Orthodox rabbis slam Reform Jews over transgenderism and Trump’s executive order

Executive order by President Trump rejecting transgenderism in favor of biological sex for all federal policies related to gender sparks debate between Orthodox rabbis in the US and their Reform counterparts.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

President Donald Trump sparked an open debate between organizations representing thousands of American rabbis, after he signed an executive order this week affirming biological sex and rejecting transgenderism for all federal policies involving gender.

On Monday, hours after he took office, Trump signed an executive order entitled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” requiring that all federal policies touching on gender use biological sex to determine gender, while rejecting transgenderist challenges to the biological definition of sex.

Two days later, the Central Conference of American Rabbis decried the move, calling it an “attack” on “millions of Americans who are transgender, nonbinary, intersex, or any other gender that does not conform to the enforced binary.”

The CCAR, which describes itself as the “oldest and largest rabbinic organization in North America,” claims a membership of some 2,200 rabbis from the Reform movement.

In its statement Wednesday, the Reform organization claimed that Judaism has recognized a plurality of genders “for millennia,” accusing Monday’s executive order of violating Jewish religious beliefs.

“Gender diversity is woven into the narrative of creation: God created the first human being as male and female, i.e., nonbinary.”

“Our rabbinic sages described at least six distinct genders as part of the natural human condition designed by the Holy One,” the CCAR continued, citing discussions in the Mishna and Talmud regarding hermaphrodites, infertility, and delayed puberty.

“Reform Jews, including those employed by the US federal government, are religiously obligated to recognize and respect each individual’s gender identity.”

On Thursday, the CCAR’s Orthodox Jewish counterpart, the Coalition for Jewish Values – which represents over 2,500 Orthodox rabbis in the United States – rejected the CCAR’s claims.

“The Talmud addresses various biological aberrations, but there is no source in Judaism for the modern notion of ‘nonbinary’ genders dependent upon the beliefs of victims of gender dysphoria, CJV President Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld and Executive Vice President Rabbi Yaakov Menken said.

The conservative Orthodox organization accused the CCAR of ignoring traditional Jewish practices, while elevating contemporary “progressive doctrine” to the level of religious dogma.

“It is revealing that the CCAR declares that Reform Jews are ‘religiously obligated’ to accept a person’s ‘gender identity.’ According to the CCAR, Reform Jews are not religiously obligated to observe the Sabbath, keep Kosher, or follow particularistic Jewish law in any other area.”

“But, the CCAR intones, they are religiously obligated to observe progressive doctrine. It could hardly be more clear that the CCAR does not follow Judaism, but rather progressivism, and all pretenses to the former are null and void.”

Menken and Schonfeld lauded President Trump’s executive order, saying the CJV was “grateful” for the step “recognizing both Biblical doctrine and biological science.”