Comentario sobre Génesis 1:27

ויברא אלהים את האדם בצלמו SO GOD CREATED THE MAN IN HIS IMAGE —in the type that was specially made for him, for everything else was created by a creative fiat, whilst he was brought into existence by a creative act (literally, by hand), as it is said (Psalms 139:5) “And Thou hast laid thy hand upon me.” He was made by a seal as a coin that is made by a die that is called in old French coin. It is similarly said, (Job 28:14) “it is changed as clay under the seal” (Sanhedrin 38a).

בצלמו, in the image of man. בצלם אלוקים, in the image of angels. Do not be surprised if the creation of the angels has not been referred to in detail in the whole report of creation. Moses did not set himself the task of describing either the details of the heavens or hell, and their creation. Neither did he indulge in describing what is known as מעשה מרכבה, the structure of G’d’s entourage, some of which has been transmitted to us by the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah, respectively. All that is included in the report of creation that Moses recorded here is the visible universe, that which is subject to perception by our senses, as we explained on verse 1.

בצלם אלוקים, when the word אלוקים appears as a description, i.e. in the nature of an adjective, it refers to creatures who are spiritual in their essence, not just that they possess spiritual potential. Such beings are devoid of such physical matter, are totally disembodied. This is what makes them basically infinite. This is the reason why such an adjective, attribute, is applied to G’d as well as to His angels. The term is also used in connection with judges, i.e. describing the predominating intellectual function they must perform if their decisions are to reflect true justice. Whereas it is an undisputed fact that the human intellect operates without direct dependence on any part of the body, that it does not age along with the remainder of the body it inhabits, but, on the contrary, sometimes improves while the body ages and becomes barely able to sustain the soul which inhabits it, and while it is also a fact that exercise of the intellect does not result in fatigue, etc, it is still not called אלוקים, something divine, but only צלם אלוקים, “something which mirrors something divine.” Until this intellect has acquired חכמה, i.e. a reverence for G’d and love for Him, its Creator, it is completely imperfect. It follows that it is man’s task to perfect his G’d given intelligence by acquiring the knowledge and insights which can be provided only by the study of Torah and by the practice of the laws of the Torah. If man, i.e. religiously atheistic intellectuals, do not use their intellect in the manner G’d meant for them to use it, it actually becomes a negative asset, a hindrance, so that in the end it turns out to be completely vain, as pointed out in Psalms 49,21 אדם ביקר ולא יבין נמשל כבהמות ידמו, “if man does not understand the divine gift his intellect represents he is comparable to the beasts which perish.” This entire lesson is condensed in the two words בצלם אלוקים.

In the resemblance of God did He create him: He repeated the matter to bring attention on this great advantage [given] to man (Netivot Shalom). And an example [of this type of repetition] is (Leviticus 20:10), "And a man who has adultery with a married woman, who has adultery with the wife of his neighbor;" and see below 9:5.

In the image of God: All of nature was included in him. And from the time that it arose in the thought and word [of God] that there should be nature, then the Omnipresent, may He be blessed, was called by the name, God. And since all of nature is included in man, behold, he is in the image of God. But this is not [the case] except in the man of stature, as [Adam] was before the sin. Afterwards Male and female, He created them: The verse here is not coming to explain about this species that it was more male and female than any of the [other] creatures, but rather to teach us that they are two [separate] creatures like is explained later. And because the male of this species is not at all similar in his character to the female of this species, and as was stated by Kohelet (Ecclesiastes 7:28), "One man out of a thousand I have found, and one woman, etc.," meaning that a man of stature, similar to his Creator, with the image of God, is found one in a thousand. Which is not the case, with women, who only fit the second description of man who is called man.

Haadam (man): [has the same] letters [as] adamah (earth), since he was created from the earth. Adam is the acronym of efer, dam, marah (ash, blood, bile).

And God created man in His/his image: The explanation of "in his image" is that which is perceivable in man, and the intention is that He created his form and also his image, and afterwards, it states, "in the image of God;" by which it informs us that the image that He created him with is the image of God.

ויברא אלוקים את האדם בצלמו, the expression ברא, i.e. a totally new creation, refers only to man’s soul, as indicated by the word בצלמו, in G’d’s image, something that had not yet been created. The Torah wanted to draw a line of distinction between the construction of man’s body and that of his soul. When describing the construction of man’s body, (chapter 2 verse 7), the wording is וייצר אלוקים את האדם עפר מן האדמה, “G’d fashioned man from dust of the earth, etc;” the expression יצר is not one that can be applied to something abstract such as the soul. However, the word עשה, מעשה, is applicable both to bodies and to abstract beings such as souls.
As far as the verse (Zecharayh 12,1) ויוצר רוח אדם בקרבו, “He fashioned man’s spirit inside of him,” is concerned, the prophet referred to an instrument used by the body, something like the heart of the brain. These organs are instruments supporting the power of the spirit. The reason why, at this point the Torah (Moses) did not mention the making of man’s body, is because it is mentioned in the paragraph beginning with the words אלה תולדות השמים והארץ. (Genesis 2,4) In that paragraph some other details are mentioned which have been omitted at this point in order to refer to them in that passage in chapter 2. The whole story mentioned there also belongs to the report of what had transpired during these 6 days of creation.

