GEN87 By doing acts of chesed (the term denoting all forms of assisting others) you emulate God.  The Chofetz Chayim cites commentators who explain that “image of God” means man has the ability to emulate God, who bestows kindness on people.  Someone who performs a kind act reflects God’s attributes.  Someone who thinks to himself, “Why should I help others?” completely alienates himself from Godliness.  The very survival of humanity is dependent on chesed.  Every person, without exception, needs the help of his fellow man as anyone who has given the matter thought realizes. For example: 1.People, even the very wealthy, sometimes need to borrow money. 2. A person may need others to help him gain a source of income. 3. When a person celebrates a joyous occasion, such as a wedding or bris, he needs people to rejoice with him, for a man who is alone cannot experience complete happiness. 4. When a person is sad, he needs people to comfort him and cheer him. 5. When a person has a heavy load, he needs people to help him. 6. When a person travels to another town, he needs people to invite him to their homes. 7. When a person is ill, he needs people to visit him and give him care. 8. Even after a person dies, he is still dependent on the kindness of others to bury him. [Illustrative anecdotes provided, including citations to Ahavat Chesed, part 2, ch. 2; Micah 6:8; Yorah Daiah 246:18; Chayai Hamussar, vol. 2, p. 218; Pele Yoatz, sections chesed and derech Eretz].  PLYN 20-23

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GEN91 In all encounters with other people, remember that you are dealing with a being who was created in the image of God. Rabbi Akiva said, “The verse, ‘Love your fellow man as yourself’ Leviticus 19:18 is a great principle of the Torah.” Ben Azai said, “The verse, ‘When God created man He created him in His image’ Genesis 5:1 is an even greater principle.” (Jerusalem Talmud Nedorim 9:4).  Love of one’s fellow man which is not motivated and nourished by the realization that man was created in God’s image, is doomed to failure.  Without this realization, why should a person feel obligated to love his fellow man? Man in the universe is so miniscule, he can be considered of minor importance. What, after all, is man, but one of several billion inhabitants on a planet which is only a speck of matter in a vastness of space that extends for billions of light-years.  The individual is lost in immensity beyond imagination.  And man himself is merely a mass of bones, nerves, muscles and blood that happens to function in an orderly fashion.  Is he worthy of more consideration than an animal or insect? But when we realize that man alone is fashioned in the image of the Creator of heaven and earth, he is suddenly transformed from an inconsequential and insignificant being into one that is without parallel.  Although seemingly miniscule, he is the pinnacle of creation.  This is what Ben Azai meant when he said that man’s being created in the image of God is an even greater principle than “love your fellow man.”  Man was created in God’s image and must be respected accordingly.  PLYN 19-20

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GEN84 [This verse and Genesis 1:26 are] not so much a metaphysical statement about the nature of the human person as it is a political protest against the very basis of hierarchical, class-or caste-based societies, whether in ancient or modern times.  That is what makes it the most incendiary idea in the Torah.  In some fundamental sense we are all equal in dignity and ultimate worth, for we are all in God’s image regardless of colour, culture, or creed. A similar idea appears later in the Torah, in relation to the Jewish people, when G–d invites them to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. All nations in the ancient world had priests, but none was “a kingdom of priests” Exodus 19:6.  All religions have holy individuals—but none claim that every one of their members is holy. This too took time to materialize. During the entire biblical era there were hierarchies. There were priests and high priest, a holy elite. But after the destruction of the Second Temple, every prayer became a sacrifice, every leader of prayer a priest, and every synagogue a fragment of the Temple.  A profound egalitarianism is at work just below the surface of the Torah, and the rabbis knew and lived it.  SACKS 5-6

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GEN120 The idea set forth [in this and the preceding verse] is perhaps the most transformative in the entire history of moral and political thought. It is the basis of the civilization of the West with its unique emphasis on the individual and on equality. It lies behind Thomas Jefferson’s words in the American Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal [and] are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” These truths are anything but self-evident. They would have been regarded as absurd by Plato, who held that society should be based on the myth that humans are divided into people of gold, silver, and bronze and it is this that determines their status in society. Aristotle believed that some are born to rule and others to be ruled. Revolutionary utterances do not work their magic overnight. As Rambam (Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, or Maimonides; 1135 – 1204) explained in The Guide for the Perplexed, it takes people a long time to change. The Torah functions in the medium of time. It did not abolish slavery, but it set in motion a series of developments--most notably Shabbat, when all hierarchies of power are suspended and slaves had a day a week of freedom--that were bound to lead to its abolition in the course of time. People are slow to understand the implications of ideas. Thomas Jefferson, champion of equality, was a slave owner. Slavery was not abolished in the United States until the 1860s and not without a Civil War. And as Abraham Lincoln pointed out, slavery’s defenders as well as its critics cited the Bible when discussing their cause. But eventually people change, and they do so because of the power of ideas, planted long ago in the Western mind.  SACKS 3-4

