It's just DNA wanting to make more of itself, and us meat bags are merely the vessels and mechanisms.
We were founded as a Secular country. With good reason. Keep your religion out of it!
Religion belongs in your heart, home and place of worship. Not in our country's rules and laws.
C'mon America. Time to advance out of the Bronze age.
Religion belongs in your heart, home and place of worship. Not in our country's rules and laws.
C'mon America. Time to advance out of the Bronze age.
162
You need to go back to history class if you think this country was secular at the beginning
1
This country is obsessed with religion. Religion has no authority over human rights or laws.
2
Why would God have any kind of gender that fits into our human understanding? Our galaxy has anywhere from 100 billion to 300 billion stars, and the observable universe has around 100 billion galaxies. It seems that most stars have planets as well. We have no idea what kind of life forms exist out there, or what kind of genders they can possibly have. In fact, we know darn little about the life forms in our own ocean.
It seems awfully arrogant to think that we can know the nature of God or, as certain politicians and preachers claim, the will of God.
It seems awfully arrogant to think that we can know the nature of God or, as certain politicians and preachers claim, the will of God.
85
Yes it is arrogant. I've also used the word, arrogant, in describing people who believe "their" God and their beliefs are the only true God and beliefs. How arrogant. If they do believe in a single God of creation how can they so minimize their God to just being a Catholic, Muslim or whatever. Can it not be God communicates through more than one religion?
This is such an unnecessary Op-Ed. I fail to see how this is much different than any click-bait. Grasping at straws this hard, and for what? To intentionally be inflammatory to those who are religious? Transgender people are now rightfully accepted in our culture. The culture war has been won, so what purpose does it serve to throw sand in the eyes of your felled opponents?
31
To make us think or chuckle, to learn a bit more then before we started reading the article?
1
Alas, there is no point in using Jesus, or science, in trying to convince bigots. They may read the Bible, but understand nothing of the teaching of Christ. Those who discriminate, would be the first in line to kill him again for his beliefs.
87
Texas voter,
How true, "They don't know what
they do." Mark
How true, "They don't know what
they do." Mark
1
I have always been puzzled by the way God is invariably referred to as male, with the pronoun "He" or "Him." If God is indeed an ineffable entity, absolutely unique in Oneness, who transcends categorization-- a central tenet of Jewish (and Islamic) belief-- why would God have any gender at all? And if God has no gender, assigning God a gender and using pronouns simply to fit the grammatical need for gender in Hebrew and other languages seems absurd, if not blasphemous.
Rabbi Sameth's assertion that the ancient Israelites conceived of God as having both genders, and that God's very Name derives from that conception, is a surprising, even breathtaking notion. (I do wish Rabbi Sameth had provided a source for that assertion, as I have never encountered it anywhere else.) Even though I don't believe in a "traditional" personal (theistic) deity, the notion of God encompassing both (or all) genders somehow makes God more plausible and approachable.
Modern society might be different if the original concept of God had remained. The persistent worship of a dual-gendered God might have led to less stereotyping of gender roles, and perhaps even a more peaceable world. It would be interesting to know the history of how the dual-gendered "HiHu" evolved into a stern, bellicose, and sometimes even abusive male Father of patriarchal societies.
Rabbi Sameth's assertion that the ancient Israelites conceived of God as having both genders, and that God's very Name derives from that conception, is a surprising, even breathtaking notion. (I do wish Rabbi Sameth had provided a source for that assertion, as I have never encountered it anywhere else.) Even though I don't believe in a "traditional" personal (theistic) deity, the notion of God encompassing both (or all) genders somehow makes God more plausible and approachable.
Modern society might be different if the original concept of God had remained. The persistent worship of a dual-gendered God might have led to less stereotyping of gender roles, and perhaps even a more peaceable world. It would be interesting to know the history of how the dual-gendered "HiHu" evolved into a stern, bellicose, and sometimes even abusive male Father of patriarchal societies.
