Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature

Max K. Strassfeld

Published by University of California Press 2022

Trans Talmud

Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature

Max K. Strassfeld

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520382060

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

Strassfeld Max K. :

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

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Transing Late Antiquity: The Politics of the Study of Eunuchs and Androgynes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
2 The Gendering of Law: The Androgyne and the Hybrid Animal in Bikkurim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
3 Sex with Androgynes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
4 Transing the Eunuch: Kosher and Damaged Masculinity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
5 Eunuch Temporality: The Saris and the Aylonit Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
Conclusion: Rereading the Rabbis (Again) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 262

eBook

Published: April 26, 2022
ISBN: 9780520382060