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female (ginos). Yom Teruah (on Rosh Hashanah 29a, s.v.
tumtum) states that this is the opinion of the Yerushalmi.
The Pri Megadim (General Introduction 8) takes the view
that the meaning of the opinion [in the Mishnah] that an
androginos is a unique creation on its own, whose gender the
Sages left undetermined, is not that an androginos is possibly
a male and possibly a female, as is the view of Tosfos. (Yeva-
mos 82) Rather, according to this opinion the androginos is
akin to a completely separate gender which is neither male
nor female, yet which is still obligated in mitzvos because
women are also obligated, and [whatever his status] the
androginos is a Jew.

“According to the above, even a certain androginos can be
counted for a minyan because there is a compounded doubt:
Perhaps he is a male, like the R”Y and the Rosh. Even if he
is not completely a male, perhaps he is half male as the Raa-
vad maintains. The Torah’s command, ‘I shall be sanctified
among Bnei Yisrael’ (Vayikra 22: 32), [which is the source for
the requirement of ten male Jews for communal prayer] ap-
plies even to a person who is only partially a Yisrael. All are
thus unanimous that the androginos’s male side is obligated
in mitzvos because he is a Jew. We say in Chullin (79b) that
[mitzvos applying to] ‘a lamb’ apply even to an animal that is
only partially a lamb [i.e. a hybrid]. The Shach (Yoreh De’ah
16:17) writes that this principle that even a partial identity
imparts the same halachic character as a complete identity
applies everywhere. [Thus, even if an androginos is only a
partial male, he will have the same obligations as any other
Jewish male.] This apart, the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim
55,5) says that once a man has attained maturity in years we
do not need to check whether he has also attained physical
maturity [and he can be counted for a minyan on the basis of
his age alone]. The Magen Avraham writes (ibid.) that this
is because communal prayer is only a rabbinic obligation.
The Pri Megadim and the Levushei Srad explain that this

160 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein