'New York Times' article claiming ancient Judaism recognized 'a range of genders' draws criticism

(JNS) — “Ancient Judaism Recognized a Range of Genders. It’s Time We Did, Too.” So reads the headline of a March 18 New York Times guest essay by Elliot Kukla, whose website states that he provides “radical spiritual care” and was “the first openly transgender rabbi to be ordained by a mainstream denomination,” the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.

The uniform resource locator that the Times uses for the article contains the publication date and “trans-teen-suicide-judaism.”

“In my own tradition, Judaism, our most sacred texts reflect a multipl...