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Bodies have genders (physical anatomy and genetics) and the brain has a gender (gender identity), but do the spirits/souls or our heavenly bodies have genders as well?

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    The Magid Mesharim (written by the Beis Yosef; lessons with a malach) discusses someone who could not have children, and the BY explained that they both had female neshamos and therefore could not bear children; he prayed for them and somehow kabbalistically changed the feminine attributes to masculine, and they were able to have children.
    – chortkov2
    Commented Jul 16, 2019 at 15:38

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The Zohar writes that the Patriarch Yitzchok had the soul of a female.

Additionally, the Arizal explained that Michal wore tefillin because she had a male soul.

So it seems that souls do have genders, both male and female.

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    . . . and that they are not necessarily those of the bodies that possess them.
    – WAF
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 15:55
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    This may indicate the same ,Mishna Brurah 23:5 ה) של קבר - ואפילו בקבר של קטן יש להחמיר משום לועג לרש דשמא נשמת אדם גדול הוא אבל בקבר אשה דבחייה ג"כ פטורה ליכא משום לועג לרש:
    – sam
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 16:29
  • where in the zohar?
    – ray
    Commented Aug 19, 2014 at 5:20
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No. A soul is a spiritual entity and has no gender. However according to Kabbalah there are two worlds where souls can come from. A "Masculine" world and a "Feminine" world. The Lubavitcher Rebbe Z"L explains that that

the way of a soul from the "masculine side" is to transform the world by being pro-active and outgoing, while the path of the soul from the "feminine side" is to accept the world as it is, trying to live properly according to Torah, but without trying to influence the world.

So when the Kabbala uses those terms it does so as a metaphor to explain a concept not to indicate gender.

Note when explaining Michal the daughter of Shaul the holy Ari says that she had a

נשמה מעלמא דדכורא

loosely translated as "She had a soul from the world of the masculine (side)" Not that her soul was of the male gender.

I encourage you to read the whole article from the Chabad website - Female and Male Souls

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    I don't see a distinction between saying a soul has a gender and saying the soul has masculine qualities or feminine qualities (especially on a question that has gender identity in it, so it already understands we aren't being literal about reproductive organs).
    – Yishai
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 15:52
  • I understood the question as "are there boy souls and girl souls ?" which there are not. Souls have no gender. They are neither male or female although they can have the male/female traits as described by the rebbe. Perhaps the person who asked the question will give us a better idea of what he meant ? I would gladly erase my answer if I misunderstood the question.
    – eramm
    Commented Aug 14, 2014 at 16:29
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the shemonei shearim shaar gilgulim (forget exact place) says that if a male soul is reincarnated in a female body, as sometimes happens, then that female cannot have a male child - only female children, as the verse says in parsha tazria "when a woman conceives and bears a male child", and that woman is really a man in a female body.

I think he says there that male soul are from adam while female souls are from chava.

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