Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature

by Max K. Strassfeld

Overview

Trans Talmud places eunuchs and androgynes at the center of rabbinic literature and asks what we can learn from them about Judaism and the project of transgender history. Rather than treating these figures as anomalies to be justified or explained away, Max K. Strassfeld argues that they profoundly shaped ideas about law, as the rabbis constructed intricate taxonomies of gender across dozens of texts to understand an array of cultural tensions. Showing how rabbis employed eunuchs and androgynes to define proper forms of masculinity, Strassfeld emphasizes the unique potential of these figures to not only establish the boundary of law but exceed and transform it. Trans Talmud challenges how we understand gender in Judaism and demonstrates that acknowledging nonbinary gender prompts a reassessment of Jewish literature and law.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520382053
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/26/2022
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Max K. Strassfeld is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Classics at the University of Arizona.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

1 Transing Late Antiquity: The Politics of the Study, of Eunuchs and Androgynes 33

2 The Gendering of Law: The Androgyne and the Hybrid Animal in Bikkurim 55

3 Sex with Androgynes 89

4 Transing the Eunuch: Kosher and Damaged Masculinity 115

5 Eunuch Temporality: The Saris and the Aylonit 151

Conclusion: Rereading the Rabbis Again 183

Bibliography 203

Glossary 237

Index 243

Editorial Reviews

"In a world that seeks to erase our history and our bodies, these texts provide images of a past where we may have existed, albeit with complexities. To study Talmud is to dream our past into the future, and to engage in the act of traveling through time accompanied by our ancestors’ voices. . . . As queer, trans and nonbinary Jews do the work of consciously creating a usable past, Trans Talmud invites us to do so with more integrity and precision."

Lilith

"Trans Talmud regularly disrupts our understandings of sex, gender and sexuality, and so too of what scholarship itself is meant to be. Strassfeld makes these texts come to life as he sprinkles gems of insight and relevance throughout."

Journal of Jewish Studies

"Trans Talmud places eunuchs and androgynes at the center of rabbinic literature and asks what we can learn from them about Judaism and the project of transgender history. "

Reading Religion

"Dr. Max Strass­feld, Assis­tant Pro­fes­sor of Reli­gious Stud­ies at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ari­zona, now offers us a wel­come guide to Tal­mu­dic gender(s) in this metic­u­lous, far-reach­ing, and lyri­cal book. It wel­comes a wide vari­ety of read­ers with patient expla­na­tions of cen­tral con­cepts in the fields of gen­der and queer stud­ies and the world of the Tal­mud and rab­binic lit­er­a­ture of late antiq­ui­ty."

Jewish Book Council

"A thought-provoking book. . . . [that] will be a point of reference for future studies on bodies that challenge the binary categorization of sex/gender in late ancient Jewish literature and beyond."

Religious Studies Review

"Strassfield…nourishes the discussion of the ancient texts on a marginalized community then and now. Recommended to interested individuals and academic libraries."

Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews