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UnDisciplined: Ancient rabbinic literature referenced many different genders

A metallic <em>yad,</em> or hand in Hebrew, is used while worshippers read from the Torah in Bello's synagogue.
A metallic yad, or hand in Hebrew, is used while worshippers read from the Torah in Bello's synagogue.

The idea of nonbinary gender identities might feel like a very new concept. But in Judaism, which is of course the basis of many other religious traditions, men and women aren't the only designations rabbinic texts use for sex and gender.

Sarah Imhoff is a professor of religious studies at Indiana University, where her work has focused on the ways in which religion shapes the ways we understand the human body.

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Matthew LaPlante has reported on ritual infanticide in Northern Africa, insurgent warfare in the Middle East, the legacy of genocide in Southeast Asia, and gang violence in Central America. But a few years back, something donned on him: Maybe the news doesn't have to be brutally depressing all the time. Today, he balances his continuing work on more heartbreaking subjects by writing books about the intersection of science, human health and society, including the New York Times best-selling <i>Lifespan</i> with geneticist David Sinclair and the Nautilus Award-winning <i>Longevity Plan</i> with cardiologist John Day. His first solo book, <i>Superlative</i>, looks at what scientists are learning by studying organisms that have evolved in record-setting ways, and his is currently at work on another book about embracing the inevitability of human-caused climate change with an optimistic outlook on the future.<br/>