Tumtum (Judaism)

[2][3][4] Although they are often grouped together, the tumtum has some halakhic ramifications distinct from those of the androgynos (אנדרוגינוס), who have both male and female genitalia.

"[6] In the Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 64a–b, Rabbi Ammi says that the Biblical figures "Abraham and Sarah were originally tumtumim" and infertile and then miraculously turned into a fertile husband and wife in their old age.

Rabbi Ammi points to the Book of Isaiah 51:1–2, saying that the references to "Look to the rock from where you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from where you were dug [...] Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you" explains their genitals being uncovered and remade.

"[1][3] The classical description of the physical characteristic of tumtum says they have a membrane of skin hiding female or male genitals.

The second-century CE Mishnah, the oldest compendium of the Oral Torah, brings the opinion of Rabbi Meir that tumtum is not a distinct gender but a state of doubt between male and female: "Sometimes he is a man, and sometimes he is a woman.