A transwoman joined a minyan – but it had the potential to cause great pain
Rabbi Roderick Young reflects on last week's story from Liverpool, about a transgender woman who was accepted into an Orthodox minyan
At Liverpool’s Princes Road Synagogue, the rabbi recently asked a transgender woman if she would consent to be counted as the 10th man in a minyan.
The rabbi is quoted as saying: “We took into account her sensitivities. I asked her permission
so as not to offend her. She was fine with it.”
But, however sensitive the rabbi was, he misgendered this woman, potentially causing great pain.
My Hungarian husband has Jewish antecedents on both sides of his family. He was told of their Jewish origin shortly after the fall of communism and he has lived a Jewish life ever since. He is not Jewish under Orthodox halachah. Some years ago, we spent Succot with a group of Orthodox, Masorti and Reform Jews, some of them rabbis. By consensus, all public spaces operated under Orthodox halachah.
After the festival started, it was discovered the oven had been switched off. My husband was approached by a rabbi who asked if he would be comfortable turning it on. The request was done extremely sensitively. It was made clear everyone would understand if he declined and that he should feel no pressure.
My husband is a lovely, accommodating and quiet man and he understood that a switched off oven was a disaster, so he turned it on. I can imagine some would cast this as a triumph of inter-movement cooperation and the rabbi as a caring soul for the way the request was made.
However, later that night my husband talked to me about his sense of hurt at the negation of his Jewishness. I do wonder how those closest to this transgender woman heard about the experience from her lips. Maybe she really was fine with it, but many other transgender folks would not have been.
What would happen if the same rabbi discovered a man with a big beard, who has just made the minyan, was born female? Will this man be sensitively humiliated as the Torah is speedily returned to the ark and the mourners told to cease their Kaddish? For that is surely what would need to happen by the same logic that allowed the rabbi to count a transgender woman in his male minyan.
Roderick Young is a freelance rabbi living in Norfolk
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
