NASHIM © 2024 • 10.2979/nsh.00024 147 DOR TAHPUKHOT: AN AGAINST-THE-GRAIN READING OF ORTHODOX JEWISH LAW (HALAKHAH) ON GENDER AFFIRMATION SURGERIES RONIT IRSHAI and ILAY AVIDAN This article examines the attitude toward gender affirmation sur- geries expressed in a particular work of Jewish law (halakhah), Dor tahpukhot (A generation of radical change, 2004) by Idan Ben-Efrayim, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi of Sephardi origin. By fol- lowing the hermeneutical maneuvers used by the author to accept transgender people, post factum, into the religious community, our against-the-grain reading of Dor tahpukhot reveals that the Orthodox halakhic approach is more complex and empathetic than might be expected. In our reading, Dor tahpukhot reinforces the notions that genitals are not the essential sign of gender, that the classification of persons as of one gender or another does not always work, and that the concept of gender in religious tradition is a more flexible concept than has commonly been thought. This analysis contributes to the growing field of transfeminist religious studies as well as to scholarship on Jewish religious feminism, by demonstrating that where there is a rabbinic will, gender essentialism can be overlooked. INTRODUCTION In this article, we examine how a particular work on Jewish law, written by an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, views gender affirmation surgeries. We will do so by following the hermeneutical maneuvers used in the book to accept transgender people, post factum, into the religious community. Through an