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GENESIS | 9:6 image — GEN713 The divine image relates not only to the w...

GEN713 The divine image relates not only to the will, soul and intellect, but to the body as well. The body is a mirror reflecting the image of God, as well as a receptacle that embodies the divine likeness: “A parable: there were two twin brothers who lived in a certain city. One was elected king while the other became a thief.  At the king’s command, the thief was hanged.  But all who saw the thief handing on the gallows said, “The king is hanged.’” Sanhedrin 46b.  Commenting on the biblical phrase, “in the image of God, God created human beings,” a midrash tells (Leviticus Rabbah, chap. 34, sec. 3): Hillel the Elder once completed his studies with his disciples who accompanied him from the academy.  His disciples asked him, “Master, where are you going?” “To perform a religious duty,” he responded.  “Which religious duty?” “To wash in the bathhouse,” said Hillel.  “Is this a religious duty?” “Yes,” replied Hillel.  “If the statues of kings, which are erected in theatres and circuses, are scoured and washed by the person appointed to look after them, and who thereby obtains his maintenance through them … how much more I, who have been created in the image and likeness of God, for as it is written, ‘for in the image of God, God made human beings’?” [this verse].  As these texts plainly observe, the human body is portrayed as having been created in the divine “image and likeness.”  SHER20C 13

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Verse9:6
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