Deep Stuff

It is a basic tenet of Jewish belief upon which a Jew's spiritual eternity rests that Ha-Shem (G-d) has no form, physical or otherwise, that we may conceive. Because man is so immeasurably removed from the essence of Ha-Shem by virtue of man being a creation of Ha-Shem and therefore intrinsically and qualitatively distinct from Him, Ha-Shem's Infinity, therefore, lies impossibly beyond the realm of man's comprehension.

What is the meaning, then, that man is created "in the image of G-d"?

Rabbi Yishayah ha-Levi Horowitz, of blessed memory, in his magnum opus, Sheney Luchoth ha-Berith ("The Two Tablets of the Covenant"), writes in the section "Torah she-biKhthav" ("The Written Torah," a commentary on the Five Books of Moses), according to Kabbalistic tradition, that in creating the physical world, the process known as "Atziluth" or "Emanation" gave way to a substance heretofore nonexistent. However, this "substance" inasmuch as its existence straddled the boundary between existence and nonexistence, was so "spiritual" in nature, that is, as non-physical as possible, that its intangibility would be impossible for the human mind to conceive. Notwithstanding, the "hishtalsheluth" or "unfolding" of the world meant the crystallization of this substance into a final physical form, with all the intervening forms remaining intact and forming a sort of bridge between the Almighty, whose Infinity, again, totally transcends the existence of the universe, and the physical realm which we inhabit.

Now, inasmuch as this initial Creation was an Emanation from the Almighty, while we cannot grasp His form, for He has none, in any sense meant in human terms, we can contemplate the "form" of this initial Emanation, this first stage of existence. This initial Emanation is also termed "Adam," or "Man," and is the point of contact, as it were, between the created world and Ha-Shem. Therefore, this Emanation is sometimes termed the "Image" of Ha-Shem. This is the highest vision a prophet can see and is described as "the Man sitting upon the Throne."

The human being is the final end result of all the "unfolding" that begins at this interface between Ha-Shem and the universe and is seen as its final imprint. Therefore, the creation of Man is described as creation in the Image of G-d.

The purpose of this creation and of all creation is to make Ha-Shem known. For this reason the universe begins as an "imprint" of Ha-Shem and unfolds in this pattern until it reaches its final form as Man, the "image of G-d."

Just as Ha-Shem created a world and a creature reflective of Himself in order to increase awareness of Him, likewise, He desires that Man continue to this end, increasing the awareness of Him, through procreating in his own likeness that is the Likeness of the Creator. It follows then, that just as Ha-Shem's way is to create in His Likeness, then emulation of Ha-Shem is to create in one's likeness. Therefore, one who engages in procreation indeed takes on G-d's likeness while one who does not has not fulfilled the purpose of his own creation that is to be a G-d-like creature.