15
Read all of Genesis1:27 "So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them." This, I believe, is the source of Rabbi Sameth's assertion.
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them." This, I believe, is the source of Rabbi Sameth's assertion.
Thank you, Rabbi. Your teachings are a lovely way to think about gender, and a reminder that we all carry something godlike within. What a blessing.
10
Is God Transgender? Do chickens have lips? Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery? Did Noah have woodpeckers in his wooden arK? Do pyromaniacs wear blazers?
Readers should feel free to add any other silly questions about things that don't exist and/or are truly irrelevant.
Readers should feel free to add any other silly questions about things that don't exist and/or are truly irrelevant.
78
How many angels can do the Macarena on the head of a pin?
3
Tragically humans are still slaughtering each other over such irrelevancies. Or is the fracas really about something else in our nature, like power?
2
Was there a Virgin Birth ?? Many have been claimed.
1
Sorry, Rabbi, but your Scripture references are all wrong. I suggest you get a more modern translation of the Bible, such as the new NIV.
4
Rabbis read the Bible in the original languages. Reading the Bible in translation is like kissing someone with a scarf between you.
3
Translators do use the original languages, as used by the people of their time, not through modern eyes.
2
What's the difference between God and transgender people? Transgender people exist.
98
God is an intellectual construct. People are real physical beings. And sentient, so deserving of consideration.
I 'believe' that if atheism was the prevalent spiritual force today, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
14
Hey folks, here's a clue: God's not a noun; it's a verb.
2
No, God is a terribly long, complicated math equation. Seriously, i believe God is science....science, knowledge, love. Those 3 words spell God for me.
1
For a knowledgeable person you seem to make two basic mistakes: that transgender is the same as no-gender and that sex is the same as gender.
Neither is and they both are not.
Neither is and they both are not.
12
To the NYT censor:
I'm referring to this person's icon, not to god's gender, which is an extremely silly topic. Maxwell was a real human, one who actually contributed something real and extremely useful to humankind.
Maxwell's equations are more simply and elegantly expressed as Faraday and Maxwell 2-forms. Vector calculus does not really work very well in a 4-manifold.
I'm referring to this person's icon, not to god's gender, which is an extremely silly topic. Maxwell was a real human, one who actually contributed something real and extremely useful to humankind.
Maxwell's equations are more simply and elegantly expressed as Faraday and Maxwell 2-forms. Vector calculus does not really work very well in a 4-manifold.
1
This is just revisionist, politically correct 21st century nonsense. There are countless references in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish liturgy that refer to G-D as a male, and I'm sure that if Hebrew scholars looked into the few selective verses this guy quotes they would find other explanations and translations for the Hebrew words.
13
Be careful using that word "nonsense."
It can also be used to describe someone who thinks an immortal spirit that has no physical body (and therefore no genitalia and reproductive organs) is somehow "male."
It can also be used to describe someone who thinks an immortal spirit that has no physical body (and therefore no genitalia and reproductive organs) is somehow "male."
2
Interesting how the same folks ready to dismiss the musings of people they characterize as believing 'in the flying spaghetti monster' shut up and sit on their hands, when some random religious figure will stretch theology to validate their worldview.
Guess what? If you believe the ancients were unwashed barbarians with low life expectancies and poor personal hygiene, who turned to magical thinking to define a difficult world - that holds even if you find some characterizations of their beliefs helpful.
Or it did - before intellectual discussion - in the NYT, and everywhere - became a game of 'how do we win', instead of the search for truth.
Guess what? If you believe the ancients were unwashed barbarians with low life expectancies and poor personal hygiene, who turned to magical thinking to define a difficult world - that holds even if you find some characterizations of their beliefs helpful.
Or it did - before intellectual discussion - in the NYT, and everywhere - became a game of 'how do we win', instead of the search for truth.
