LEV395 The midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 24:7) says that each time you embarrass another human being you also diminish God Himself, the creator of that human being, who is created in God's image (Gen. 1:27). … the first commandment in [this verse] is "You shall not curse a deaf person." Here, it is difficult to understand what kind of harm can come to a deaf person who is cursed since he or she will not hear, and no one will know or get hurt by this curse. But if the reason is viewed in the context of the midrash referred to earlier, it can be perfectly understood. While the deaf person is not being harmed through the curse, the creator of that deaf person, God, is certainly diminished through the curse. By the same reasoning, Jewish law states that a person may not curse himself or herself (Mishnah, Shevuot 4:13). On the surface one may question why this should be prohibited. It is easily understandable that one may not make others feel bad, but why are you not allowed to harm yourself? Since you, too, are a creation of God, He is still diminished if you curse yourself. Even if you do not personally mind, God, your Creator, minds. For the same reason, a person may not cause harm to his or her body (Maimonides, Hilchot Rotze'ach 1:4). It really belongs to God, not to the person, and even if the person does not mind, God does mind. This reasoning, that embarrassing or hurting an individual is prohibited because it also hurts God as Creator, in no way minimizes the other reason for this prohibition--that it also causes pain to the other person.