GEN123 You, the person reading these words, are precious.  Your worth is not rooted in your wealth, physical attractiveness, or status in society, but derives from the fact that you, like every other human being, are created in God’s image.  During moments of self-doubt or even self-loathing, which almost all of us experience, remember the divine image inside you, and that God loves you: “Humans are beloved for they were created in the image of God. An extra measure of love is shown them by [God’s] making it known to them that they are created in God’s image” (The Ethics of the Fathers 3:14). A well-known passage in the Mishnah notes that, by originally populating the world with only one person, Adam, God intended to teach that each life is of infinite value: “Therefore was Adam created singly to teach us that he who saves one life it is as if he saved an entire world, and he who destroys one life it is as if he destroyed an entire world.” The Mishnah goes on to teach that each person, as Adam’s direct descendant, should say, “For my sake was the world created” Sanhedrin 4:5.  There is always some special mission for you, something in this world that only you can accomplish.  TELVOL 1:239-40

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GEN94 Once we appreciate that all human beings are created in God’s image, it is evident that a negative generalization about another religious or ethnic group, or displaying disrespect toward those who are not of our faith, is also an offence against God.  Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, the sixteenth-century kabbalist, explains: “This may be likened to an expert goldsmith who fashions a vessel with great skill, but when he displays his work, one of the people begins to mock and scorn it. How angry that goldsmith will be; for by disparaging his handiwork, one disparages his wisdom.  Similarly it is evil in the sight of the Holy One, blessed be He, if any of His creatures is despised” (The Palm Tree of Dvorah [Tomer Dvorah], chapter 2). Therefore, it is wrong for Jews to use terms such as shaygetz or shiksa (meaning, literally, “an abomination”) when referring to a non-Jewish man or woman. Although very few Jews are aware of just how ugly this word is, people should realize that if they are speaking in English and refer to another group in a foreign language, the word they use is probably not a term of endearment.  TELVOL 2:286-7

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GEN124 Loving, compassionate behavior extends to all humanity, and grows out of the biblical teaching that every human being, both Jew and Gentile, is created in God’s image.  (See also Leviticus 19:34) As the biblical prophet teaches: “Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Malachi 2:10. Justice and tolerance, the virtues that demand from us fairness and respect, are also based on the love we should feel for those, like ourselves, created in the image of God.  TELVOL 2:1

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GEN125 Jewish tradition places strong emphasis on the worth of the individual.  Human worth derives first from being created in God’s image, a concept that the Torah repeats three times in the opening chapters of Genesis to ensure that we take note of it [this verse, Genesis 5:1-2, Genesis 9:6]. As this [third] indicates, the divine image in each of us is not only a philosophical conception but also justifies and explains specific laws. The most obvious, the one in Genesis 9, is that murder is to be banned because human beings have divine worth. Even murderers, though, are created in the divine image, as are others guilty of a capital offense. The Torah, therefore, prescribes that after we execute such people for their crimes, we must honor the divinity of their bodies (and the holiness of the Land of Israel) by burying them quickly Deuteronomy 21:22-23.  The Rabbis [of the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash] took this further. That we were created in God’s image is a manifestation of God’s love for us; our awareness of the divine image within us as mark of yet more divine love Genesis 9:6. DORFFDRAG 5-6

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GEN127 It is a mitzvah for every Jew to love every fellow Jew as he loves himself, as the Torah states [Leviticus 19:18], You shall love your fellow as yourself.  Rambam, Hilchos Dei’os 6:3  Rabbi Akiva taught that this is the principle upon which the mitzvos of the Torah are based. Ben Azzai elaborated, quoting the verse regarding the creation of man [this verse], in the likeness of Hashem he was created. Thus, when we view another person we are viewing the likeness of the Creator. The Jewish people, who committed themselves to enter a permanent covenant with Hashem to follow His ways, are considered children of Hashem.  This is how we must perceive every other Jew. Furthermore, since we all have one “Father,” we are all “related,” which breeds natural closeness and feelings of affinity. Toras Kohamim, Parshas Kedoshim 4:12; Raavad, Rabbeinu Hillel (cf. Rashi, Shabbas 31a, s.v. de’aluch). See also Avos D’Rabbi Nosson 16:5, Devarim 14:1. EHRMAN 3