5
inasmuch as God is imaginary, why not imagine her as multi-faceted? and smart enough to stop arguing over identity.
4
It's a wonderful position of privilege to be able to say "why is everyone arguing about this?"
2
Since, in most Western thought, God is "wholly other," God cannot, of necessity, have a gender as is understood by human beings. But this article reminded me of a clever bit of humor that circulated shortly after Yuri Gagarin's first space flight.
Gagarin was giving an international press conference. A reporter asked, "Cosmonaut Gagarin, when you left the bounds of Earth on your historic space flight, did you see God?" Gagarin replied, "Yes! And She was Black."
Gagarin was giving an international press conference. A reporter asked, "Cosmonaut Gagarin, when you left the bounds of Earth on your historic space flight, did you see God?" Gagarin replied, "Yes! And She was Black."
7
This essay is revelatory except for one thing, the most important of all. No matter what the earliest recorded sense of G-d's gender, Jewish culture through history became more and more patriarchal, just like the rest of the so-called high civilizations. So what is missing? The understanding that before any sacred texts were written, re-written and sanctified, before there were any written texts at all, the original deity of the Jews was the Goddess, as was the case with all other tribes on this planet before her overthrow.
7
This article is nonsense . G-D is beyond genders as he created both , or three or fives sexes, whatever on other worlds. He created the unicellular creatures . He is all sexes and none. We cannot define him in our politically correct fashion.
6
The nytimes quest to be up to the minute and fully correct on social issues causes me a slight cringe, - trying too hard.
Reasonably self aware people understand gender is a "social construct" as is "white person" and "black person". Would be ever so civilized to acknowledge this somewhat trite reality and move on to something more intriguing and intellectually roomy. Say, what's going on in string theory these days?
Reasonably self aware people understand gender is a "social construct" as is "white person" and "black person". Would be ever so civilized to acknowledge this somewhat trite reality and move on to something more intriguing and intellectually roomy. Say, what's going on in string theory these days?
15
String theory is in its time in the wilderness. It cannot be examined experimentally yet, so no confirmation or refutation is possible.
1
Headline is pure clickbait - what the rabbi is describing is not transgender.
Further - The Bible has been so manipulated and edited over the years, to say it has "no typos"... Well, even if you believe the Bible is the word of God one has to wonder what the words actually were in the past.
Further - The Bible has been so manipulated and edited over the years, to say it has "no typos"... Well, even if you believe the Bible is the word of God one has to wonder what the words actually were in the past.
8
Interesting to read the rabbi's thoughts.
In the vedic tradition of India, it is taught that god can be considered as a personal being and simultaneously as an impersonal spirit. The personal version has a silent phase that can be considered male (the Father) and an active, creative phase that can be considered female (the Divine Mother). Yet both are considered co-equal and co-essential.
The impersonal god transcends all attributes and also forms a type of essential substratum beyond yet underlying the personal phases. Humans are said to have an essence that includes all 3 phases.
So some interesting parallels it seems. I think what we believe on some deep perhaps largely subconscious level determines our reality, including our gender. So reality including gender is definitely fluid I'd say.
In the vedic tradition of India, it is taught that god can be considered as a personal being and simultaneously as an impersonal spirit. The personal version has a silent phase that can be considered male (the Father) and an active, creative phase that can be considered female (the Divine Mother). Yet both are considered co-equal and co-essential.
The impersonal god transcends all attributes and also forms a type of essential substratum beyond yet underlying the personal phases. Humans are said to have an essence that includes all 3 phases.
So some interesting parallels it seems. I think what we believe on some deep perhaps largely subconscious level determines our reality, including our gender. So reality including gender is definitely fluid I'd say.
9
Transgendered people exist. Comparing them to mythic beings, however popular those beings may be, is not a service.
14
I can't read this.
Are we seriously discussing something like god with the concept of transgenderism?
Are we seriously discussing god?
I get enough of that from Mr. Brooks and Mr. Douthat.