In the form... Rashi is answering the question: It already said (v. 26), “Let us make man in our image.” Why say here also, “In his image?” (Devek Tov)

ויברא א׳ את האדם בצלמו, dieser wiederholt und wiederholt ausgesprochene Satz, dass die leibliche Hülle des Menschen die eines Gottes würdige und der göttlichen Bestimmung des Menschen entsprechende sei, zeigt, welch einen entschiedenen Wert das göttliche Wort auf die Anerkennung der göttlichen Dignität des menschlichen Leibes legt. In der Tat beruht auch das ganze Gesetz nicht zunächst auf der Heiligung des Geistes, sondern auf der Heiligung des Leibes. dass der menschliche Leib mit allen seinen Trieben, Kräften und Organen göttlich, der göttlichen Bestimmung des Menschen entsprechend gebildet und dieser göttlichen Bestimmung des Menschen ausschließlich heilig und geweiht zu halten sei, darauf beruht alle Sittlichkeit des Menschen, und nichts gräbt der sittlichen Bestimmung des Menschen also das Grab, wie der Wahn, welcher das Wesen des Menschen zerklüftet, nur dem Geiste göttliche Dignität zuerkennt, dem Geiste die Weisung giebt, sich zu allem Höhern zu erheben und denkend und ahnend sich in eine höhere Welt aufzuschwingen, dagegen dem Leibe die zügellose Willkür überweist, sich dem Tiere gleich, ja viel tiefer als das Tier in allem Schmutz der Sinnlichkeit zu ergehen, ja, der höheren und höchsten Genialität der Geistes einen um so größeren Freibrief für die sittliche Entartung des Leibes ausstellt. Nicht so der von Gott gezeichnete Menschenberuf. Die Göttlichhaltung, d. h. die sittliche Heiligung des Leibes ist ihm die Grundlage aller sittlichen Veredlung und die Vorbedingung aller geistigen Größe des Menschen, und je höher die zu erringende geistige Größe, um so ernster die Anforderungen an die Beherrschung und Weihe des Leibes. Mit der den Leib Gott weihenden Mila beginnt der die reine Menschheit wieder aufbauende Gottesbund mit Israel, und eine ganze Reihe göttlicher Bestimmungen haben den ausgesprochenen Zweck, den Leib für die geistige und sittliche Gottähnlichkeit des Menschen rein und fähig zu erzeugen, zu nähren und zu erhalten, auf dass er ׳צלם א bleibe und nicht שקץ ,טמא und תועבה werde.

בצלמו, a metaphor for the angels; do not wonder why the Torah had not spelled out the creation of the angels in the report of G-d’s creative activities; Moses had deliberately refrained from writing down anything about either the domains of heaven or purgatory or about other details such as the heavenly Court, etc.; as the purpose of the written Torah is to acquaint us with phenomena visible in our habitat, as I have already pointed out earlier (verse 2) Another exegesis of the word: בצלמו: it is a reference to G-d Himself; G-d wished to forestall people who would view Him as reflection of their image.[Unfortunately, people have a tendency of describing something unknown to them as in some manner reflecting phenomena with which they are familiar. In other words, they make G-d over in their own image by using their own attributes as the yardsticks by which they “measure” Divinity. Ed.]

בצלם אלהים ברא אותו IN THE IMAGE OF GOD CREATED HE HIM — It explains to you that the form prepared for him was the form of the image of his Creator.

זכר ונקבה ברא אותם, as the Torah will proceed to explain in detail in chapter 2,21 “He took one of Adam’s sides and fashioned Chavah from it.” We are simply faced here with the report of a generalisation first, followed by greater detail This is also what is described as one of the 32 methods by which Torah can be explained in the treatise of Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yossi hagalili, who explained this verse in this fashion.

Male and female did He create them: This is the general [description] and below it explains the details of the creation of the female.

בצלם אלוקים, a reference to an angel. Basically, whether we speak of “the image of G’d,” or of “an angel,” the common denominator is that we speak of disembodied spiritual beings. G’d is distinguished by the fact that none of the other disembodied intelligent beings (angels) amounts to anything at all, seeing none of them can understand their Creator’s essence. This is an axiom, seeing that G’d is the ultimate cause of their existence. He is the Creator, whereas they are merely creatures. This is why Moses added the word אלוקים, when mentioning צלם, to make sure that we get the point that if man is compared to something celestial, he is compared to a creature in the celestial regions, not to the Creator himself.

