Genesis bible study: Adam was FORMED, Eve was CONSTRUCTED. Why the difference in word? Not the same kind of being.
Also, Adam was made in the likeness of God. Eve was made in the likeness of Adam. Eve is only indirectly in the image of God.
In fact, not only did the rabbis recognize six genders that were neither male nor female, they had a tradition that the first human being was both. Versions of this midrash are found throughout rabbinic literature, including in the Talmud:
Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar also said: Adam was first created with two faces (one male and the other female). As it is stated: “You have formed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.” (Psalms 139:5)
Eruvin 19a
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/
Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar imagines that the first human was created both male and female — with two faces. Later, this original human being was separated and became two distinct people, Adam and Eve. According to this midrash then, the first human being was, to use contemporary parlance, nonbinary. Genesis Rabbah 8:1
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/
Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created him as an androgynos (one having both male and female sexual characteristics), as it is said, “male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/
Said Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created for him a double face, and sawed him and made him backs, a back here and a back there, as it is said, “Behind and before, You formed me” (Psalms 139:5).
Genesis Rabbah 8:1
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/
The midrash imagines this original human looked something like a man and woman conjoined at the back so that one side has a women’s face and a woman’s sex organs and the other side has a man’s face and sex organs. Then God split this original person in half, creating the first man and woman. Ancient history buffs will recognize this image as similar to the character Aristophanes’ description of the first humans as both male and female
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/
In recent decades, queer Jews and allies have sought to reinterpret these eight genders of the Talmud as a way of reclaiming a positive space for nonbinary Jews in the tradition. The starting point is that while it is true that the Talmud understands gender to largely operate on a binary axis, the rabbis clearly understood that not everyone fits these categories.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/
And Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23)? This teaches that Adam had intercourse with each animal and beast in his search for his mate, and his mind was not at ease, in accordance with the verse: “And for Adam, there was not found a helpmate for him” (Genesis 2:20), until he had intercourse with Eve.
Yevamoth 63a Orthodox Jewish Text
https://www.sefaria.org/Yevamot.63a?lang=bi
https://web.archive.org/web/20190514184017/https://www.sefaria.org/Yevamot.63a?lang=bi
@Mongoliaboo
Torah Uncensored: Gender Identity in the Talmud DA
ByDaniel Alter
https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/398511?lang=bi
Has orthodox Jewish texts saying Adam was a hermaphrodite