Surely there are more interesting topics for The Gray Lady than an entire opEd piece about something so... ridiculous.
How about a bit about Hillary Clinton's plans for the environment? How about some information about some downticket candidates? How about a story about what Barack Obama plans to do in his last months as President? How about an article about Humanists?
How about anything that makes some sense?
Are we seriously discussing something like god with the concept of transgenderism?
Are we seriously discussing god?
I get enough of that from Mr. Brooks and Mr. Douthat.
Surely there are more interesting topics for The Gray Lady than an entire opEd piece about something so... ridiculous.
How about a bit about Hillary Clinton's plans for the environment? How about some information about some downticket candidates? How about a story about what Barack Obama plans to do in his last months as President? How about an article about Humanists?
How about anything that makes some sense?
89
This essay is an instance of self-promotion. It exploits trans persons.
1
So you, someone who probably considers him or herself openminded, want to restrict the content of the NYTimes to the political?
There are aspects of the human condition/experience other than the political.
Reflect on the history of art (in the broadest sense of the term); does it limit itself to the political? Or does it range from matters erotic to metaphysical? From the infinitesimal to the infinite?
Although I align myself with liberal politics on most issues, one thing I have always found to be a big turn-off is how close-minded so many liberals or intellectuals are when it comes to spiritual ideas. That is one reason, I suspect, so many people flock to the Republican party (not that I believe the Republican party leadership is truly Christian or religious in any way except for the worship of money and power). At least they pretend to not look down on those who do believe in God.
Nobody knows if there is a God or gods or not. Not the Pope. Not Billy Graham. Not the most respected rabbi. Not the most respected ayatollah. Not the wisest Buddhist monk. Etc. But also not famous atheist scientists in recent decades (e.g., Carl Sagan, Stephen Jay Gould) or other atheist intellectuals. No one knows.
Faith is not about knowing; it's about consciously choosing what you believe & living your life accordingly.
& some of us intellectual believers are interested in theological speculations such as this Op-ed & appreciate the NYTimes making it available to its readers.
There are aspects of the human condition/experience other than the political.
Reflect on the history of art (in the broadest sense of the term); does it limit itself to the political? Or does it range from matters erotic to metaphysical? From the infinitesimal to the infinite?
Although I align myself with liberal politics on most issues, one thing I have always found to be a big turn-off is how close-minded so many liberals or intellectuals are when it comes to spiritual ideas. That is one reason, I suspect, so many people flock to the Republican party (not that I believe the Republican party leadership is truly Christian or religious in any way except for the worship of money and power). At least they pretend to not look down on those who do believe in God.
Nobody knows if there is a God or gods or not. Not the Pope. Not Billy Graham. Not the most respected rabbi. Not the most respected ayatollah. Not the wisest Buddhist monk. Etc. But also not famous atheist scientists in recent decades (e.g., Carl Sagan, Stephen Jay Gould) or other atheist intellectuals. No one knows.
Faith is not about knowing; it's about consciously choosing what you believe & living your life accordingly.
& some of us intellectual believers are interested in theological speculations such as this Op-ed & appreciate the NYTimes making it available to its readers.
4
Give the rabbi a break. His days are long and how many angels can dance on the head of a pin gets old really, really fast.
3
From the perspective of modern biblical scholarship, these arguments are silly, particularly regarding the name YHWH, which has long been the subject of esoteric speculation in Judaism, but which no serious scholar would take in the magical sense argued here (and which ignores the history of the use of yahu as a theophoric element in Israelite religion, i.e. Joshua=yahu saves). Gender is not fluid in the Hebrew Bible in the way the author is arguing. Further, our modern concept of 'gender-fluidity' was not a mark of being 'godlike' in Antiquity, although transcending gender entirely, i.e. being asexual and celibate like an angelic being, could be. I realize the article was written by a believing rabbi rather than a secular scholar, but it is misleading given the state of modern scholarship on these issues. Unfortunately it is emblematic of a common desire to discover that these ancient texts validate our own contemporary beliefs in precisely the way we wish they did.
