170 Selected Reform Responsa
MARRIAGE AFTER A SEX-CHANGE OPERATION 1977
QUESTION: May a rabbi officiate at a marriage of two Jews , one of whom has undergone a surgical operation which has changed his/her sex?(Rabbi D. Gluckman, Family Life Committee)
ANSWER: Our responsurn will deal with an individual who has undergone an operation for sexual change for physical or psychological reasons, We will presume(a) that this has been done for valid, serious reasons and not frivolously;(b) that the best available medical tests(chromosome analysis, etc.) have been utilized as aids;(c) that this in no way constitutes a homosexual marriage.
There is some discussion in traditional literature about the propriety of this kind of operation. In addition, we must recall that tradition sought to avoid any operation which would seriously endanger life(Shulhan Arukh Yoreh Deah 116; Hul. 10a). The Mishnah has dealt with the problem of individuals whose sex was undetermined. It divides them into two separate categories, tutntum and androginos. A tutntum is a person whose genitals are hidden or undeveloped and whose sex, therefore, is unknown. R. Ammi recorded an operation on one such individual who was found to be male and who then fathered seven children(Yeb. 83b). S. B. Freehof has discussed such operations most recently; he permits such an operation for a fumtum, but not for an androginos(Modern Reform Responsa, pp. 128 ff). The androginos is a hermaphrodite and clearly carries characteristics of both sexes(M. Bik., IV, 5). The former is a condition which can be corrected, and the latter, as far as the ancients were concerned, could not. So, the Mishnah and later tradition treats the androginos sometimes like a male, sometimes like a female, and occasionally as a separate category. However, with regard to marriage, the Mishnah (Bik 4.2) states unequivocally,"he can take a wife, but not be taken as a wife." If married, they are free from the