"And G-d said, 'Let us make man in our image in our likeness'…and G-d created man in His image; in the image of G-d He created Him" (Bereishis 1:26-27).
Rambam tells us:
The superior intellect [da'as] found in the nefesh [soul, or perhaps better translated as "essence"] of man is the tzurah [form] of a man who possesses wholeness in his under- standing. With regard to this tzurah the Torah states, "Let us make man in our image in our likeness" — that he have a tzurah that knows and understands abstract concepts that have no physical representation…and knows the Creator of all things. (Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 4:8-9)
Man who has fulfilled his potential and come to comprehend the abstract and even contemplate his Creator is unique and in the image of G-d.
From whence does this tzelem Elokim, the ability to contemplate the Creator, come? "In some passages the plural is used of G-d — 'Let us make man in our image.' Our Sages explain that G-d does nothing without contemplating the host above… These passages do not convey the idea that G-d…consulted and employed the opinion of other beings… They only show that all parts of the universe, even the limbs of animals…are produced through angels, for natural forces and angels are identical" (Moreh Nevuchim II:6).
Man, with his G-dly potential, is created in the same manner as the animals, and his G-dly intellect, the tzelem Elokim, was created in the same way. What does this mean? Rabbi Eliezer (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishis 7:7) interprets the utterance of the sixth day's creation, "Let the earth bring forth the nefesh of living beings according to specific species, cattle, creeping animals, and beasts" (Bereishis 1:24) to include "the spirit [rucho] of Adam HaRishon" (see Peirush HaRamban al HaTorah, Bereishis 1:27). On the one hand, man was created on the same day as the animal, for the act of his creation was like that of the animals. On the other, man differs profoundly from the animals because of the superior understanding he can develop. Only when man has risen to the state of "wholeness in his understanding" is he the image of G-d.
Rambam, in his introduction to Pirkei Avos (Shemonah Perakim, ch. 1), explains that man must not be viewed as a being with animal nefesh onto which human intellect has been superimposed. Were this true, as many commentators feel (see Perush HaRamban al HaTorah, Bereishis 2:7), then man's creation would be viewed as having two parts, the creation of physical man via the rules of nature and the tzelem Elokim via direct contact ("And He breathed into his nostrils…" — Bereishis 2:7), so to speak, with the Creator. Rather, Rambam explains that man has a distinct nefesh that incorporates all that a human being is. The potential to contemplate G-d lies within this creation, but the actualization of the tzelem Elokim is via human effort itself. Thus it is demanded of man that he develop a nefesh to serve Hashem.
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