Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Ezekiel 16:17

let not be erased let it not be erased. And because it is a feminine gender, he placed a ‘yud’ therein. This too is superfluous, as the ‘yud’ of (Ezekiel 16:17) “And you played the harlot (וַתִּזְנִי) with them.”

"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.