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When Gender Varies: A Curious Case of Kree and Kteev (Parashat Chayei Sarah)

November 02, 2007 | By Rachel Brodie

Media Type(s): Torah Commentary

Textual Source: Genesis

Torah Portion: Chayei Sara

This resource is part of the Torah Queeries collection.

The author discusses the roles of the matriarchs in the Bible, focusing on Rebecca. Exploring a conundrum of Hebrew grammar, where the word na’ar (masculine gendered) is used to describe Rebecca, a woman, the author understands that an individual’s physiology (the literal/pshat) might point to one end of the gender continuum, but that person’s lived experience (the interpretive/drash) is elsewhere on it.

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