Recently I have began a cover to cover read of The Divine Code by Rabbi Moshe Weiner. This morning I began the chapter on the prohibition of blasphemy. As usual there are many very interesting points to ponder.
It was during the discussion on blasphemy and the image of the Creator a particular line of thought came to me.
Now, I know what I am about to share will not make me very popular and may even receive some attacks but that is ok, we are in a dark age and the light of Torah can be very painful to those who are in darkness.
When I read the following passage and pondered it for a few minutes, I saw something in it that jumped out at me concerning our day and time.
Genesis 1:27
“And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. “
Here are my thoughts’
Over the past few years there has been a major push of certain groups pushing their ideas of a genderless society on the world. So many people are gender confused and even go as far as to deny any kind of gender at all. It not all about gender equality – some are wanting a total gender neutral society.
One of the definitions of ‘gender neutral on Dictionary.com is, ” 4. noting or relating to a person of neutral gender, neither male nor female”
When I pondered this morning the passage in Genesis, for the first time I have seen in my own eyes that this pushing of a genderless society, is a modern day form of denying and blaspheming the Creator.
The male and female genders of humanity carry within them the image of the Creator. To declare that a person is genderless is full denial and an attack on the image of the Creator – If disgracing or bring harm to another human falls under the prohibition of blasphemy (Page 261 section 3 – The Divine Code) because the image of the Creator is in that person, how much more so if one denies the gender in which that person was created. The attack on the male and female human genders is an attack on the image of the Creator.
Just think about it, to curse or reject ones gender is cursing and rejecting the image of the Creator.
…in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
Terry W. Hayes
ben Noach
7/2017
Photo Credit:
Bruno Sousa on Unsplash
Emuna Trek 
Part of my embrace of Orthodox Judaism was re-learning what it means to be a woman. I was raised by a feminist mother and mostly in the 90’s, when we were encouraged to break into sports and fields traditionally only held by boys and men. I was taught that I should strive to be the same as men, to compete with them, to force my way through life, demanding to be treated just as them.
The problem is that…I’m not just like them. I’m different. In trying to be a man, I could succeed, but it came at a cost. I was left frustrated and unfulfilled. I’d done everything I’d been told I *should* do and by outside measures, I was successful and yet I was exhausted from trying to be everything. In effect, I felt like society had set up a rigged game where I had to be both everything we assume a woman to be AND everything a man was. I had to raise my children, be loving and nurturing to them, write notes for their lunch boxes and kiss skinned knees AND I had to go out and compete toe to toe in the workforce. I had to switch between the two flawlessly.
When I approached Orthodox Judaism, with its strong gender roles, I suddenly realized that my old worldview wasn’t going to work. I needed to try to see the wisdom in these roles in order to really decide if I could do this or not. That wrestling and discovery took years and I came to some really surprising conclusions.
The illusion that men and women are interchangeable, that gender is nothing more than a social construct…is a lie that harms women most of all. It devalues the feminine and teaches women to strive for the masculine. It sets us up to try to be men…but we aren’t and so we always fall short of that goal. Instead, if we all learned to value the feminine more, then women would be lifted up and treated more equally WITHOUT having to become masculine.
I also realized that masculine men want feminine women and that relationships were made to work best with polarity.
By tossing out gender, we assume we know better than a Creator that knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows how we were created and what we need to be our most happy and fulfilled. He created women not to be a weaker version of men, but to be everything men can’t be so that we can complete each other. And…he created us perfect, stunning in our ability to complement each other, male and female.
Torah Judaism has the most amazing view of the role of the woman. The world is truly missing out on what it means to be real woman.
> Now, I know what I am about to share will not make me very popular and may even receive some attacks…
You underestimate your readers. We are as “radical” as you! I hate the gender confusion of today’s world. The ideal world of the Torah will have strong gender roles. Stay well bro and remember: Torah study every day keeps the gender neutral feminists away.
Hmmmm. Interesting train of thought. Don’t rightly know about that, but it is most definitely something to think about.
Another comment….I spent all of my professional life in the mental health field, under various guises. I think you have it right when you term it “gender confusion.” That is another “sign of the times,” I think. Our generation (I am 69) is on the leading edge of that confusion. It has gone on since almost the beginning, but didn’t form such a wave until the 60’s…..free love, burn your bra thinking colliding with I Love Lucy and “hey,little girl, comb your hair, fix your make-up….soon he will come through the door”. We are witnessing truly interesting, terrifying, wondrous, glorious, heart-breaking times. May GOD have Mercy!
There are cases where there is a biological basis for gender confusion. Males born with an extra X gene, for example. This has to be considered in the context of G-d having made male and female perfect for joining into union. Also, gender-less and gender neutral are. It to be confused. Any thoughts about gender neutral any body?
To Andres Meza: If a person was born with male and female genital organs, the person is considered a male in the eyes of Torah Law. He may not have anal intercourse with another man. He may marry a woman (The Divine Code by Rabbi Moshe Weiner, Ask Noah International, 2011, p 488, topic 5). Sexual reassignment surgery does not change the person’s status in Torah Law as a male or female. An androgyne whose male genitals were removed still retains his status as an androgyne male (the same, p 489, topic 7). This shows that in the eyes of Torah Law every person is either male or female.
If I remember right, people born with certain birth defects are not held to the same standard in the observance some of Torah Law. There is a leniency there.
This particular article I wrote does not deal with those born with any type of biological deficiency. It deals with those who are born exactly a male or female. The Creator designs all our test every person has their own specific test their soul has to work through. In this modern time it seems that gender confusion is a major test for some, to see what choices they will make.
To Emuna Trek: There is a leniency in the case of a tumtum. A tumtum is a person whose gender is not yet known because the genitals are covered over with a mass of flesh. A man who commits anal intercourse upon a tumtum is not liable if it is not yet known whether the tumtum is a female or male. These are highly unusual and extremely rare cases.