GEN534 The foundation for loving your fellow man is in the pasuk [Scriptural verse - AJL] that when describing the generations of the human race it is written [this verse]. Ben Azzai said that this is even a greater principle than that of loving your fellow Jew.  Talmud, Yerushalmi 9:4 (sic)  Some explain that Ben Azzai said this is even a greater principle because it includes non-Jews as well (although you do not have to love them like yourself). The extent to which a non-Jew is created in the Image of God is the subject of much debate … [See Mishnah in Avos 3:14 Rabbi Akiva said the human being is dear because he was created in the Image (of God) … Yisrael is especially dear because they are called children of God … Tosafos Yom Tov understood from Rashi’s commentary that a non-Jew is created in the Image of God. He added that since they do not keep their seven commandments, they are not considered created in the Image of God, but in “The Image.” Maharal of Prague (who was the mentor of Tosafos Yom Tov) writes (in Netzach Yisrael ch. 11; Gevuros 67; Be’er HaGolah 6; Ner Mitzvah 10b) that the Image of God in which the non-Jew is created is overtaken by the physical body of the person, but that of the Jew remains spiritual. On the other hand, in the Zohar (3:104b) it says that a non-Jews is not created in the Image of God, and this opinion is also cited in Midrash Shmuel on Avos (3:14). Midrash Shnuel also cites R’ Chaim Vital that only the very righteous non-Jews are created in the Image of God. ] CASTLE 1066-7

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GEN536 When a person returns to Heaven, he is … asked if he placed his fellow Jew like a king over himself, or did he push and shove his way through life, taking out the Schulchan Aruch [Code of Jewish Law – AJL] and showing everyone that he has the right, that he comes first. Although it does not say in the Torah that you should love your friend more than yourself, and it does indicate that you come first, the willingness to waive that right might be included in Ben Azzai’s rule of [this verse]. This teaches you to honor your fellow for the reason that he is created in the image of Hashem. This dimension recognizes no limits, and should even cause you to sometimes place him first. When to place him first is an issue that should be determined by a combination of common sense and good character. One of the best times to place his interests before your own is when his need is greater than ours. This obviously cannot and should not always be the case, but sometimes we are supposed to act like that. If we never act like that, but choose to exclusively think of ourselves first, the world will become an awful place. Although you are not actually obliged to spend even one dollar to save your fellow’s millions, it is certainly the right thing to do, and it is a fulfillment of loving your fellow like yourself, even though you are not obliged to do it. There are certain exceptions to this rule, and sometimes you are absolutely obliged to perform a chesed. Bikur cholim, visiting the sick, and burying the dead are some of those exceptions. [The Gemara in Bava Metzia 30b learns from the verse in (Exodus 18:10): “And you shall inform them of the way in which they shall go in.” The word “they shall go” includes bikur cholim, and the word “in” includes burying the dead. The Gemara asks that these are already included in doing chesed which was learned from the words “of the way.”) The Gemara answers that bikur cholim includes even a person who is Ben Gilo (same age and mazel) which will cause him to take away and contract one sixtieth of the illness from him. Burying the dead includes that even a talmid chacham is obligated to bury the dead at the expense of the honor of his Torah. These are obligations that surpass the parameters of the general obligation to do chesed.]  CASTLE 77-8

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GEN533 See [[GEN124]] Genesis 1:27 likeness DORFFDRAG 5-6

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GEN532 See [[GEN97]] Genesis 1:27 image DORFFWITO 114-5

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GEN535 Those moderns who deny Buber’s “accountability to the Eternal Thou” or who refuse to acknowledge a transcendent source of “the good” must still grope for the ultimate foundation of their value system.  Why, for example, is it wrong to demean, degrade, or exploit another person?  Should man’s increasing dominion over the earth make it technically possible to breed a race of docile imbeciles—why would it be wrong to do so? To answer this question in its ontological depth, is to imply that there is an order of creation which man should not violate.  At the heart of this order is “the sacredness of the human personality” or what ben Azzai called the most important sentence in the Torah: “This is the Book of the generations of man. In the image of God created He him.”  [this verse].  To explore the foundations of ethics is to point toward if not explicitly to affirm the God who is the “Giver of Torah.”  FOJE xxiv-v

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GEN537 Ben Azai considered this verse to be the all-encompassing principle of Torah, in that the essence of how man should behave to his fellowman is that man is created in God’s image.  Genesis Rabbah 24:7 AMEMEI 113

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GEN539 Just as you were created in the image of God with some Godliness inside of you, so too was every other person.  Based on this verse, Genesis Rabbah 24:7 says that even if you feel that others have put you down and therefore you feel you have the right to also put others down, you may not do so.  Since everyone has some Godliness inside, not only is this not the correct manner in which to behave, but by doing so, you are also putting down God Himself in the process.  AMJV 293

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GEN540 Rabbi Akiva taught: “Love your neighbor as yourself” Leviticus 19:18: this is a great principle in the Torah.  Therefore, do not say: “Since I was demeaned [/dishonored], let my fellow be demeaned [/dishonored] as well, since I was cursed let me fellow be cursed as well.”  Rabbi Tanhuma said: If you do this, know Whom you are demeaning, [since] “In the image of God He made him” Genesis Rabbah 24:7, elaborating on Genesis 5:1. (By Uzi Weingarten and the Editors) DORFF-RUTTENBERGSOC 38

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GEN544 The Jewish Response to Discrimination. I don't think classical Jewish sources ever confronted a problem like the modern issue of discrimination, but that doesn't mean that Jewish values don't inform my own ideal of a just society. That society is one that does not allow for discrimination.  The following midrash from Genesis Rabbah 24 serves as one of the foundations for the idea of kavod ha-beriyot: “Ben Azzai says: ‘This is the record of Adam’s line’ (Genesis 5:1) is the foremost principle in the Torah. R. Akiva says: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18), this is the greatest principle of the Torah.  You should not say: Because I have been dishonored, let my fellow man be dishonored along with me…R. Tanhuma explained: If you do so, know whom you are dishonoring—‘God make him in the likeness of God’ (Genesis 5:1).” The Rabbis in this midrash do not disagree that humans have an obligation to each other.  What is in question here is why we have that obligation. Is it because we have shared parentage, all descending from Adam and Eve? Is it because we must treat each other as we hope to be treated? Or is it because dishonoring another person dishonors God, as we are all created in God’s image? In this midrash, kavod ha-beriyot, respect for human dignity, becomes the foremost principle of the Torah, meaning that all people have an obligation to treat each other with respect. Neglecting these values enables us to convince ourselves, consciously or unconsciously, that some people are less deserving than others of equal protection under the law and of being treated with common decency.  As Jews, kavod ha-beriyot can’t just be a textual value, left to some rabbis to debate on a forgotten page.  It must be a lived value. I am sure that many of us know the pain of being seen through the lens of a stereotype, and of being told that it would be better if we developed a thicker skin when we get offended by those stereotypes. But I don't think God envisioned human beings creating a world where we cause each other such pain. However, although those of us involved in Jewish social justice work often invoke the principle of tikkun olam, which means repairing or perfecting the world, we don't often say what we hope a better world will look like. For me, it is a given that we must work toward a world like the one envisioned so eloquently in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights--one in which the dignity and equality of every person is recognized. If we each live a life guided by kavod ha-beriyot [respect for God’s creatures—AJL], we will help repair the world. (By Rachel Kahn-Troster) DORFF-RUTTENBERGSOC 60-1

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GEN541 See [[GEN49]] Genesis 1:26 image DORFFLOV 22

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