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GEN126 ETHICS OF MONOTHEISM. It must be borne in mind that Jews worship no abstract “First Cause”.  To the Jew God is a reality, with whom there is personal relationship which inspires righteous and holy conduct. The insistence with which His Unity, as well as His Incorporeality and Holiness are stressed, is due to the protest made by Judaism against the immoral practices which early contemporary religions associated with their local deities. What is now, more or less, accepted as theological doctrine was revolutionary when Judaism first proclaimed that there is only one God who is always approachable and nigh until those who call upon Him in truth, who is at all times “a gracious and merciful God” desiring nothing more than their happiness.  To provide a further link between man and his Maker, man is described in the story of Creation as formed in the divine likeness. [this verse]  Accordingly, our earthly life must be modeled on the heavenly pattern set out in the Bible. The Jew is asked to do what the Rabbis daringly, if poetically, picture God as doing in His ethereal abode. There He is pictured as wearing Tephillin, Berachot 6a; as donning the Tallit, Rosh Hashana 17b, as studying the Torah for three hours daily, besides praying for the welfare of all on earth. Avodah Zara 3b. God weeps over the short-sightedness of his children in eschewing the good and choosing the evil. Haggigah 5b. He was present at the marriage ceremony of Adam and Eve; Berachot 61a; He visits the sick, consoles the mourner and assists at the burial of the dead. Genesis Rabbah 8:13. In short, each good deed that man is asked to do is to ascend another rung on the ladder of perfection he is asked to scale if he is to reach heavenly heights.  LEHRMAN 146-7

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GEN129 Although [this verse] could be read to mean that God created humankind to be both male and female from the beginning, the Rabbis, reading the number and gender of the nouns and pronouns literally, suggest that God first created one person who was androgynous.  The second chapter of Genesis, however, asserts that God first created a male human being from the dust, and then created a female from the man’s side in order to be his helpmate.  This second account, and the Garden of Eden story that follow in chapter three, assert that man is first in the order of Creation and is designed/meant to reign over woman.  So even the opening chapters of Genesis give us conflicting understandings of human gender and of the proper relationship.  DORFFBOD xiv-xv

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GEN131 Procreation is a requirement of Jewish law. To deny procreation is to deny creation.  Celibacy affirms the limitations of the body, the status quo.  Procreation assumes that no body is complete or whole. To realize our bodily nature, a complementary other is needed. See, e.g. Yevamot 63a, “A man who has no wife is no proper man for it is said, [this verse].  Adam equals the human.  Only when male and female are united are they called Adam.”  HTBAJ 154

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GEN130 Ethics in Family Life.  The basis of Jewish social life being the family, Judaism has exercised a ceaseless vigil over its purity and stability. The relation between the sexes is based upon the ideal of tohorat ha’mishpachat, that is, upon chastity and purity which border on holiness.  The Jew does not regard woman as his inferior but as his co-partner. The sole reason why she is exempt from certain precepts, the fulfillment of which is circumscribed by the occasion, is the fact that male and female have been cast into different physiques, making it biologically necessary for a division of labour between man and woman. It was never intended that the sphere of the home, delegated to the wisdom and tenderness of the wife and mother, should be considered as secondary to the study of the Torah or to the pursuit of a livelihood, occupations set aside for the programme of men.  The Bible knows no such distinction, for “male and female He created them”. [this verse] LEHRMAN 237

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GEN128 A man fulfills his duty to procreate, according to Jewish law, when he produces one boy and one girl Mishnah Yevamot 6:6 (61b); Laws of Marriage 15:4; Shulchan Aruch Even Ha-Ezer 1:5, thus imitating the way that God created humans “male and female.” Because the Jewish tradition sees children as a great blessing, however, men were supposed to try to have as many children as possible, in fulfillment of two biblical verses---“God did not create it [the earth] a waste, but formed it for habitation” [Ecclesiastes 11:6] and “Sow your seed in the morning [that is, in your youth], and do not hold back your hand in the evening [that is, in later years].” [Isaiah 45:18]. Yevamot 62b and Mishneh Torah, Laws of Marriage [Ishut] 15:16 encourage as many children as possible on the basis of Isaiah 45:18 and Ecclesiastes 11:6]. (By Elliot N. Dorff) OXFORD 314

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