GEN49 Exactly which feature of the human being reflects this divine image is a matter of debate within the tradition. The Torah itself seems to tie it to humanity’s ability to make moral judgments—that is, to distinguish good from bad and right from wrong, to behave accordingly, and to judge one’s own actions and those of others on the basis of this moral knowledge. [this and following verse; also see Genesis 5:1] Another human faculty connected by the Torah and by the later tradition to divinity is the ability to speak. Genesis 2:18-24; Numbers 12:1-16; Deuteronomy 22:13-19 Maimonides claims that the divine image resides in our capacity to think, especially discursively.  Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed, part 1, chap. 1. Locating the divine image within us may also be the Torah’s way of acknowledging that we can love, just as God does, Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, 33-34 or that we are at least partially spiritual and thus share God’s spiritual nature.  Not only does this doctrine describe aspects of our nature but it also prescribes behavior founded on moral imperatives.  Specifically, because human beings are created in God’s image, we affront God when we insult another person. Genesis Rabbah 24:7 More broadly, we must treat people with respect, recognizing each individual’s uniqueness and divine worth, because all human beings embody the image of God. M. Sanhedrin 4:5 Perhaps the most graphic articulation of this doctrine is the traditional blessing: “Praised are you, Lord our God, meshaneh ha-briyyot, who makes different creatures,” or “who created us with differences.” Precisely when we might recoil from a deformed or incapacitated person, or thank God for not making us like that, the tradition instead bids us to embrace the divine image in such people—Indeed, to bless God for creating some of us so.  Moreover, the Torah demands that the body of a person who was executed for a capital crime be removed from the place of hanging by morning out of respect for the divine image inherent in even such a human being. Deuteronomy 21:22-23  Ultimately, disrespect of others amounts to disrespect of God: “Rabbi Akiva said: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ Leviticus 19:18 [implies that] you should not say that inasmuch as I am despised, let my fellow-man be despised with me, inasmuch as I am cursed, let my fellow-man be cursed with me. Rabbi Tanchuma said: ‘If you act in this manner, know Who it is you despise, for “in the image of God made He man” Genesis 1:27. Genesis Rabbah 24:7 DORFFLOV 22