25
Really?? I think this headline is borderline click-bait. Elasticity of gender in translations and/or even in human beings is far different than what is known as "transgender" in human beings. Biologically speaking, the state of being "transgender" is when one's gender biology is different from one's gender identity. To assume God could be "transgender" is a misrepresentation of the biological and ontological notion of what it means to be "transgender". If the author is really trying to say that there is gender fluidity in humanity's concept of a deity or in the representation of religion via text throughout history, then I think a different word must be used. Just because a term is popular in today's lexicon doesn't mean it can be tossed around inappropriately. I feel the definition was used a bit carelessly to get people to click on the article and that seems beneath the standard of this newspaper.
15
The author is projecting a PC fantasy on to transpersons' real, complicated realities. He's trying to let us know he's "tolerant", and also au courant re: sex stuff.
2
Borderline clickbait? It is complete clickbait, and the commenters have been great! Too funny!
1
Fascinating that the Hebrew scriptures sometimes use pronouns that express a gender other than what one would expect. You seem on very safe ground here. Your argument seems much shakier on the pronunciation of YHWH. Again, your language is important. First you tell us that it was "probably" not pronounced Jehovah or Yahweh, then you say that Israelite priests in fact pronounced the syllables in reverse. Is it a certainty or just a probability? Further, how can you know how Israelite priests pronounced YHWH thousands of years ago? What in the world makes you think they pronounced it "in reverse"? Very strange, to say the least. I'm totally unconvinced.
9
I'm all in favor of not discriminating against trans-gender people but I'm damned if I need some mess of old folk tales, now known as "The Bible," to justify my position or to convince anyone else. I have other grounds, i.e. respect for each individual and his/her rights. Imho, resorting to biblical justification just weakens the case. How "the God of the three ... Abrahamic religions... was understood by its earliest worshipers..." is just about as irrelevant as the price of tea in China, as we used to say.
11
God has no gender or he is all genders! Stop asking what God would do or what god would say. Let's treat humans as humans and let's extend that to transgender humans and, for a change, to WOMEN! Women are humans, too!
200
What is the purpose of of giving a gender to God.There are so many more important issues.
4
Justice, it takes a woman human being to bear and produce another human. No quarrel there, that women are humans, too.
2
The Bible reads, in Genesis 27 "So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them." While religious belief has no place in political discussion, were the Bible used as precedent, this phrase would militate against gender discrimination of any sort.
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them." While religious belief has no place in political discussion, were the Bible used as precedent, this phrase would militate against gender discrimination of any sort.
1
I have great sympathy/empathy for trans people, but not about the bathroom issue. I feel that which bathroom to go to is a matter of convenience, and both sides make too big a deal out of it. It is not like the bathroom discrimination that existed against Blacks in the South when I was growing up. They often had to go as far as a mile to use ANY bathroom.
There is something that really disturbs me. It is that we give so much attention to this relatively small inconvenience while 25% of our children live in poverty and hunger.
Yes, god is bi-gendered. Like you, I have known this for a long time. But religion should have much more to do with feeding the hungry and housing the homeless than going to the bathroom.
There is something that really disturbs me. It is that we give so much attention to this relatively small inconvenience while 25% of our children live in poverty and hunger.
Yes, god is bi-gendered. Like you, I have known this for a long time. But religion should have much more to do with feeding the hungry and housing the homeless than going to the bathroom.
257
Let's stop talking about this issue because there are other issues which also exist.
1
Well, trans oppression isn't about the bathrooms, really -- and neither is this article. With levels of violence against the LGBTTQ community as high as they are, I'm cautious to brush past that point to your observation that all social issues matter.
1
So why not let transgendered people use the bathroom of their choice? No big deal.
