“A saris is simply a sterile man (just like an aylonit is a sterile woman)…”

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There is nothing to indicate that the rabbis saw saris as effeminate or not genuinely masculine. A saris is simply a sterile man (just like an aylonit is a sterile woman), and with the help of the rabbinic list, one can tell this even without a physiological examination. There is no question that the saris and the aylonit are normative men and women, and being a saris or an aylonit has no consequences apart from his or her marital status (thus, a saris must wear tefillin; and an aylonit is not welcome in the house of study).

Ishay Rosen-Zvi, “The Rise and Fall of Rabbinic Masculinity”, Jewish Studies Internet Journal 12 (2013), 17.

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