Since you suffered through the antizionist “siddurim” I was wondering if you’ve also looked at the “Trans Halakha Project” which involves a lot of the same people and which I (as a Jewish trans woman) felt was very disappointing in how it took a genuinely interesting topic which I like to think and talk about (how halakha applies to trans people in scenarios that might not apply to cis people) and managed to mangle it into takes contradicting established halakha that seemed more motivated by emotion and secular ethics (such as being opposed to infant circumcision or arguing that one can wear a binder in a mikveh).
I have gone through the Trans Halakha Project. Honestly, I'm conflicted by it. Like you, when I first encountered it, I was hoping to get guidance with navigating Halakha as a trans person. And even though it advertises itself "teshuvot that use the language of halakha to respond to questions about Jewish life and practice that emerge directly from trans people", it doesn't actually do that.
I'm all for writing teshuvot that address the very real question and concerns that observant trans folks have when it comes to navigating Halakha. I also recognise that it's 2025 and a lot of modern halakha, particularly halakha that involves groups that aren't explicitly mentioned within Torah or Talmud, involves reading a group into the text. But I consider there to be a significant difference between reading a group into the text via historical and social context and straight up reading something that isn't there.
I'm gonna use the teshuva about niddah for transwoman, written by one of the Rosh Yeshivot of Yeshiva Shel Maala Xava De Cordova as an example. On the surface level, the question she asks is a good one: Are trans women obligated in niddah?
de Cordova's stance is yes, because transwomen are women* and because Vayikra 15:19 automatically implicates trans women as being obligated to niddah. Except, that pasuk doesn't. If anything, it excludes transwomen.
The full pasuk in question reads:
וְאִשָּׁה֙ כִּֽי־תִהְיֶ֣ה זָבָ֔ה דָּ֛ם יִהְיֶ֥ה זֹבָ֖הּ בִּבְשָׂרָ֑הּ שִׁבְעַ֤ת יָמִים֙ תִּהְיֶ֣ה בְנִדָּתָ֔הּ וְכׇל־הַנֹּגֵ֥עַ בָּ֖הּ יִטְמָ֥א עַד־הָעָֽרֶב׃
She only quotes the first 8 words in her teshuva and translates it as, "And if a woman has an emission, and her emission in her flesh is blood."
The rest of the pasuk is kind of important because it goes on to talk about the state that follows: a period of niddah, menstruation.
Trans women, currently, do not menstruate**. The hormones that a trans woman takes can lead to monthly episodes where a trans woman experiences most of the physiological symptoms of menstruation (cramps, fatigue, cravings for certain food items, migraines, etc). But she doesn't bleed, which is what the pasuk is centered around: blood. The period of niddah is triggered by an observed emission of blood. De Cordova tries to argue otherwise by quoting Rambam and saying that he's really saying the opposite of what he's saying (namely, that the state of niddah and zivah can exist without the appearance of blood), she's undermined by her own translation and the fact that in either case, blood will make an appearance at one point or another (hence the timespan).
De Cordova never answers the question that she poses re: are trans women obligated to observe niddah. I think someone who's reading the teshuva looking for guidance would be frustrated by that.
Really, that spirit of frustration carries through with pretty much all of the teshuvot listed by the Trans Halakha Project because teshuvot as used by the Conservative/Masorti movement - the very group that sponsored and supports this project - do actually answer questions and provide guidance.
Anyway. This turned into a much longer rant than I'd originally planned. I apologise for any patronising tone that may have come across; it's not my intention and I'm aware that you, Anon, know a great deal more about the experiences*** of trans women than I do.
Thanks for the ask. I hope it addressed everything.
Tldr: Trans Halakha Project, good in theory. In practice, even with the trans voices behind it, it needs a lot of work to achieve its full potential.
*I agree wholeheartedly that trans women are women. Anyone who wants to say otherwise can bugger off and unfollow.
**a lack of menstruation does not lessen or remove a trans woman's status as a woman. There are plenty of cis women who do not menstruate either.
***also, if there are those who observe the laws of Niddah and find anything wrong with what I've said, please correct me. I'm just going off what I've studied in school and the various books that I've read here and there.
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