Quotation for Genesis 1:27
וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
For the Perplexed of the Generation
The fact that man is created “in the image of God” is the basis of the Torah. The main character of “the image", is the complete freedom that we find in man by virtue of which he possess free will. And if there were no free will, there would be no place for Torah, as Maimonides writes in The Laws of Repentance. If so, then free will is the basis of the Torah from a practical perspective. If so, then the knowledge that man is "made in the image of God" comes to teach; that the complete perfect freedom will must exist in the true and perfect Being, may His name be blessed (Hashem), This is the intellectual basis of the entire Torah upon which all actions rest.
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