Musing on b’tzelem elohim and the nature of Judaic acceptance of trans people

meravhoffman:

Trigger warnings for transphobia and violence against trans people.

I was browsing Facebook this morning, when I came across a brief eulogy for Christa Leigh that began “A Divine Image has been cruelly erased”. 

I stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. Considering the source, I was pretty sure that this wasn’t going to be a transphobic statement, but I was also sure that I was going to be engaging with the problem of the Jewish image of the divine in humanity.

To really address the idea, we have to start with the common phrase b’tzelem elohim which is to say, that every human being is made in the image of God. 

The idea comes from the story of Adam, where, upon creating him from clay, God breathes life into his body, and Adam is made “in the image of God”. 

Given that Judaism is a religion that does not depict our divine as having a body, other than the occasional reference to sheltering wings, or to the hand of God in the Passover story, or much more rarely, to seeing God’s back – which Moses briefly glimpses after begging to see God’s face and being told that that’s way too dangerous – it’s strange to think that this idea has persisted; that we really are made to be mirrors of our creator. Most references to God’s body have been explained away as metaphorical. We don’t depict the body of God in our art, and we are forbidden to make “graven images” for veneration. 

Nonetheless, the idea of b’tzelem elohim is used as a springboard for Jewish teachings of every kind. Depending where you are on the spectrum of Jewish conservativism, this phrase can be used to promote acceptance, or exclusion.

We use the word tzelem in everyday Hebrew. it’s the same root word as the word tzilum which means photography. Literally, the image.

Elohim is a plural form of the name of God. It’s thought to be plural not because there’s more than one God, but because God has many aspects and parts of self.

People use the phrase “two Jews, three opinions” pretty regularly, largely because it’s true. Thinking through a problem often means coming to understand the many sides of an issue, and either empathizing with all of them, or at least, understanding the logic in the argument, even if you vehemently disagree.

I have seen religious Jews react to the existence of trans people both positively and negatively, and the idea of the divine body is frequently in the middle of the argument. One side says “God made you the way you are, so why change it?” and goes on to explain why second-guessing God is blasphemous or worthy of rejection by the community, and another side says “God made your soul and your soul knows what it needs, go and change to be more like yourself” and gives the person resources and support. 

I don’t think I have to state that I hold the second position, but this is the internet, home of flame and blame wars, and I thought I should make absolutely sure that that can’t be misinterpreted. 

I know a fair number of trans people, many of whom are Jewish, and some of whom are religious, and I find that this idea comes up a lot, when people are discussing the body, particularly modification of the body, and gender presentation.

So it was interesting to see this eulogy, because eulogies are, in many ways, the final representation of the body, begin with this exact phrase, in this case, affirming the choices made in the life of one woman, and supporting the holiness and rightness of her existence as a woman. 

When I got a few lines further into the eulogy I let out that breath I was holding, but I could just as easily have sucked it back in in horror. 

I hate when people use a life affirming and inclusive phrase as a way to exclude and discriminate, but I know that it happens more frequently that I would like. Blessedly, in this case, it was used what I feel is appropriately, to commemorate a life that was stolen from its owner. To give her honor in death through accolade and mourning.

Lately, I seem to discover daily that people I grew up with as role models or people whose art I have recently admired have come out as TERFs or signed the abhorrent manifesto denying the gender and validity of trans women. I am saddened and angry that these otherwise flexible, thinking and feeling people can embrace hatred. 

When I see independent film makers and science fiction authors (of all people!) denouncing and spitting on science for making people more comfortable in their own skins, I flinch and I stop supporting their work. It makes me sad, but I can’t allow them to erase the existence and validity of other people because they find their existence “threatening” or frightening. 

It’s difficult to write a closing paragraph that sums this up. Classically, Judaism has focused more on the soul, which we call the nefesh, which can also mean a kind of personal energy; than on the body, which is, ultimately ephemeral, and which ages and changes throughout life, despite what we might want. 

It is my hope that Jews from all ends of the spectrum can remember that there is a nefesh in everyone, no matter who that person is, or how they present, and respect that, instead of using b’tzelem elohim as a way to exclude other people, who just want the love and support of their communities.