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GEN82 (Continued from [[EXOD208]] Exodus 15:2 adorn SPERO 86). It should be pointed out, however, that the essential sources of [the rabbinic teaching imitation dei] are not the commands to “walk in God’s ways” but rather the existential premises in the Bible concerning the nature of man that have already been treated: Man is created in the image of God. If we examine the relevant biblical passages, we find there the occurrence of two terms: “image” (tzelem) and “likeness” (demut). The passage reads: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” [this verse]. The rabbis saw the terms “image” as referring to a fixed universal component which confers irreducible value upon man, while the terms ‘likeness” refers to his destiny rather than to his origin, to a state to be achieved rather than to something already possessed. The rabbinic interpretation is to the effect that while God creates man in His "image,” the “likeness,” which is the process of becoming like, lies in the hand of man. Man can achieve this by walking in the ways of God, by clothing the naked and visiting the sick, by being merciful and kind.  Pesikta Rabbati 46b, Genesis Rabbah 49:29, Yalkut Reuveni on this verse  SPERO 86-7

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GEN117 See [[GEN161]] Genesis 1:28 rule SPERO 75-6

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GEN121 The term kavod seems to be used in the Torah to signify different things. Sometimes, particularly in connection with God, kavod, translated as “majesty” or “glory,” seems to refer to the outward manifestations or visible expressed effulgence associated with Divinity. Examples of this use are such passages as “The kavod of Thy kingdom” and “the entire earth is filled with His kavod.” Yet even in this usage, the word kavod does not simply refer to some sort of “light” or celestial clouds.  To perceive the kavod of the Lord is certainly to experience inwardly some appreciation of that which is the distinctive essence of God insofar as it is given to man to experience. Therefore, when used in connection with man, as in the rabbinic phrase, kavod ha-beriyot, it naturally slides into meaning “worth” or “value” or “dignity,” which is tied in to man’s individuality or selfhood and equated with his inner personality. In many passages in the Book of Psalms, the word kavod refers to man’s self or soul.  Genesis 49:6; Psalms 16:9, 30:13, 7:1, 13:10  As such, man’s kavod, or dignity, comes to mean his intrinsic value, not as a means to an end but as something absolute in and of himself. But in Judaism man is so endowed because he was created “in the image God,” which according to Nachmanides means “as it is written, ‘… and thou has crowned him with kavod and glory’” which refers to man’s intelligent, wise and resourceful station. See his comments on Genesis 1:26. Man’s dignity is therefore to be equated with his freedom, his creativity, his responsibility and his self-consciousness. Kavod is indeed something that is felt subjectively by man within himself. SPERO 162-3

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GEN83 [One of the sources of humility] is the awareness that every human being with whom we interact is created in God’s image, and therefore as valuable as we ourselves.  The Talmud records the story of a man who came to Rava, the fourth-century sage, with a most disturbing moral dilemma: The governor of his town had ordered him to murder an innocent person; if he refused to do so, he himself would be put to death.  When the questioner asked Rava whether he was permitted to kill the man in order to save his own life, the rabbi answered, “What reason do you have for assuming your blood is redder [than the other person’s? Perhaps his blood is redder” (Pesachim 25b).  Indeed, by killing another, we may make ourselves less worthy of living than our victim.  Another ramification of this Talmudic teaching: Don’t exploit others, as historically was done through slavery, and as is done today by those who overwork, underpay, or otherwise wrong their employees.  How can one assume that one’s blood is more precious than the blood of those whom one mistreats?  This teaching has implications in far less serious areas than matters of life and death and exploitation.  For example, a humble person will not push ahead of someone else in line.  Rather, he will think, “What gives me the right to assume that my time is more valuable than his?”  TELVOL 1:213-4

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GEN88 Even prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments, the Bible underscores the paramount significance of the ethical.  Thus the Torah’s opening chapter teaches that human beings are created “in the image of God.”  In Jewish thought “in God’s image” is understood as meaning that human beings are like God, and unlike all other living creatures, in that they know good from evil (see, for example, Genesis 3:5, 22).  It is this ability that marks human beings as unique and in God’s image.  TELVOL 1:13

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GEN116 Rabbi Abraham Twerski notes how healthy self-esteem enables a person to heed many important ethical admonitions of the Sages, while low self-esteem discourages one from doing so.  People with a healthy self-image: * are more apt to judge others fairly and favorably, as urged by The Ethics of the Fathers 1:6, because, unlike people with low self-esteem, they do not need to disparage others to raise themselves in their own eyes * have no need to feel superior or in control; thus they show respect and honor to others rather than demanding recognition The Ethics of the Fathers 1:10 “Despise lording it over others” and The Ethics of the Fathers 2:10 “Let your fellow’s honor be as dear to you as your own”) * tend to associate with the wise and avoid the ignorant, because they don’t need to be with people to whom they feel superior The Ethics of the Fathers 1:4 “Let your house be a meeting place for the Sages” * are likelier to welcome constructive criticism. Because they believe they can improve, such peoples are usually not afraid to have their weaknesses pointed out to them Proverbs 19:20 “Listen to advice…in order that you may be wise in the end.” TELVOL 1:240GEN121zz

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