1
People with serious minds ask questions early and soon learn the limits of language. Words are ridiculously crude representations of reality.
Pictures are somewhat better, but still very limited.
I seem to recall reading about a joke made by Picasso about a photo of a woman: "Is that what she looks like? Then, she is very small and very flat." Perhaps it is apocryphal...
Literally everything in the world exists on a continuum.
Nothing is truly separate from anything else.
Nothing is black and white.
Words cannot describe it...
This basic taoist precept is aimed not just at the concept of tao but at everything else in the world, too.
Regarding sex typing, the typical male has an X and Y chromosome. Note that the male has breasts. Why? Because women do.
The variations are infinite...
Those who align with a given group mind are obsessed with belonging and seek markers to identify their tribal affiliation. That tendency is probably genetic and it too exists on a continuum. Some are joiners and some are not while others are somewhere between.
Get rid of politics and bring back common sense and most of these puzzles are easily solved.
Pictures are somewhat better, but still very limited.
I seem to recall reading about a joke made by Picasso about a photo of a woman: "Is that what she looks like? Then, she is very small and very flat." Perhaps it is apocryphal...
Literally everything in the world exists on a continuum.
Nothing is truly separate from anything else.
Nothing is black and white.
Words cannot describe it...
This basic taoist precept is aimed not just at the concept of tao but at everything else in the world, too.
Regarding sex typing, the typical male has an X and Y chromosome. Note that the male has breasts. Why? Because women do.
The variations are infinite...
Those who align with a given group mind are obsessed with belonging and seek markers to identify their tribal affiliation. That tendency is probably genetic and it too exists on a continuum. Some are joiners and some are not while others are somewhere between.
Get rid of politics and bring back common sense and most of these puzzles are easily solved.
10
Well...sort of. You can argue that at the most primitive stage, we are all females. That X and Y? its not a Y. It's a broken X.
But that's what is REQUIRED to have a two-sex/gender species that reproduces sexually. Without that broken X, we'd be amoebas -- or reproduce parthogenetically, as some species do (turkeys, for example). This is not a vigorous way to reproduce and would have never results in the strength, flexibility and evolutionary advancements that human beings have demonstrated over millions of years.
There really is NO continuum in this regard. There are two sexes/genders, and they are male and female and there is NOTHING ELSE....no third gender. No changing your gender after the earliest stages of fetal development. (Some primitive species can, but NOT humans.)
You can dress up like a woman, wear pantyhose and mascara -- you can take female hormones, get fake breast implants and dose yourself with dangerous hormones -- but nothing on God's green earth will ever turn a biological male into a biological female. Never, ever, ever in a billion years.
But that's what is REQUIRED to have a two-sex/gender species that reproduces sexually. Without that broken X, we'd be amoebas -- or reproduce parthogenetically, as some species do (turkeys, for example). This is not a vigorous way to reproduce and would have never results in the strength, flexibility and evolutionary advancements that human beings have demonstrated over millions of years.
There really is NO continuum in this regard. There are two sexes/genders, and they are male and female and there is NOTHING ELSE....no third gender. No changing your gender after the earliest stages of fetal development. (Some primitive species can, but NOT humans.)
You can dress up like a woman, wear pantyhose and mascara -- you can take female hormones, get fake breast implants and dose yourself with dangerous hormones -- but nothing on God's green earth will ever turn a biological male into a biological female. Never, ever, ever in a billion years.
6
@Concerned: Your knowledge of genetics is extremely limited.: There are myriad viable variations involving the human sex chromosomes other than the standard XX and XY, e.g., X-, XO, XYY, XXY, etc. Moreover, gender identity is dramatically impacted by ontogenetic factors, e.g.,the prenatal environment, levels of adrenal androgens, etc. The percentage of infants born with ambiguous genital morphology is not at all trivial.
