Reflecting God's Image

FOCAL POINT

• Give And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . . " And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
• Adonai God said, "It is not good for man to be alone. . . ." (Genesis 2:18)
• Then the man said, "This one at last / Is bone of my bones /
  And flesh of my flesh. / This one shall be called Woman, /
  For from man was she taken." Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:23-24)

D'VAR TORAH

Our Torah begins with two Creation stories: an ethereal narrative of creation through speech in Genesis 1, and an earthy story of sculpting creation in Genesis 2. Although the Sages tried to harmonize these stories, there are conflicts. For example, Genesis 1:21 places the creation of "all winged birds" on the fifth day of creation, before the creation of humanity, while Genesis 2:19 pictures God forming "all the birds of the sky" after the creation of the first human. There is thus no possible reading that can be fully true to every word of these mutually inconsistent biblical texts.

The fact that Torah begins with juxtaposed contradictory texts frames the entire Torah as something other than literal truth. With no objectively correct reading or literal truth to discover, the reader is forced to choose a reading from which to derive teachings. This choice has moral implications.

For example, it is possible to read Genesis 1:27 as giving creation of men priority over creation of women: God first created a single male person in God's own image, then created the rest of humanity male and female. It is equally possible to read the same verse as indicating that the two genders were created simultaneously and with equality: God created all of humanity in God's image, male and female alike. Since both readings are possible, I choose the second reading.

The parallel structure of Genesis 1:27 links the two phrases that describe how God created humanity: "in the image of God" and "male and female." This could simply suggest that male and female are equally created in the image of God. However, "male and female" need not be read only literally, but can also be read as a metaphor for the various types of diversity God creates in humanity.

The linkage between "image of God" and "male and female" can be understood to suggest that God's image is one of plurality within unity, especially when this verse is read together with God's puzzling self-reference in the plural form ("Let us make man in our image. . . . "). This leads us to believe that humanity's diversity is a crucial component of its godliness. So, humanity is created in the image of God precisely because we are created male and female; black, white, Asian, and racially mixed; short and tall; straight, gay, and bisexual; and with an infinite variety of abilities. To choose this reading has profound moral implications, for if it is humanity as a whole, in all its multiplicity, that reflects God's image, it follows that the exclusion of any portion of humanity from society's institutions prevents society from fully reflecting God's image.

One of society's most basic institutions is that of marriage. It is the natural outgrowth of God's teaching in Genesis 2:18 that it is not good for a human being to be alone. Humans are created to crave an intimate partnership with one person with whom we can wholly share our uniquely created self.

Under this reading of the Creation texts, limiting marriage to straight people is cruel, even sacrilegious. It disregards God's teaching that it is not good for a human to be alone and denigrates a portion of God's creation. Moreover, by excluding a portion of humanity from this societal institution, we prevent society and the institution of marriage from fully reflecting the image of God.

Some readers interpret Genesis 2:23-24 as a justification of limiting marriage to heterosexuals. The traditional interpretation places verse 24 in the voice of the narrator, suggesting that it is a general statement applicable to all of humanity. However, it is equally possible to read verse 24 as being part of the first man's poetic speech begun in verse 23. There are two clues favoring this interpretation. Translating the Hebrew text more literally and in such a way as to preserve its rhythm, these verses may be read:

This one, this time 3 lines: 2 stresses
Is bone from my bones 2 stresses
And flesh from my flesh. 2 stresses

This one shall be called woman 2 lines: 3 stresses
For from man was taken this one. 3 stresses

Thus a man leaves 3 lines: 2 stresses
His father and mother 2 stresses
And cleaves with his woman 2 stresses

And they become one flesh. 1 line: 3 stresses

This strong metric structure suggests one unified poem. Moreover, when we read these two verses as one poem, the common elements of the poem demonstrate an inverted parallel structure characteristic of biblical poetry:

…Flesh from my flesh
This one
Shall be called (passive verb form)
"woman" (ishah)
for
from "man" (ish)
was taken (passive verb form)
this one.
…and they become one flesh.

If verse 24 is indeed part of the exultant song of the first person uniting with a partner, we need not understand it as exclusively ordaining heterosexual marriage. It is a common human phenomenon to assume that others are like us. Thus we may read the first male's joyful outburst as a mistaken generalization from his own experience. He is delighted to see this woman, so he assumes that every man and woman will find their delight in the opposite sex.

The Creation stories teach that we must choose our own readings of all biblical texts. May we choose the readings that best carry out the redemptive trajectory of Jewish tradition.
 

BY THE WAY

• For this reason [the first] human was created alone . . . to proclaim the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, for if a man strikes many coins from one mold, they all resemble each other, but the supreme Sovereign of sovereigns, the Holy One, blessed be He, fashioned every human in the stamp of the first human, and yet not one of them resembles his fellow. (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 37a)
• "The Moon Sings to the Stream"

I am the unity in the heaven,
I am the myriad in the deep.
My image, my image multiplied
Will reflect from the stream towards me.

I am the truth in the heaven,
I am the story in the deep,
My image, distortion her lot,
Will gaze from the stream towards me.

On high, I wrap myself in silence,
I roar, I sing, in the deep.
I am in the heaven—the God,
I am the prayer in the stream.

(Leah Goldberg, On the Blossoming [New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1992], p. 4; translation from Hebrew by Linda Bertenthal)

YOUR GUIDE

1. Does the Mishnah text question or support the biblical text's teaching that humanity is created in the image and likeness of God?
2. If we read "The Moon Sings to the Stream" as referring to the relationship between God and humanity, what are the implications of the suggestion that "distortion" is the "lot" of the reflection?
   —What does this mean to our individual and societal attempts to be godly and to reflect as fully as possible the image of God?
   —What does this mean to our attempts to be faithful readers of our sacred texts?
3. What are the ways in which we "roar" and "sing" in response to God's silence?

At the time of this writing in 2004, Rabbi Linda Bertenthal was the Associate Director of the Pacific Southwest Council of the Union for Reform Judaism.