It also wants to tell [us] that He created man with two images: the first is the image that is recognizable in all men, and even in men that are empty of holiness, 'that they are not from the Children of Israel' - about them it states, "in his image," the explanation [of which] is [the image] of the creature; and the second is the level of the happy ones, the people of Israel, the inheritance of My field - corresponding to those, it states, "in the image of God" He created him. Behold, it comes to teach us that there are two images among the creations; the image that is recognizable [that he is a man] and the image of God, [which is] spiritual and hidden; and understand [this].

זכר ונקבה ברא אותם. Obgleich alle lebendigen Wesen in doppelten Geschlechtern geschaffen waren, wird dies doch nur beim Menschen besonders hervorgehoben, die Wahrheit zu konstatieren, dass beide Geschlechter in gleicher Unmittelbarkeit von Gott und in gleicher Gottesebenbildlichkeit geschaffen seien, eine Parität, die auch durch den Übergang des Singulars in den Plural, אותו in אותם, noch besonders prägnant ausgedrückt ist. Das eine gottebenbildliche Adamwesen steht in zwei Geschlechtern da, die erst beide zusammen den Adambegriff vollständig erschöpfen. — זכר, von זכר, gedenken, verwandt mit סגר ,סכר, der geistige "Bewahrer" der göttlichen und menschlichen Überlieferungen. Das männliche Geschlecht bildet den Fortträger, die Überlieferungskette des Menschengeschlechtes. נקבה, von נקב, ibestimmen, das Bestimmte (wie גנבה ,גזלה von גנב ,גזל); das Weibliche erhält erst im Anschluß an das Männliche und in der Vereinigung mit den Bestrebungen des Mannes die besondere Bestimmung und die besondere Sphäre, innerhalb welcher es seinen Antheil an der Lösung des allgemeinen Menschenberufs zur Erfüllung bringt. Der Mann wählt sich seinen eigenen Beruf, das Weib erhält ihn im Anschluss an den Mann. (Siehe Jeschurun VIII. Seite 529 u. ff.)

בצלם אלוקים, as similar to angels. When angels appear to human beings on earth, as in the case of the three angels that appeared to Avraham before the destruction of Sodom, or the angel that appeared to the wife of Manoach telling her that she would give birth to Shimshon, they had assumed the countenances of human beings. This is also how we must understand the serpent saying to Chavah in Genesis 3,5: והייתם כאלוקים “and you will be like elohim.”Proof that this interpretation is correct can be traced to Bereshit Rabbah 20,4: where it is pointed out that the word אלוקים appears 71 times in the Torah prior to G-d speaking to the serpent in Genesis 3,14. If you were to include the expressions: בצלם אלוקים and והיית כאלוקים, in that count, there would be 73 mentions of the name of G-d instead of 71 as stated in the Midrash. It is clear therefore that here the expression is meant to make a comparison between man and angels. This is also the reason why the Targum (Onkelos) did not translate the word כאלוקים in 3,8 as “you will become like G-d.”Still another exegesis for the expression בצלם אלוקים ברא אותו, “He created man to appear like a judge and person of authority.”Still another exegesis: “as opposed to the other creatures whom G-d created by means of an oral directive; when creating the human species He had first created a mould,” (pattern) i.e. He had taken extra care about every detail. This was already proof of the importance G-d attributed to the creature called .אדם

זכר ונקבה ברא אותם MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM — And further on (Genesis 2:21) it is said: “and He took one of his ribs etc.” (The two passages appear to be contradictory.) But according to a Midrashic explanation, He created him at first with two faces, and afterwards He divided him. But the real sense of the verse is: here it tells you that both of them were created on the sixth day, but it does not explain to you how their creation took place; this it explains to you in another place (Genesis Rabbah 8:1 and see Eruvin 18a) .

זכר ונקבה ברא אותם, in the following paragraph Moses explains how G’d created man as both male and female.

Male (zachar) and female (nekeivah). The word zachar derives from the same root as zeicher — “remembrance.” A male descendant inherits his father’s wealth and continues his estate, thereby preserving his memory. Nekeivah comes from a root meaning “distinction” (see Bamidbar 1:17), reflecting the fact that female offspring separate from their ancestral homes.

זכר ונקבה ברא אותם, “He created them as possessing male and female organs.” This is explained in greater detail in Genesis 2,21, where the physical separation of the female from Adam is described as G-d building up one of Adam’s ribs into a whole new body.