6
There's no functional third sex, let alone a myriad. When a transgender man desires to change sex he attempts to become female. When a woman changes her sex she attempts to become male. By their new designations they affirm sexual duality as we understand it. As it evolved in the natural world.
2
Just goes to show that if you want to find something badly enough, you will. Indeed, I can envisage a future rabbi wriiting an Op Ed for the Times in which he/she argues, shockingly, that YWHY does not stand for He/She, but that the earliest worshippers read it forwards, bestowed upon him/her the mascline name "Yahweh," and referred to him/her as "he." What's more, this rabbi will point out htat, unknown to most, Eve Genesis refers to Eve as "she" and Adam as "he."
Look, I'm as in favor of transgender rights as the next guy, but surely we can get there without distorting ancient texts?
Look, I'm as in favor of transgender rights as the next guy, but surely we can get there without distorting ancient texts?
28
Doesn't the fact that their ancient mean we cannot help but distort them? All we can do is study them and the contexts in which they were produced. And be open to the inevitability of being at best partial and at least true to our best efforts.
I think the whole point is that it's not a distortion. The author isn't stretching any conjectures, except about YHWH. It seems in becoming "civilized," we have forgotten our biology. Just for fun, here's a quote from Plato's Symposium:
"There were three sexes then: one comprised of two men called the children of the Sun, one made of two women called the children of the Earth, and a third made of a man and a woman, called the children of the Moon. . .
Each of us when separated, having one side only, is but the indenture of a person, and we are always looking for our other half. Those whose original nature lies with the children of the Sun are men who are drawn to other men, those from the children of the Earth are women who love other women, and those from the children of the Moon are men and women drawn to one another. And when one of us meets our other half, we are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the other’s sight even for a moment."
"There were three sexes then: one comprised of two men called the children of the Sun, one made of two women called the children of the Earth, and a third made of a man and a woman, called the children of the Moon. . .
Each of us when separated, having one side only, is but the indenture of a person, and we are always looking for our other half. Those whose original nature lies with the children of the Sun are men who are drawn to other men, those from the children of the Earth are women who love other women, and those from the children of the Moon are men and women drawn to one another. And when one of us meets our other half, we are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the other’s sight even for a moment."
5
"Forwards" in Hebrew goes from right to left.
4
"Gender, as Cousin Paula might have put it, is more like music: Each of us has a key and a range with which we are most comfortable."
Despite my life-long inability to adopt any theistic notions, I cannot be anything but a Jew and it delights me to learn that my heritage contains good sense along with all the non-sense.
Only recently, in my 76th year of life, have a managed to articulate the way I experience my fellow humans, human interactions and the ebb and flow of relationships. I abruptly chose a musical metaphor.
Perhaps it is only a consequence that made Rabbi Sameth's use of a music metaphor, at the end of his informative and lovely piece, catch my attention.
It's good to see that other people experience the music of living.
I wonder if there are others here who have this same experience.
Despite my life-long inability to adopt any theistic notions, I cannot be anything but a Jew and it delights me to learn that my heritage contains good sense along with all the non-sense.
Only recently, in my 76th year of life, have a managed to articulate the way I experience my fellow humans, human interactions and the ebb and flow of relationships. I abruptly chose a musical metaphor.
Perhaps it is only a consequence that made Rabbi Sameth's use of a music metaphor, at the end of his informative and lovely piece, catch my attention.
It's good to see that other people experience the music of living.
I wonder if there are others here who have this same experience.
36
Gender appears to be a complex issue. The linguistic history of gender may be interesting in its own right, but given the way that natural gender variability is often demonized by the religious I can't get too excited about what this or that holy book has to say about the subject. While it's nice that there are a few positive bits that may be cherry-picked from the odd prophesy or vaguely applied pronoun, I can imagine that people in the LGBT community would be happier if the bible had nothing to say about it.
Far from being a source of deep wisdom and compassion, we must all bring a fully-formed moral sense to the bible in order to know which of the horrific parts we should ignore. Mining the bible for the occasional nugget of wisdom only calls attention to the dross of ancient ignorance and cruelty found therein.
