Cytowanie Komentarza do Samuela I 6:5

Amends for guilt plead for the fools For they sin and have to give money to the one against whom they sinned. And their amends, which they bring him with their money, will plead for them, like the Philistines, as it is stated (I Sam. 6:4f.): “five hemorrhoids of gold, etc. and you shall give honor to the God of Israel. Perhaps He will lighten His hand from upon you.”

בצלמנו כדמותנו, according to the interpretation of my father of blessed memory, the meaning of the word בצלמנו applies both to a physical likeness as well as to a spiritual likeness, the ending נו not applying to two different subjects, “our,” but applying to two different parts of the same subject. It matches the prefix נ in the word נעשה. If we understand the word נעשה as applying to the angels, we must treat the words צלם and דמות as referring to spiritual attributes only, the meaning being that man would be endowed with parts of the spiritual attributes known as צלם and דמות respectively. The expressions צלם and דמות respectively, are sometimes applied to something physical and on other occasions applied to something abstract, spiritual. The word צלם is an attribute sometimes applied to a physical entity, such as in Samuel I 6,5 צלמי טחוריכם, “images of your hemorrhoids,” or in Numbers 33,52 צלמי מסכותם, “their molten images.” The same expression is also used to describe something spiritual, as in verse 27 of our chapter here.
The same is true of the word דמות as for instance, in Song of Songs 7,8 קומתך דומה לתמר, “your posture resembles that of a date palm,” or Ezekiel 1,13 ודמות החיות, “and the appearance of the chayot,” (a category of angels shown to the prophet in this vision). The same word is also used to describe physical appearances such as in Ezekiel 32,2 כפיר גוים נדמית “you were compared to a young lion;” or in Psalms 102,7 דמיתי לקאת מדבר, “I am like a great owl in the desert.”
The word נעשה is justified seeing that these attributes are means employed by G’d. The letter ב which serves as a prefix to צלמנו, is to be understood as a “helper,” meaning “equipped with our attribute צלם, i.e. our intelligence, we shall produce a creature whom we will endow with portions of these attributes of ours.” We will do this although, essentially, man is of the earth, to wit his name אדם. Alternately, it is possible to understand the prefix ב in the word בצלמנו as a letter that describes that something is equipped with an attribute. G’d would be saying that this new creature called אדם, man, shall be equipped with the attribute known as צלם.

"In our image" (tsalmeinu): The form of the body and its build is not called tselem but rather toar or tavnit (as Rambam said in the Guide for the Perplexed 1:1). Since they would say yafat toar (nice appearance), not yafat tselem. And to indicate the construction of the parts of a body, they would say, "the tavnit of the tabernacle and the tavnit of all its vessels" (Exodus 25:9). Rather, they would call tselem anything that is made to resemble something else, like a drawing on paper made to resemble a specific person; and so [too] any statue or mask made to resemble a certain body. As it is written (I Samuel 6:5), "the resemblances of (tsalmei) your hemorrhoids and the resemblances of (tsalmei) your mice;" and (Ezekiel 16:17) "and you made resemblances of (tsalmei) males;" and (Ezekiel 23:14) "resemblances of (tsalmei) Chaldeans, inscribed with vermilion." And the word, tselem is derived from tsel (shadow) (and like Bochart also wrote), since a shadow depicts a form which resembles a body. And from it did men learn to begin the art of drawing. And also in Aramaic, they say a 'golden tslam' [to mean a golden statue] and the like; and the intention is always about something that is made to resemble something else. Only once do we find - in Daniel 3:19, "and the appearance (tselem) of his face changed" - [that it refers] to the appearance of a living person, and it is a borrowed expression [there] and not precise. And behold, man is a resemblance of God; meaning that from a certain angle, he resembles the Power that is Master of all the powers. And ostensibly, the letter bet (designating in or according to) in the word betsalmeinu is difficult according to my explanation - and so [too] (Genesis 9:6), "since betselem (in the image/resemblance) of God did He make man." Since according to my explanation, man himself is the resemblance of God, and not [just created to be] in the image of God. However, it is fitting to know that we have found this in a few places - an additional bet in a word that [simply] indicates that it is the predicate of a statement (praedicatum). For example, "since it is be evil" (Exodus 32:22); "Behold, the Lord will come be strength" (Isaiah 40:10); "He is be one" (Job 23:13); "be the Lord is His name" (Pslams 68:5). And this [type of] bet is frequently used in Arabic. And it appears that the expression, be evil, be strength, be one [all] mainly indicates [that it is] as if you would say a certain person has the characteristic that is called evil, strength or [oneness]. Here too, [it is understood as] "let Us make man [to have] the quality which would justify it being called, resemblance of God." And behold, the word, betsalmeinu, and the expression, tselem Elohim (image of God), are not a proof that the Torah teaches that God has a human form (Antropomorphismus). And we cannot deny that some of our forbears attributed a build like the build of a man to God, and so did they say in the blessing for grooms (Ketuvot 8a), "Who formed man in His resemblance, in the resemblance of the image of tavnito (His build)." And tavnit is certainly a name that refers to the structure of the parts of a body. And nonetheless, our forbears did not believe that God and the angels had a body and a hull like us. And Rashi explicitly wrote (Makkot 12a, s.v. chamuts begadim) that angels are not flesh and blood. But the truth of the matter is that a completely incorporeal simple intellect that has no form - no breadth and width and height whatsoever - is something that is impossible for a person to imagine and [hence] it will not be [internalized by him.] And if the philosophers speak about Him, at the end of the day, they can only describe Him negatively (what He is not), not positively (what He is). And the Torah was given to the whole people, and the people need to be able to imagine their God with a positive description, not just a negative description. And behold, [therefore] our forbears would attribute to God and to the angels and to souls, a finer spiritual substance than any body known to us, and nonetheless, [that substance] has a form and a build. And see the book Malakhet Machshevet, Parshat Shelach Lecha.