Context and Commentary—Talmud, Ta’anit 11b

In Judaism and Christianity, human beings are regarded as created in the image of God (imago dei) and meant to be the home for God’s indwelling Spirit.

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

—Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Genesis 1.26.

“Beloved is man, for he was created in the image of God. But it was by a special love that it was made known to him that he was created in the image of God.”

—Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 3.18.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ‘You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.'”

—Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Leviticus 19.1-2.*

[*Leviticus 19.1-2: This is a particularly important foundational verse for the Jewish ethic of holiness—to be in the image of God See the rabbinic passages which follow.]

“Let a man always consider himself as if the Holy One dwells within him.”

—Judaism. Talmud, Ta’anit 11b

“Just as God fills the whole world, so the soul fills the body. Just as God sees, but is not seen, so the soul sees, but is not itself seen. Just as God feeds the whole world, so the soul feeds the whole body. Just as God is pure, so the soul is pure. Just as God dwells in the innermost precincts [of the Temple], so also the soul dwells in the innermost part of the body.”

—Judaism. Talmud, Berakot 10a.

Gender balance

“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind (adam) in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion…’ And God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Gen 1:26-27 clarifies that the Hebrew term adam stands for the generic species of humanity which is composed of men and women. If there is any doubt in this interpretation, Gen 5:2-3 declares and defines again: “When God created humankind, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them humankind when they were created.”

—Maryanne Cline Horowitz [ “The Image of God in Man—Is Woman Included?” Harvard Theological Review, vol. 72, no. 3-4, 1979] pp. 175–206.