The secular courts have been far more important than religions in the modern quest for social justice. We don't need to look for pronouns or prophesies in the rulings that granted women a right to safe and legal abortion, or that legalized same-sex marriage or that changed the status of the transgendered from pariah to person.
Deities may be dual-gendered, but deities can look out for themselves. It's people who must protect themselves from those who are far less liberal in their interpretations of the bible than Rabbi Sameth.
Far from being a source of deep wisdom and compassion, we must all bring a fully-formed moral sense to the bible in order to know which of the horrific parts we should ignore. Mining the bible for the occasional nugget of wisdom only calls attention to the dross of ancient ignorance and cruelty found therein.
The secular courts have been far more important than religions in the modern quest for social justice. We don't need to look for pronouns or prophesies in the rulings that granted women a right to safe and legal abortion, or that legalized same-sex marriage or that changed the status of the transgendered from pariah to person.
Deities may be dual-gendered, but deities can look out for themselves. It's people who must protect themselves from those who are far less liberal in their interpretations of the bible than Rabbi Sameth.
127
I think you missed his point. Try reading some Karen Armstrong to get a better understanding of ancient religious texts.
2
It is always helpful to define gender, which too often is equated with biological sex. Webster gives two definitions 1) sex (example: feminine gender); 2) the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex. The example suggests that #1 is not meant to be "biological" sex as "feminine" does not refer to biology, but rather to behavior.
Gender is a social construct by which we place expectations on and project attitudes towards people with certain physical characteristics. Definitions of what it means to be masculine and feminine have varied throughout history both over time and from culture to culture. That, in itself, suggests that gender is a fluid concept. Not even 100 years ago women were considered too 'tenderhearted" to be bothered with issues of government and, therefore, by nature suited for voting in elections. How things change!
What is different now is that society (at least some segments) is willing to acknowledge that when it comes to gender we do not all sort into two neat lines. For some that is scary or troubling; a subset of those folks will cling to the 'evidence' they find in the Bible that those two lines and only those two lines are divinely ordained. Thanks for a different perspective.
Contrary to the article title, though (Is God Transgendered?), I think God is non-gendered for God is spirit (though if we must assign divine gender bi-gendered would certainly fit better than trans-gendered)
Gender is a social construct by which we place expectations on and project attitudes towards people with certain physical characteristics. Definitions of what it means to be masculine and feminine have varied throughout history both over time and from culture to culture. That, in itself, suggests that gender is a fluid concept. Not even 100 years ago women were considered too 'tenderhearted" to be bothered with issues of government and, therefore, by nature suited for voting in elections. How things change!
What is different now is that society (at least some segments) is willing to acknowledge that when it comes to gender we do not all sort into two neat lines. For some that is scary or troubling; a subset of those folks will cling to the 'evidence' they find in the Bible that those two lines and only those two lines are divinely ordained. Thanks for a different perspective.
Contrary to the article title, though (Is God Transgendered?), I think God is non-gendered for God is spirit (though if we must assign divine gender bi-gendered would certainly fit better than trans-gendered)
20
You say "though if we must assign divine gender bi-gendered would certainly fit better than trans-gendered."
But if we are rejecting the binary concept, wouldn't gender-fluid, or something like that, be better than either bi-gendered or trans-gendered?
But if we are rejecting the binary concept, wouldn't gender-fluid, or something like that, be better than either bi-gendered or trans-gendered?
28
Transgender is the umbrella term for gender identities outside the cisgender m/f binary, so it would still be correct to refer to G-d as transgender even if he/she is gender non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, agender, etc.
I took a class in which we discussed the possibility that G-D is that which transcends gender in the way that humans understand the gender concept. We are limited in our ability to fully comprehend whatever G-D is. It's enough to know we are created in that Divine image. That covers everyone.
5